Catalogue description JAMES STOTT & CO (ENGINEERS) LTD

The records comprise 15 volumes. 11 of them are photograph albums containing photographs of Stott's products, Stott-designed kitchens and canteens all over the UK, Stott's own premises, and Stott stands at exhibitions. The other 4 volumes contain press cuttings and advertisements.

Schedule of records' arrangement

D-JSE/1 Photograph albums

D-JSE/2 Cutting albums

D-JSE/3 Advertisement albums

The deposit also included records relating to Benham and Sons and James Slater and Co, both of London. These, together with other material for the same companies received separately as temporary deposit 96-12, have now been donated to the City of Westminster Archives Centre, where they have been allocated the accession number 2037.

Oldham Local Studies:

Stott and Sons by R Holden (unpublished MPhil thesis, Open University), 1992 (ref MI:TI)

Stott Press: Quarterly Newsletter, 1953 - 1980 (ref TZ)

Stott's product literature, 20th century. Includes 12 printed trade catalogues which previously formed the archive accumulation D-M37 (ref TZ)

James Stott and Co (Engineers) Ltd

Photocopying will not generally be allowed

There are no restrictions on access.

Donated by the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester on 31 Dec 1995

Accession 1995-027

The records

The records were found in a cellar at the Vernon Works, Royton by a Stockport estate agent, after the premises were vacated in 1994. He gave them to the Museum of Science and Industry who in turn deposited them at Oldham Local Studies and Archives.

History of James Stott & Co (Engineers) Ltd

In 1870, James Stott of Oldham (1845 - 1934), a member of the famous Oldham family of architects, perfected his "Mecurial" gas governor, superior to anything then available. Giving up his dental practice, he set up in business in a tiny lean-to shed in Jackson's Pit, Oldham. Nearly one million governors were to be sold world-wide.

As Stott's small enterprise rapidly grew, it moved production to the Vernon Works, Oldham. From there, it further expanded into the manufacture of gas lighting fittings, including theatre lighting equipment. For some years thereafter, the firm were also prominent makers of heating and ventilation equipment.

It diversified into catering equipment from 1906, at first concentrating on the oven and kettle, to produce frugal "brew and pie" snacks for workers in the Lancashire cotton industry and elsewhere. This led to further developments in the new field of industrial catering.

James Stott & Co became a limited company in 1925. Although its founder died in 1934, his descendants retained management of the company until 1974. The greatest spur to expansion was World War Two, when companies were prompted by government to set up works' canteens. Between 1949 and 1953, the company expanded into Rose Mill, Chadderton. It merged with R & A Main (of Glover and Main) in 1960 and later became part of Thorn Industries. Still known as "Stott of Oldham", the new company made its final move in 1962 into Fir Mill, renamed Vernon Works, in High Barn Street, Royton, and extended on that site in 1967.

Under their "Quality Built" slogan, the company managed research, design, production and sales for a product range which extended from individual appliances to complete modular catering systems, typically for factories, hospitals, schools, trains and vessels. The largest British manufacturers in their field, the company had some 1000 employees at is peak. It produced up to 20,000 individual items in a year, maintaining a commercial presence throughout Britain and abroad.

In 1979, Stott merged with the London based catering equipment company, Benham and Sons Ltd, who were also part of the Glover and Main Group, now a subsidiary of Thorn-EMI. As Stott Benham Ltd, the company was taken over by the Swedish Company Electrolux in 1987. It continued to operate from the Vernon Works until 1994, when manufacturing and supply operations were relocated out of the area and the works closed.

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