Records of Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd, 1978-1989, electrical and product engineering company, Bilston, Wolverhampton, England

• Board minutes 1978-1985;
• Accounts 1977, 1980;
• Memorandum and articles of associations 1978;
• Catalogues [early 1980s];
• Report and papers relating to a visit to Bangladesh premises 1982;
• Press releases 1987;
• Group reorganisation papers 1978;

In 1970  , Babcock & Wilcox Ltd , boilermakers and engineers, Glasgow, Scotland, acquired General Electrical & Mechanical Systems Ltd , mining machine and electronic equipment manufacturers, and its subsidiary companies. Previously, this company had been incorporated as Holophane Ltd in 1904  until becoming GEMS in 1964  . In 1978  , GEMS was reconstituted as Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd with head offices in Bilston, Wolverhampton, England. The company acted as the chief operating subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox Ltd's Industrial & Electrical Products Group. This group concentrated on fields other than boilermaking and consisted of several leading companies in the field of electronic distribution equipment, process control and instrumentation including microprocessor based systems, and general manufacturing.

In 1975, the Industrial & Electrical Products Group headed by Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd was split between 2 divisions. The Industrial Products division consisted of the following companies: Babcock Wire Equipment Ltd, Gardeners of Gloucester Ltd, The Gloucester Foundry Ltd, Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd, Hulwood Ltd, Magco Ltd, Tourell Gardeners Ltd, and Winget Refrigeration Ltd. The Electronic Products division consisted of: Babcock Controls Ltd, Bristol Automation Ltd, Dynamo & Electrical Services Ltd, Whipp & Bourne Ltd, Woden Transformer Co Ltd. Other associated companies were Babcock Controls AB (Sweden), Low Voltage Engineering Ltd, Oy Babcock Controls AB (Finland), Piranha Ignition Ltd, Secundalux Emergency Lighting Ltd and Woden Automation Ltd. By 1984, Mining interests were also held provided a wide range of mining machinery, including hydraulic roof supports, conveyor systems and longwall mining chain. Companies in the mining division included: Babcock Huwood Electric Ltd, Babcock Roof Supports Ltd, Huwood-Irwin Co (USA), Huwood Ltd, Magco Ltd, Parsons Chain Co Ltd, Parsons Chaine Europe SA (France) and Triangle Mining Equipment Co Inc (USA).

In 1985, these divisions were servicing a variety of markets and industrious including electrical power generation and distribution, electric traction and light and light current products, process control and associated computer technology, mining machinery, gear cutting, and wire and cable manufacturing equipment.

In 1979  , Babcock & Wilcox Ltd, the parent company of Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd, became Babcock International Ltd and then Babcock International plc in 1982  . In 1987  , Babcock International plc merged with FKI Electricals plc, engineering company, London, to form FKI Babcock plc .

Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd was renamed Babcock Industries Ltd in 1987  . In 1989  , FKI Babcock plc demerged to form FKI plc and Babcock International Group plc and Babcock Industries Ltd was retained by FKI plc and renamed FKI Industries Ltd in that year. In 2002, FKI Industries Ltd was registered still but as a non-trading company.

The material is arranged into series as shown in the scope and content note. Within series, items are generally arranged chronologically.

No access without the permission of the collection owners. Access request form available from Glasgow University Archive Services.

Permanent loan : FKI Babcock plc/Babcock International Group plc : 1988

Digital and manual file level lists of the surviving records of all Babcock International Group plc and Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd companies and their subsidiaries are available in the searchroom ref: UGD 309

Manual file level list available at the National Registers of Archives in Edinburgh (NRA(S)) and London (NRA33916)

No known copies

Applications for permission to quote should be sent to the University Archivist

Reproduction subject to usual conditions: educational use & condition of documents

This material has been appraised in line with standard GB 248 procedures

Held by FKI Babcock plc and its predecessor companies

None expected

The records of Babcock International Group plc and Mitsui Babcock Energy Ltd and their predecessor, subsidiary, and associated companies of are held by Glasgow University Archive Services starting with call reference GB 248 UGD 309

Surviving records of predecessor companies of Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Ltd include:

GB 248 UGD 309/95 Records of General Electrical & Mechanical Systems Ltd

Surviving records of subsidiary companies that were also part of the Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Group of FKI Babcock plc and it predecessor companies can be found at:

GB 248 UGD 309/60 Records of Babcock Wire Equipment Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/83 Records of Dynamo & Electrical Serevices Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/92 Records of Gardeners of Gloucester Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/99 Records of Hulwood Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/120 Records of Piranha Ignition Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/135 Records of Tourell Gardeners Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/146 Records of Whipp & Bourne (1975) Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/151 Records of Woden Automation Ltd

GB 248 UGD 309/152 Records of Woden Transformer Co Ltd

The records of some Babcock Industrial & Electrical Products Group subsidiary companies were deposited in local record offices by FKI Babcock plc/Babcock International Group plc:

GB 040 D4791 Records of Gloucester Railway Carriage & Wagon Co Ltd and Gloucester Foundry Ltd (Gloucestershire Record Office) [Can also be searched on-line via Access to Archives at http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk ]

No known publications using this material

This material is original

Amended by Emma Yan, Assistant Archivist (Cataloguing) 21 December 2007