A Factory at War Evershed & Vignoles: 7th County of London Battalion Home Guard

Discussion in 'United Kingdom' started by hutt, Apr 23, 2014.

  1. hutt

    hutt Member

    I have been loaned a short wartime history of the Fire and Home Guard units that were setup at Eversheds & Vignoles Ltd, a manufacturer of electrical test equipment in Acton, West London and attach scans below. Unfortunately I don’t have a de screening capability on my scanner so the photos are not brilliant.
    Pages 18 – 27 & 44, 46 & 47 have significant lists of names which may be of interest for family researchers.
    Hopefully of interest somewhere!
     

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  2. hutt

    hutt Member

    Final pages......
     

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    Juha, CL1 and Owen like this.
  3. Owen

    Owen -- --- -.. MOD

    Thanks for posting that up to share.
    I hope that proves useful to someone out there.
    Let's hope it gets picked up by those internet search engines.
    Wonder what other words could be added that would aid that.
     
  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Evershed and Vignoles


















    1895 Company founded - makers of electrical equipment. Co-founded by Sydney Evershed (1858-1939) and Ernest Vignoles by purchasing the instrument section of Goolden and Trotter where they worked.1885 Sydney Evershed made a moving-iron electrical measuring instrument[1]of Acton Lane Works, Chiswick, London, W4. Telephone: Chiswick 1370. Telegraphic Address: "Megger, Chisk, London". (1937)
    1903 Company moved from Westbourne Park to Acton Lane, near Acton Green.
    1903 trademark registered for Megger tester
    c.1906 Developed chart recorder[2].
    1910 Developed electrical testing apparatus for water purity.
    1914 Electrical engineers. Manufacturers of electrical instruments, portable instruments for measuring resistance, signalling systems for ships, especially men-of-war. Employees 350 to 400. [3]
    WWI. They made steering and target equipment for the Royal Navy during the First World War.
    Post-WWI. Extended their site.
    1920 January - Physical and Optical Societies Exhibition. Exhibitor of electrical instruments. Also Dionic water tester. [4]
    1922 Producing apparatus for "distant indication" which proved so successful that a separate division was established[5].
    Late 1920s. Employed approximately 500.
    1931 W. A. Vignoles was appointed M.D.[6]
    1937 Electrical and mechanical engineers. [7]
    1937 Listed Exhibitor - British Industries Fair. Sole manufacturers of "Megger" Insulation Testers, Earth Resistance Tester, Capacity Meters, and Dionic Water Testers. Electrical Indicating and Recording Instruments. Remote Indication and Control Apparatus, Electrical Tachometers, and Marine Instruments. [8]
    WWII. Numbers rose to over 1,000 in the Second World War, when aircraft instruments were also made.
    Early 1960s Over 1,500 employees.
    1961 Manufacturers of electrical testing equipment. 1,870 employees. [9]
    1965 At this time was controlled by British American Tobacco. The company was taken over byGeorge Kent[10].
    1971 George Kent sold the company to Thorn Electrical Industries[11]. The company was mainly involved in making defence electronic equipment at Acton Lane. Several senior members of the board resigned and were replaced by directors of Avo and Taylor Electrical Instruments, also owned by Thorn[12]
    1980 c450 were employed at Acton Lane.
    c.1986 Evershed and Vignoles was taken over by Avo Ltd, of Avocet House, 92-96 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1, another member of the Thorn EMI group. The Acton Lane works closed down at about that time.
    1987 the name of the company was changed to Megger Instruments Limited.
    Note: (07/08)
    • The firm Megger Ltd. is now based at: Archcliffe Road, Dover, Kent, CT17 9EN.

    http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Evershed_and_Vignoles

    http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/File:Im1943EYB-Evershed.jpg
     
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  5. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    I remember playing football at their sports ground in Boston Manor, I'm not sure if it is still there.
     
  6. Bernard85

    Bernard85 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    good day hutt,m,yesterday.0851pm.re:a factory at war eversheds and vignoles.avery interesting post.thank you for sharing.great photo's.regards bernard85
     
  7. Harry Ree

    Harry Ree Very Senior Member

    Eversheds ever known for their "Meggers"..determination of IR. "meggering or to megger"...testing for Insulated Resistance between system and earth on electrical systems such as between the phases of multi phase systems and neutrals of static electrical apparatus and electrical rotating plant windings and their connections.

    Models from 500 volt rating up to 11kv.from memory...the 500v model most common on domestic and 3 phase 415v systems.The lower model voltage type generators were rotated by hand and required a strong hand.For the higher voltage rated models, motor drives were an integral part of the instrument...would be exceedingly difficult to rotate by hand.

