Description:Employees are pictured assembling protective relays at the M.R.I. (Meter, Relay and Instrument Division) at St. Leonard’s Works, which was located one mile from the Main Works in Stafford.
At the time of this photograph St. Leonard’s Works was one of Europe’s most modern factories. The main products were integrating meters, indicating instruments, solid state controllers and transducers, protective relays and power system telemetry. There were extensive laboratories on the site for development and design of new and existing products, both for the M.R.I. Division and for its licensees and associates in Australia, India and France.
The factory was originally built in the 1960s during English Electric’s ownership. The site became part of GEC (The General Electric Company) during 1968 and over the years was often known as Measurements or the M.R.I. (Meters, Relays and Instruments) and later as P&C (Protection and Control). On 22 March 1989 it became part of GEC ALSTHOM, an Anglo French Joint Venture. On 22 June 1998 this in turn became part of ALSTOM with a global headquarters in Paris and on 2 November 2015 the Stafford Grid and Power Businesses became part of GE (General Electric, an American Company). During 2017 employees from St. Leonard’s site were gradually transferred to new premises on the Redhill Business Park, near to the A34, Stone Road, Stafford. In January 2018 the St. Leonard’s site car park was ripped up and during the year the factory and offices were demolished to make way for a housing development.
Acknowledgement: The English Electric Company Limited. Stafford Products Brochure published in 1967.