Documents of the Butterley Company Limited

Business records of the Butterley Company Ltd., colliery owners, iron founders, mechanical engineers and brick manufacturers, including letter books, 1795-1885, financial records, 1793-1929, and salary records, 1900-1937.

Contents

Administration D5974/1

Valuations of the Butterley Company D5974/2

Letter books D5974/3

Financial records D5974/4-8

Salaries D5974/9

Stock books D5974/10

Butterley Company coalmines D5974/11

<p>For the main series of the records for the Butterley Company, see D503.</p>

These records were deposited by Hanson Brick Ltd. in March 2003.

The Butterley Company was formed in 1807 from the business known as Benjamin Outram and Company. The business became a great success and in 1862 there were seven furnaces at Butterley and Codnor Park. Although the production of ironstone declined locally, the Company still remained a major force in the iron industry. In the late 19th century they became involved in the expansion of the railway industry by manufacturing track and wagons.

The Company setup and owned several mines in the East Midlands coalfield. By the late 19th century the Company had one of the major coal mining enterprises in the country. All the collieries were lost following the Coal Nationalisation Act of 1946. Railway wagons, Kirkby Brickworks, and houses mainly occupied by colliery workmen, were also lost to the Company. It was then necessary for the Company to diversify. Having taken over several companies, Butterley expanded into the areas of civil engineering and brick-making. In 1968 the Company was taken over by the Wilks Group, later known as Hanson plc. Several businesses were taken over by Hansons and run by Butterley Building Materials. The name of the whole brick enterprise became Butterley Brick Co. Ltd. in 1985.