    AVO...another well known designer and manufacturer of electrical test equipment with the flexibility of voltage,current and resistance/conductivity measurement provision but would not be used for systems rated at more than 500 volts.

    George Kent was a leading designer of control and instrumentation systems for process engineering up to the 1960s.Based at Luton,the company was also involved in the First World War economy.George Kent,one of the many quality specialised firms that have disappeared over the years.

    Not surprised that the manufacturers of electrical test equipment with their instrument manufacturing expertise would be quickly adapted to the requirements of the war economy.
     
  8. hutt

    hutt Member

    Glad the pages of proving of interest. I wonder if other companies published similar booklets and if many survive, either in local libraries or peoples attics!

    A couple of little anecdotes.

    Apparently the Royal Navy sent vans up to the factory to collect (under guard) important equipment to be taken straight down to Portsmouth ready for installation on ships about to sail with the tide.

    During air raids when the factory fire brigade were busy, the apprentices were employed as messengers between incidents. In addition to the 'official' messages, they were often slipped a few pennies to take word of the men's safety and whereabouts back to their wives and to give them an estimate of when they might be back home!
     
  9. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    hutt,

    Thanks once again for posting these images. A friend of mine has a relative who used to work at Eversheds and was delighted to read these scans.

    Best wishes

    Steve
     
  10. hutt

    hutt Member

    Page 18 (Posted experimentally to see if found by search engines)
    Eversheds & Vignoles
    The Fire Brigade 1942

    Back Row, Left to Right –

    F/m. W.Tucker
    F/m. A.E. Raworth
    F/m. A.L Vinten
    F/m. J. Harmer
    F/m. D. Cooper
    F/m. C. Coles
    F/m. G. Shrimpton
    F/m. E. Harris
    F/m. R. Hadley
    F/m. E. Kay

    Center Row, Left to Right -

    F/m. R. Chilvers
    F/m. R. Curnow
    F/m. C. Sage
    F/m. R. Singleton
    F/m. C. Parker
    F/m. V. Allsopp
    F/m. K. Webb
    F/m. P. King
    F/m. H. Warby
    F/m. C. Kellond

    Front Row, Left to Right -

    Station Supt. M. O'Rourke
    Sub. Officer. E. Page
    Sub Officer. B. Broom
    Chief Officer. C. W. Baillie
    Managing Director. M. Vines
    Second Officer. A. Murray
    Third Officer. E. Page
    Fourth Officer. H. Jee
    Sub Officer. J. Collins
    Sub Officer A. Simpkins
     
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  11. ChrisM

    ChrisM Member

    Seems to have worked, hutt!

    A great record and thanks for having posted it.

    Chris
     
  12. hutt

    hutt Member

    Page 19
    Evershed and Vignoles
    The First Aid Squad 1944

    Back Row, Left to Right –
    C. Provines
    C. Ford
    L. Lockyear
    L. Dackham
    C. Elmer
    T. Adkins
    E. Wycherley
    D. Jockel

    Second Row, Left to Right –
    A. Mott
    R. Brookes
    H. Reeves
    E. Godfrey
    A. Procter
    J. Newman
    S. Brookes
    W. Tucker
    A. Haigh
    S. Kitching

    Front Row, Left to Right –
    F. Stillwell
    J. O'Pray
    J. Weeks
    Mr. M. Vines
    A. Dulieu
    E. Parish
    E. Littlefield
     
  13. Solaris

    Solaris New Member

    Many thanks IAZ. My grandparents worked for this company in 1941, so I'm told. Would there be a complete list of their 1000 employees 'hiding' somewhere? I'm pretty sure their names were William Ernest Green and Norah Elizabeth Bench (or Capon, Coben or Koben-Bench).

    I've just seen a W E Green listed on p. 47 of the above. Perhaps he's in the lineup photo near the end of the book........
     
  14. hutt

    hutt Member

    Names transcribed from Pages 30 and 44

    Evershed & Vignoles Unit 7th County of London Battalion Home Guard

    Lieut.-Col F.M. Walsh

    A Sunday Parade, July 1940
    Rear Rank (left to right) :
    S. A. Brackley,
    A. J. Littlefield,
    G. Taylor,
    A. E. Willcock,
    P. Roney,
    (S. G. Wallis standing behind),
    J. W. Greenough,
    R. W. Neale,
    T. E. Kenny,
    H. R. Halling,
    L. H. Smart.

    Front Rank (left to right) :
    W. A. Gregory,
    F. A. Smith,
    C. H. Patterson,
    E. Payton,
    H. Ruggles,
    G. E. Lawson,
    J. E. Strong,
    J. A. King,
    A. E Piper,
    G. A. Eveleigh,
    B. Higginbotham.

