Richardsons Westgarth & Company

Richardsons Westgarth & Company was a leading British shipbuilding and marine engineering business. The Company was based in Hartlepool and was a major employer in the area.

History

The company was established in 1832 by Thomas Richardson as a marine engineering concern based in Hartlepool under the name of T. Richardson & Sons.[1] In 1900 it merged with Sir C. Furness Westgarth and Company of Middlesbrough and William Allan and Company of Sunderland to form Richardsons Westgarth.[2] As part of the merger Furness Withy, a shipping business, took a controlling interest in the company.[3]

From 1840 to 1857, products included steam locomotives.[4] The Company was at the forefront of the development of steam engines and diesel engines for large ships throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[5] It built engines for many ships including SS Empire Amethyst. In 1927, the company began manufacturing Brown Boveri designed turbo-alternators under licence.[6] It acquired the firm of George Clark in Sunderland in 1938.[2] In 1962 its marine activities were merged with that of Weir Group[7] and it began focussing on engineering for power stations such as Trawsfynydd[8] and Dungeness B. It ceased operations in Hartlepool in 1982.[2]

The Company then diversified into steel processing and was acquired by Klöckner, one of the world's largest steel stockholders, in 2000.[9]

Further reading

• A History of Thomas Richardson & Sons and Richardsons Westgarth 1832-1994, Printability Publishing, 1994, ISBN 978-0-9501306-6-8