Renold Chains Ltd, of Manchester, chain manufacturers.
c.1618-c.1982
Archives
Total copies: 1
1618-circa 1982: mainly 19th and 20th century. This very extensive collection consists of records of the main parent company and its subsidiaries in Australia, Canada, France and Germany, etc., together with records of the various companies (and their predecessors) acquired by Renolds, or joined with the firm by merger.
Subsidiary companies:-
Renold Chains Ltd (later Renold Chains Continental Ltd)
Renold (South Africa) Ltd. (later Renold Crofts (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd.
Renold Africa (Equatorial) Ltd
Renold Chains (Australia) Pty. Ltd. and Renold Chains (Sales) Australia Pty. Ltd.
Renold Australia Pty. Ltd., of Mulgrave, Victoria
Renold Chains Ltd. Belgium (later Renold Chains Continental Ltd. Belgium.
Renold Chains Canada Ltd., of Montreal, Canada (Later Renold Canada Ltd.)
Renold Chains Manufacturing Ltd., of Canada
Renold Industrie Ketten GmbH / Renold Erzeugnisse GmbH, of Dusseldorf, Germany (RIK/REG)
Renold Chains Ltd. Holland (later Renold Chains Continental Ltd. Holland)
Renold Adaro S. A.
Renold Svenska A B
Renold Holdings Inc.
Related companies:-
Companies merged with, acquired by take-over, or otherwise connected with, the Renold parent company
Anchor Chain Co. Ltd., of Oldham
Arnold and Stolzenberg GmbH of Juliusmuhle, Einbeck, Lower Saxony, Germany,
Baedeker's Ltd.
Coventry Chain Co. Ltd., of Coventry, chain manufacturers
Crofts (Engineers) Holdings Ltd., of Bradford
John Holroyd and Co. Ltd., of Milnrow, Rochdale
Perry and Co. Ltd., of Birmingham and London
Three-M-Works Ltd.
Place:Manchester/Manchester/Manchester/Lancashire/England
Title:
Renold Chains Ltd, of Manchester, chain manufacturers.
Date of work:
c.1618-c.1982
Reference number:
GB127.M501
Level of description:
Fonds
Includes:
Custodial history:
The company began life as Hans Renold Ltd., of Manchester, driving chain manufacturers. The firm was incorporated as a private limited company in 1903. The company produced munitions both during the First World War (at its Burnage factory, Manchester) and the Second World War. Renold and Coventry Chain Co. Ltd., a public limited company, was formed in 1930, when Hans Renold Ltd. merged with Coventry Chain Co. Ltd., which had itself merged with Brampton Brothers Ltd. in 1925. In 1954 the name of the parent company was changed again, to Renold Chains Ltd. The Renold group took over Perry and Co. (Holdings) Ltd. in 1959 and merged with John Holroyd and Co. Ltd. in 1964. A further change of name, in 1967, saw the group become Renold Ltd. In the same year it acquired Crofts Engineers (Holdings) Ltd.. In 1981 it became Renold PLC.
Parent company:
In 1879 Hans Renold purchased a business in Salford, that made chains for the textile industry. In 1881 he moved to Brook Street, Manchester, where a new factory, Progress Works, was subsequently built. By 1915 the company had completed the construction of, and transfer to, Renold Works in Burnage, Manchester. The first of many branch sales offices were opened in London and Glasgow, in 1910 and 1912, respectively. A selling subsidiary was established in Canada in 1920, and a less successful sales organisation in America, in 1921. The same period saw the formation of Renold Chains Ltd., to handle export sales other than those to Canada and the U.S.A. (mainly with French and Belgian markets in mind). In 1928 the German sales subsidiary, Renold Industrie Ketten GmbH was formed.
After the merger with Coventry Chain Co. Ltd. and Brampton Brothers Ltd. in 1930, the new company, Renold and Coventry Chain Co. Ltd., had works in Manchester, Coventry and Birmingham, together with the former Brampton works at Calais. Chain production in the U.K. works was concentrated in Manchester and Coventry, and free wheel manufacture at Coventry was given up. The Birmingham works and the Brampton cycle fittings business, which was concentrated there after the merger, were disposed of in 1937. During the Second World War, temporary premises were leased at Newton Mill in Hyde, Cheshire, for arms-related production. A new factory in Cardiff was acquired in 1946; this took over the wheel manufacturing department previously at Burnage and also manufactured chain clutches and couplings. An Australian manufacturing subsidiary was set up in 1949. The 1950s saw the expansion of Australian sales and manufacturing operations.
In 1954 the sales division and administrative services departments moved from Burnage to the new Renold House in Wythenshawe, Manchester. By this point the company had built up a world-wide sales organisation based on its selling subsidiaries and its agencies, which covered over seventy countries. In 1955 a factory in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, was acquired for the separate manufacture of conveyor chain and agricultural chain machinery. Wheel manufacture in Canada began in 1958. The major mergers with Perry and Co. (Holdings) Ltd. and John Holroyd and Co. Ltd., took place in 1959 and 1964 respectively.
In addition to the Holroyd merger, the 1960s saw expansion in Europe. In 1963 the company acquired the manufacturing companies Manufacture Lilloise de Chaines S.A., of Lille, France, and Arnold and Stolzenberg GmbH of Juliusmuhle, Germany, and established a new wheel manufacturing plant at Charleville-Mezieres in the French Ardennes. Renolds also gained an interest in local manufacture in Spain during this period. Sales companies were established in Spain, in 1962; Austria, in 1964; Denmark (Renold A/S, of Copenhagen) in 1965; Switzerland, in 1968 and Sweden (Renold Svenska AB) in 1969. Outside Europe, the decade saw the formation, in 1968, of Renold (Southern Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., of Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, a chain manufacturing company. This later combined with the former Crofts est
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedPermission for access needs to be obtained from the company.
This material is stored off site and we require 2 weeks' notice in order to retrieve it.Access Restriction: Permission of Company Secretary required before access to any of the collection. Also November 1986 deposit restricted access till 2007 - items listed
Closure set by depositor. FORM AVAILABLE
Contact
Renold House
Styal Road
Wythenshawe
Manchester
M22 5WL
Tel: 0161 498 4500
Use restrictions:
Unrestricted
General notes:
Old Accession Number: 2005/5 2006/2 2006/37 2007/33 2011/12
Topics:
Record types:
Manchester Archives and Local Studies
Language:
English
Record number:
7196265