STANLEY BROTHERS LTD

The records catalogued below are those which it was possible to save following a fire, water damage and vandalism to the rooms on site in which they continued to be stored following the closure of Stanley Brothers. They were originally rescued by members of the Chilvers Coton Trust and then deposited by them with the County Record Office. Despite the efforts of both the Trust and the Record Office the surviving archive is inevitably fragmentary and in some parts is in poor condition. It has been arranged as follows:

The Company was established about 1830 by Mr Peter Wager Williams and subsequently bought by Messrs Broadbent and Stanley, Mr Broadbent pulling out in 1871. The works were originally situated in Croft Road (Swan Street).

Mr Reginald Stanley came to the firm in 1867 and started expanding it. He acquired more brickworks around Whittleford, Chilvers Coton and Willenhall in Staffs. In the 1870's the Company became involved in coal mining, with the two main collieries sited at Westbury Road/Haunchwood Road and at Whittleford Road, adjoining the brickyard. The mines were in operation until the 1920's.

The Company was incorporated in 1895 as Stanley Bros ltd. Reginald Stanley also established the Nuneaton Engineering Company in 1889 where new ideas were invented and patented. He died in 1914, but the Company continued on until 1986.