 Ablue plaque dedicated to the company in London St,Norwich | |
| Industry | general manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1797 |
| Defunct | 1999 |
| Fate | Merged and name dropped |
| Successor | Jeld Wen Inc. |
| Headquarters | Norwich |
| Products | Corrugated iron buildings, aircraft |
| Subsidiaries | Midland Woodworking Company |
Boulton & Paul Ltd was a British general manufacturer fromNorwich, England that became involved in aircraft manufacture.
Jeld Wen Inc. bought Boulton & Paul (along with another joinery companyJohn Carr) from the Rugby Group plc in 1999 to form its British subsidiary.[citation needed]
The company's origins date back to anironmonger's shop founded in 1797 inNorwich by William Moore. William Staples Boulton joined the ironworks firm of Moore & Barnard in 1844. By 1870 Boulton had been elevated to a partner alongside of John Barnard and the firm was renamed to Barnard & Boulton. A later partner in the firm was Joseph Paul, and the firm was again renamed to Boulton & Paul Ltd, which started its construction engineering division in 1905.[1] By the early 1900s, Boulton & Paul Ltd had become a successful general manufacturing firm.
During the Second World War it was a major producer ofprefabricated buildings, wire netting and wooden sub-assemblies of aircraft. In 1942 the Midland Woodworking Company ofMelton Mowbray became a subsidiary. Richard Jewson of theJewson timber merchants and former Lord Mayor of Norwich was a member of the board until retiring in 1947.
In the 1880s Boulton & Paul were leading manufacturers of kits for corrugated iron buildings, which arrived in packing crates ready to be erected.Woodhall Spa Cottage Museum is a well-preserved example of a Boulton & Paul corrugated building[2] as is the conservatory at Carrow House in Norwich, the former management building at theColman's mustard works.[3]Monkton Combe School's first cricket pavilion was erected by Boulton & Paul in 1884 and a cost of £50. It was demolished in 1970.[4]
Boulton & Paul was one of the first manufacturers of prefabricated "Residences, Bungalows and Cottages", which they sent to destinations all over the British Empire and South America. Its 1920 catalogue contained a choice of twenty-two designs with several varieties of bungalow illustrated, ranging from the 'Modern Residential', through the 'Week-End' and the 'Seaside' to the plain and ordinary (withverandah).[5]
Many of its buildings are still in use, and include Castle Bungalow at Peppercombe,Devon (a former boathouse which is now a holiday cottage owned by theLandmark Trust)[5] andMonkton Combe School's thatched sports pavilion on Longmead, often referred to as one of the most beautiful cricket pitches in England, which is visible from the A36 in Somerset.[6]
In 1915, Boulton & Paul began to construct aircraft under contract, including 550 of theRoyal Aircraft Factory FE.2b. Fe.2 construction was passed over to anotherEast Anglian company, so Boulton Paul could concentrate on production of more advanced designs. Their extensive use of jigs and the manufacture of the smaller fittings required meant that they could maintain fast production. A new production site was built and an assembly and proving ground developed onMousehold Heath in Norwich, rather than transport the aircraft to the Army atThetford. During the war, the company built moreSopwith Camels than any other manufacturer. Success as a builder of aircraft led to the company forming a design department, but none of its resulting aircraft made a significant impact while the war lasted. TheP.3 Bobolink fighter was overshadowed by theSopwith Snipe and theArmistice came before theP.7 Bourges bomber into production.
Boulton & Paul developed steel-framed aircraft under their designerJohn Dudley North. The first was theBoulton & Paul P.10 which used steel tubes rolled from sheet metal. It was exhibited – but not flown – at theParis Air Show in 1919. Official interest in metal frame designs led to an order of a singleBoulton & Paul Bolton, a twin-engine bomber design. In the same period, Boulton & Paul produced another metal framed design, theBoulton & Paul Bodmin, with its engines in the fuselage. North believed that a metal frame could be 10% lighter than an equivalent wooden frame.
After World War I, Boulton & Paul made its mark with the introduction of powered and enclosed defensive machine-gunturrets forbombers. ItsSidestrand twin-enginedbiplane bomber, which could fly at 140 mph, had an exposed nose turret that was clearly inadequate. The subsequentOverstrand bomber featured the world's first enclosed, power-operated turret, mounting a singleLewis gun and propelled by compressed air. The company licensed a French design of an electro-hydraulic four-gun turret that became a major feature of its future production. In addition to fitting turrets to bombers, Boulton & Paul was to install them in fighters.
Boulton & Paul provided most of the structure for theR101 airship; the completed sections being transported toRAF Cardington for assembly there. The R101 subsequently flew over Norwich in return.
In a depressed market in 1934, the aircraft division being its weakest, Boulton & Paul Ltd sold its aircraft manufacturing component from the main construction business to createBoulton Paul Aircraft Ltd. This moved toWolverhampton in 1936 as the area had a surplus of skilled labour and the council was able to provide an incentive in the form of a greenfield site and flying rights. In 1961 Boulton Paul Aircraft, by now a producer of aircraft equipment rather than complete aircraft, merged with theDowty Group to form first Dowty Boulton Paul Ltd and then Dowty Aerospace.
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