English Electric Co., Stafford

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Date:1950 - 1960 (c.)

Description:Pictured outside a building known as the English Electric ‘Main Offices’ are two Pickford vehicles, one at the front and the other at the rear of a transporter which is loaded with a large stator (under a tarpaulin) ready to leave the Factory. The English Electric Co.'s Lichfield Road Site in Stafford was renowned for its electrical products including generators, transformers and switchgear.

The ‘Main Office’ building and the adjacent factory were built for Siemens Brothers and ready for use by 1903. During English Electric’s time the building was extended (flat roof extension on the left of the picture) around 1947 and again in the late 1950s. Above the first floor windows there are several of the original chimneys which were linked to fireplaces in the offices, below these windows are air bricks set in the walls which formed part of the original air movement system for the offices, the stale air was directed through ducts out of the offices via the cupola (with a weather vane attached) on the left of the roof. The second floor was occupied by the Site telephone exchange. The Main Offices were demolished during January 2006 as part of the Site redevelopment and replaced by the Hough Retail Shopping Park.

This image is taken from a glass negative donated to the Staffordshire County Museum by Alstom Power, Lichfield Road, Stafford.

Siemens Brothers purchased the land in 1901 and built the factory and offices which were ready to start production in 1903. In 1918 Siemens merged with several companies, including Dick, Kerr and Co., to become the English Electric Co. Two years later in 1920, The English Electric Co bought the Stafford Works. The English Electric Co merged with GEC (The General Electric Company) during 1968 and the Lichfield Road Site became part of GEC Power Engineering Ltd. On 22 March 1989 became part of GEC ALSTHOM, an Anglo French Joint Venture. On 22 June 1998 became part of ALSTOM with global HQ in Paris and to date (June 2014) continues to be part of the ALSTOM Group.

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Creators: Mr Andy Ellis, Alstom Power, Stafford - Contributor

Donor ref:AE-26.jpg (37/27632)

Source: Staffordshire Museum Service

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