Vickers Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999 . History . Early history . Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father - in - law George Naylor in 1828 . Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor & Sanderson and Vickers ' brother William owned a steel rolling operation . Edward ' s investments in the railway industry allowed him to gain control of the company , based at Millsands and known as Naylor Vickers and Company . It began life making steel castings and quickly became famous for casting church bell s . In 1854 Vickers ' sons Thomas ( a militia officer known familiarly as ' Colonel Tom ' ) and Albert joined the business and their considerable talents – Tom Vickers as a metallurgist and Albert as a team - builder and salesman – were key to its subsequent rapid development . " Its great architects , " the historian Clive Trebilcock writes , " Colonel T . E . ( 1833 - 1915 ) and Albert ( 1838 - 1919 ) Vickers . . . provided " both " inspired technical leadership . . . and equally astute commercial direction . Both men were autocrats by temperament , but neither shunned advice or avoided delegation ; each , but particularly Albert , had a marked gift for the selection of talented subordinates . " In 1863 the company moved to a new site in Sheffield on the River Don in Brightside . Vickers , Sons & Company . The company went public in 1867 as Vickers , Sons & Company and gradually acquired more businesses , branching out into various sectors . In 1868 Vickers began to manufacture marine shafts , in 1872 they began casting marine propellers and in 1882 they set up a forging press . Vickers produced their first armour plate in 1888 and their first artillery piece in 1890 . Vickers , Sons & Maxim . Vickers bought out the Barrow - in - Furness shipbuilder The Barrow Shipbuilding Company in 1897 , acquiring its subsidiary the Maxim Nordenfelt Guns and Ammunition Company . at the same time , to become Vickers , Sons & Maxim . Ordnance and ammunition made during this period , including World War I , was stamped V . S . M . The yard at Barrow became the " Naval Construction Yard " . With these acquisitions , Vickers could now produce a complete selection of products , from ships and marine fittings to armour plate and a whole suite of ordnance . In 1901 the Royal Navy ' s first submarine , " Holland 1 " , was launched at the Naval Construction Yard . In 1902 Vickers took a half share in the famous Clyde shipyard John Brown and Company . Further diversification occurred in 1901 with the acquisition of a proposed business which was incorporated as The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company and in 1905 the goodwill and patent rights of the Siddeley car . In 1911 a controlling interest was acquired in Whitehead and Company , the torpedo manufacturers . Vickers Limited . In 1911 the company name was changed to Vickers Ltd and expanded its operations into aircraft manufacture by the formation of Vickers Ltd ( Aviation Department ) and a Vickers School of Flying was opened at Brooklands , Surrey on 20 January 1912 . In 1919 , the British Westinghouse electrical company was taken over as the Metropolitan Vickers Electrical Company ; Metrovick . At the same time they came into Metropolitan ' s railway interests . Reorganisation . A reorganisation during 1926 led to the retention of the rolling stock group : Metropolitan Carriage wagon and Finance Company and The Metropolitan - Vickers Company and the disposal of : Vickers - Petters Limited , British Lighting and Ignition Company , the Plywood department at Crayford Creek , Canadian Vickers , William Beardmore and Co , and Wolseley Motors Merger with Armstrong Whitworth . In 1927 , Vickers merged with the Tyneside based engineering company Armstrong Whitworth , founded by W . G . Armstrong , to become Vickers - Armstrongs , Ltd . Armstrong Whitworth had developed along similar lines to Vickers , expanding into various military sectors and was notable for their artillery manufacture at Elswick and shipbuilding at a yard at High Walker on the River Tyne . Armstrongs shipbuilding interests became the " Naval Yard " , those of Vickers on the west coast the " Naval Construction Yard " . Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft was not absorbed by the new company . In 1928 the Aviation Department became Vickers ( Aviation ) Ltd and soon after acquired Supermarine , which became the " Supermarine Aviation Works ( Vickers ) Ltd " . In 1938 , both companies were re - organised as Vickers - Armstrongs ( Aircraft ) Ltd , although the former Supermarine and Vickers works continued to brand their products under their former names . 1929 saw the merger of the acquired railway business with those of Cammell Laird to form Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon ( MCCW ) ; Metro Cammell . Nationalisation . In 1960 the aircraft interests were merged with those of the Bristol , English Electric Company and Hunting Aircraft to form the British Aircraft Corporation . This was owned by Vickers , English Electric and Bristol ( holding 40 % , 40 % and 20 % respectively ) . BAC in turn owned 70 % of Hunting . The Supermarine operation was closed in 1963 and the Vickers name for aircraft was dropped in 1965 . Under the terms of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act BAC was officially nationalised in 1977 to become part of the British Aerospace group , which exists today in the guise of BAE Systems . The Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act also led to the nationalisation of Vickers ' shipbuilding division as part of British Shipbuilders . These had been renamed Vickers Armstrong Shipbuilders in 1955 , changing again to Vickers Limited Shipbuilding Group in 1968 . This division was privatised as Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering Ltd ( VSEL ) in 1986 , later part of GEC ' s Marconi Marine . It remains in operation to this day as BAE Systems Submarine Solutions . Vickers plc . With their steelworking operations also nationalised into British Steel the remnants of Vickers became Vickers plc . In 1986 , Vickers acquired the armaments manufacturer Royal Ordnance Factory , Leeds , which became Vickers Defence Systems . Other acquisitions included automotive engineers Cosworth in 1990 , waterjet manufacturer Kamewa in 1986 and Norwegian marine propulsion and engineering company Ulstein in 1998 . 1998 also saw the sale of Rolls - Royce Motors and Cosworth to Volkswagen Group for £430 million , beating out BMW ' s offer of £340 million . Current status of Vickers . Vickers remained independent until 1999 when the then Vickers plc was acquired by Rolls - Royce plc who sold the defence arm to Alvis plc , which became Alvis Vickers . Vickers plc and the subsidiaries retained by Rolls - Royce were renamed Vinters in March 2003 . This Vickers name lived on in Alvis Vickers , until the latter was acquired by BAE Systems in 2004 to form BAE Systems Land Systems . BAE Systems announced on 31 May 2012 that the ex Vickers Defence Systems factory on Scotswood Road , Newcastle would close at the end of 2013 .