BULL ELECTRIC LTD, ENGINEERS, OF IPSWICH, AND ASSOCIATED COMPANIES

The records which relate wholly to Bull Electric consist of order books, 1951-1989; drawings register, 1920-1930; and pattern-number register, 1925-1970. The firm of E.R. and F. Turner is represented by minute books, 1901-1925 and 1933-1946; the minutes concern Bull from the time of its acquisition by Turner's. Also present are records (register of members and share certificate books, 1907-1970) of the firm of J. Harrison Carter Ltd, engineers, of Dunstable (Bedfordshire), in which Turner's appear to have acquired a controlling interest between 1958 and 1966.

The firm of Bull Motors was founded in Stowmarket by Napier Prentice in 1898, under the ownership of East Anglian Agricultural and General Engineers Ltd, initially to supply DC lighting generators, and then DC motors. In 1919 EAAGE was acquired by the Ipswich engineering firm of E.R. and F. Turner. This business, founded in 1837, appears in White's 1844 Suffolk Directory as Bond, Turner and Hurwood, ironfounders and machine makers, in College Street. By 1855 it was known as Edward Rush Turner and Co. and was by now also manufacturing agricultural implements. By 1858 it had acquired its final name of E.R. and F. Turner, and its premises in College Street were known as the St Peter's Ironworks. In 1924 production of electric motors was moved from Stowmarket to Ipswich, and in 1932 Bull Motors became an integral part of Turner's when EAAGE ceased to operate. Meanwhile, in 1921 Bull had introduced a range of quiet running motors, battery electric vehicles, mobile cranes and trolley bus motors, following up the next year with the introduction of passenger and goods lifts, motors and generators. Their renowned 'Super-Silent' AC motor range was launched in 1925, followed in 1935 by fractional HP motors for domestic and office heating and ventilation. In 1937, Turner's centenary year, work began to relocate Bull on a 9-acre site on Foxhall Road. Bull maintained its established record for innovation, introducing in 1950 the first British gearless lift motors, and in 1958 a complete range of AC 'Squirrel Cage' single and two-speed motors for lift applications. Between 1958 and 1966 Turner's appear to have acquired a controlling interest in J. Harrison Carter Ltd of Dunstable (Bedfordshire), engineers. In 1967 Turner's and Bull were sold to the Ionian Bank. Two years later, in 1969, Bull was acquired by the A.O. Smith Corporation of America, during whose ownership it became (in 1970) the first European company to manufacture the square fully laminated DC machine. The Smith Corporation sold Bull to the National Enterprise Board in 1977. Shortly afterwards, in 1980, Bull developed an entirely new range of industrial DC motors with the highest output in the world. In 1985, Bull's management bought out the company and renamed it Bull Electric Ltd to give a better reflection of its work. This was a year of record sales. In 1987, however, Bull was acquired by Noble and Lund, who were thermselves acquired by Cooks Industries the same year. The Hawker Siddeley Group acquired Bull in 1990, but in the following year recession forced the loss of twenty jobs through voluntary redundancy. BTR PLC acquired the Hawker Siddeley Group in 1991, becoming BTR Engineering Group the following year. In 1993 Bull was transferred to yet another parent company, Brook Hansen, and in 1995 completed its biggest ever machines, a contract worth £76,000 for two lift motors weighing 12.5 tonnes each. But in October 1999, despite completing orders worth £140,000 and having a full order book, the parent company announced the closure of Bull Electric. The Ipswich company ceased operations on 31 March 2000.