Guide to the Records of Balfour Darwin Ltd (as filmed by the AJCP), 1902-1940

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Summary

Collection number:

M2527-M2533

Creator:

Balfour Darwin Ltd

Extent:

8 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

Daybooks 1908-1940 Australia and New Zealand containing orders for steel drills, files, saw blades and miners' picks, and giving shipping details. Firms include Eagle and Globe Steel Co. Ltd. (Melbourne and Sydney), Toowoomba Foundry Co. Ltd. and Australian Agricultural Co.

Papers 1902-1903 relating to formation of Eagle and Globe Steel Co.

Biographical / Historical:

Henry Seebohm (1832-1895) and George Charles Dieckstahl (d. 1880), who were both of German descent, established the Dannamora Steel Works in Sheffield in 1865. It was a small-scale company which produced rifle steels and engineering steels and tools. It was incorporated as a limited company in 1899, with a capital of £150,000. Under the leadership of Arthur Balfour (1873-1957), 1st Baron Riverdale (created 1935), who became managing director in 1899, the company prospered. It established a research laboratory in 1905 and an engineers' tool department in 1910. It sold a considerable number of tool steels to the United States. In 1915, owing to anti-German feeling, the name of the company was changed to Arthur Balfour Pty Ltd. After the War, its expansion was hindered by strong American competition and high tariffs. Balfour responded by opening new accounts in China, India, Japan and South America and by extending its trade with Australia. In 1949 Lord Riverdale was succeeded as managing director by his son, Robert Balfour (1901-1998), who had a great interest in the technical aspects of steel making. In 1961 the company amalgamated with the Darwins Group to form Balfour Darwins Ltd., with Lord Riverdale as chairman. Darwins was founded in Sheffield in 1926 and produced high grade steel tools. It acquired the Sheffield Forge and Rolling Mills Company in 1953. Balfour Darwins was one of the larger makers of high speed and tool steels not subject to nationalisation in 1967. In the early 1970s the company was taken over by Edgar Allen and Company, which became Edgar Allen Balfour.

Access and use

Conditions Governing Access:: Available for Access.
Conditions Governing Use:: Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.