    Photograph taken on June 19th, 1944, The Fourth Anniversary of the formation of the unit

    Back Row (left to right) :
    Pte. Curryer,
    Pte. King,
    Pte. Searle,
    L/Cpl. Ward,
    Pte. Walder,
    Pte. Blanch,
    Pte. Horwood,
    Pte. Hultquist,
    Pte. Bowler,
    Pte. Johnston,
    Pte. Rogers, D. S.,
    Pte. Smith, D.

    Third Row (left to right) :
    Pte. Remnant,
    Pte. Payton,
    Pte. Nutkins,
    Cpl. Trollope,
    Cpl. Rogers,
    Cpl. Fryer,
    L/Cpl. Wilson,
    L/Cpl. Horsnell,
    L/Cpl. Taylor,
    Pte. Cox

    Second Row (left to right) :
    Cpl. Grace,
    Sgt. Nash,
    Sgt. Busby,
    Sgt. Johnson,
    Lieut. Walker,
    Capt. Gregory,
    C.S.M. Wallis,
    Sgt. Littlefield,
    Sgt. Eveleigh,
    Cpl. Piper,
    Cpl. Scaife.

    First Row (left to right) :
    Pte. Julian,
    Pte. Pethers,
    Pte. Cole,
    Pte. Root,
    Pte. Diack,
    Pte. Cameron,
    Pte. Upton,
    Pte. Lewis,
    Pte. Reed.
     
  15. Andrew GIlham

    Andrew GIlham New Member

    A old post, but very interesting for me. I work for megger instruments in Dover, the company eversheds and vignoles started at the Acton works. I have been studying the companies history, and this entire war time effort from the staff was unknown to me. Thank you for the find. I think I have found another chapter for my book.....!!
     
  16. hutt

    hutt Member

    Andrew
    I am really glad that you found it on this site and it has provided you with a completely new strand of information to explore.
    Graham
     
  17. bamboo43

    bamboo43 Very Senior Member

    That's great to hear and well done to Graham for putting it up on the forum in the first instance.
     
  18. hutt

    hutt Member

    A further transcription of Page 20

    Control Room
    Lieut.Col. W.A. Vignoles, D.S.O. ; M. Vines
    Deputy Control officers:
    W. Short; J.D. Payne
    Telephonists: G. Parkinson; R. Strong
    Messengers: H. Parkinson; G. Chamberlain
    Wardens
    J.W. Alfrey
    J.B. Anderson
    J. Anniss
    L. Berry
    G.W. Binsted
    W. Boughay
    G. Bradnam
    F.J. Brandley
    Miss E. Brock
    C.S. Brooke
    A.J. Cannon
    L.A. Combe
    A. Cutts
    W.E. Deller
    E. Dyer
    W. Haigh
    A.L. Harris
    E. Holmes
    E.J. Jacob
    C. Johnson
    F.C. Knowles
    W.T. Lawrence
    F.W. Loxton
    J.E. Lynch
    A.E. Mepham
    C. Midworth
    J. Nash
    G. Parkinson
    J. Payne
    C.E. Perry
    G.B. Rolfe
    A. Scanes
    G.C. Scott
    Sister Semple
    W.A. Shaw
    E. Shepheard
    W. Smith
    H.J. Sparrow
    A. Steward
    R. Strong
    A. Tremellen
    O. Vores
    W. Whatley
    Night Shelter Supervisors, 1944 – 45
    H. Ruggles; D.M. Everett
    ANTI-GAS SQUAD
    Anti-gas Officer:

    J.W. Chandler, L.F.G.I
    Decontamination Squad
    Leader:
    T. King
    A. Baker
    F. Creamer
    W. Durrance
    F. England
    H. Reeves
    F. Williams
    Dressers
    R. Horner
    Mrs. Pocock
    A. Reynolds
    Mrs. West
    Gas Searchers
    Leader:
    I.Alfrey
    R. Baker
    J. Gardner
    C. Reed
    L. Wright
    LIGHT RESCUE SQUAD
    Leader:
    S. Coverley
    J. Claridge
    H.J. Dobson
    J.McCormick
    J. Turner
    ROOF-SPOTTERS
    Leader:
    W.E. Deller
    E. Ball
    W. Palmer
    L. Shepherd
    F. Taylor
    R. Widdows
     
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  19. hutt

    hutt Member

    Hi Could a forum admin perhaps change the thread title to Evershed rather than Eversheds and add 7th County of London Battalion Home Guard
    This might better describe the fact that there is a significant section on the Home Guard rather than just the factory.
     
  20. dbf

    dbf Moderatrix MOD

    Done, is the title OK as is now?
     

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