page_title: British Thomson-Houston
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: British Thomson-Houston / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Cassier's Magazine of September 1892 had an article on page 365-373, describing Direct-Connected Engines. Among them was this steam-driven generator from Laing, Wharton &amp; Down, illustrated on page 372. The generator was used at the Crystal Palace, to illuminate the entertainment court.
context_page_description: British Thomson-Houston was a British engineering and heavy industrial company, based at Rugby, Warwickshire, England and founded as a subsidiary of the General Electric Company of Schenectady, New York, USA. They were known primarily for their electrical systems and steam turbines. BTH was taken into British ownership and amalgamated with the similar Metropolitan-Vickers company in 1928 to form Associated Electrical Industries, but the two brand identities were maintained until 1960. The holding company, Associated Electrical Industries, later merged with GEC.
  In the 1960s BTH apprenticeships were highly thought-of, with apprentices exposed to production of a wide range of industrial products. Each year in Rugby there was a big parade of floats run by its apprentices, many of whom lodged in the nearby Coton House apprentice hostel.
  In 1980, G.E.C. Turbine Generators Ltd, on the Rugby site, was awarded a Queen's Awards for Enterprise.
context_section_description: The company Laing, Wharton and Down was formed in 1886 to sell products from Thomson-Houston, an American firm known as the American Electric Corporation until 1883. Laing, Wharton and Down soon won a contract for electrical lighting for the east end of London.
  In 1894 Laing, Wharton and Down purchased patents and exclusive production rights from the American company, now known as General Electric after Thomson-Houston merged with Edison General Electric Company in 1892. At this stage Laing, Wharton and Down was renamed as British Thomson-Houston and General Electric became the majority owner of the company.
  Once BTH had the production licences for Thomson-Houston's products it started setting up factories in the English Midlands, with Rugby, Warwickshire chosen as the main location due to its good accessibility by rail and a local coal supply. In 1900 BTH bought Glebe Farm on the west side of Mill Road north of the railway in Rugby for £10,000, from Thos. Hunter & Co., to build their factory on it. The Mill Road factory opened in 1902 and made electric motors and generators. In the same year BTH got a licence to produce the Curtis steam turbine, which became one of the company's major products. In 1905 BTH made its first turbo-alternator and in 1911 got licences for all of General Electric's drawn-wire light bulbs, which it produced under the Mazda trademark.
  For much of the late 19th century BTH competed for electrical generation and distribution contracts with British Westinghouse, mirroring the same company's battles in the US between their parents, General Electric and Westinghouse. The Power Act 1900 let BTH and British Westinghouse get new contracts to supply electric power to large areas.
  As well as manufacturing, BTH also began to move into transport. On 22 December 1898 BTH opened the Cork Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, followed by the Isle of Thanet Electric Tramways on 4 April 1901 and the Chatham and District Light Railways Company in June 1902. In 1903 BTH was contracted to supply the electrical equipment for the Tyneside Electrics railway network in Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1907 BTH started a joint venture with Wolseley Motors to make petrol-electric buses and in 1909 the company supplied major coal-fired steam generators to London to power an electric trolley system that was being set up.
caption: British Thomson-Houston had its origins in Laing, Wharton & Down. One of their steam-driven generators was described in the September 1892 issue of Cassier's Magazine.
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