IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): BD9
Held at: Barking and Dagenham Archives and Local Studies Service
Title: William Warne and Co. Ltd
Date(s): 1882-1944
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 3 boxes
Name of creator(s): William Warne and Co Ltd
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
William Warne and Co Ltd was established in 1837 as a private company to manufacture rubber products. The company became a joint stock company, the directors then being Edward Gerard Coles (Chairman), Ernest Harry Coles, George Frederick Spencer Warne, Oscar Edwin Coles, and James Burbridge; Ernest. F Spencer Warne acted as the Company Secretary in 1895. The company factory was in Tottenham, Middlesex, with registered offices at 29 Gresham Street in the City of London. In 1907 the company purchased land in Barking and built a new factory there, which became its headquarters, known as India Rubber Mills.
The onset of the Second World War, trading conditions became difficult because, despite military orders, there was a shortage of raw materials. In 1945, William Warne and Co. Ltd amalgamated with the St. Alban' s Rubber Company and The London and Provincial Rubber Co. Ltd. was set up as the holding company. Their range of products was broad, aimed mainly at defence, pharmaceutical and postal markets, and ranged from precision seals for pharmaceutical inhalers and refuelling hoses for military aircraft to rubber bands for the Post Office.
In June 2000, Icon Material Technologies (Holdings) Ltd purchased William Warne and the company name was changed to Icon Warne. At the time, there were 140 employees at Barking. The Barking premises were closed in 2002 when Icon Warne based its production in Retford, Nottinghamshire.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
This collection comprises the records of William Warne and Co Ltd, manufacture of rubber products, including a technical notebook (1882-1896), detailing the chemical additives and cost per pound weight for each product manufactured at the companies factory in Barking, together with minute books of the Directors and Annual General Meetings (1895-1932), balance sheets of income and expenditure (1897-1925), a valuation of India Rubber Mills (1944) and a printed copy of 'The India Rubber Journal' (1924). Accompanied by photographs, and some photographic negatives, of workers of different demographics and ethnicity on the factory floor in Barking (circa 1960-1970), as well as further photographs showing different products produced at William Warne and Co Ltd (circa 1950-1970).
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged according to the format and chronology of material.
Conditions governing access:
The material within this collection is open to research by appointment at the Barking and Dagenham Archives and Local Studies Centre. For further information about visiting the reading room please contact localstudies@lbbd.gov.uk or telephone 020 8227 2033.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Material within this collection can be reproduced at the discretion of the Borough Archivist. For further information about conditions governing reproduction please contact localstudies@lbbd.gov.uk or telephone 020 8227 2033.
Finding aids:
For additional information on the content of this collection please contact localstudies@lbbd.gov.uk or telephone 020 8227 2033.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Donated to the Archive and Local Studies Centre by the creating organisation in 2002.
ALLIED MATERIALS
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: Catalogue entry updated in 2012. Description added to Aim25 in April 2014.