Taylor, Lang & Co. was a textile machinery manufacturer based in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, England.
The company was founded in 1852 as a tradesmen's co-operative with twenty-three members. It was originally known locally as 'The Amalgamated Shop'. The name 'Taylor Lang' may have originated in 1859.
Taylor, Lang & Co. was based at the Castle Iron Works on Grosvenor Street, Stalybridge. The founders worked long hours at a reduced wage until the business was well-established and later became known all over the world as Taylor Lang's. The company designed and manufactured cotton spinning machinery, distributing to a global market. In the 1920s it acquired Lord Bros. of Todmorden.
In the recession of the 1930s, Platt Brothers, Howard and Bullough, Brooks and Doxey, Asa Lees, Dobson and Barlow, Joseph Hibbert, John Hetherington and Tweedales and Smalley merged to become Textile Machinery Makers Ltd. Taylor, Lang & Co. was the largest company outside this group, but was acquired in 1936. The individual units continued to trade under their own names until 1970, when they were rationalised into one company, Platt UK Ltd. In 1991, this company became Platt Saco Lowell.
Origins and early history
Taylor, Lang & Co. was established in April/May 1852, with a capital of £600. The founders were mechanics in Oldham, but worked in their spare time in a co-op grocery shop where they talked over the idea of applying the cooperative approach to engineering. In January 1852 an industrial dispute (known as "The Great Lock Out") in the Manchester and Oldham district engineering industry led to them being thrown out of permanent employment ("locked out"). Consequently, twenty-three of these workmen came together and set up as cooperative machine makers (machinists). The original members were:
Books (Pattern Maker): James Taylor
Iron Turners: John Storrs, Samuel Booth, Henry England, William C. Birch, Thomas Cheetham
Fitters: Andrew Birchall, William Lees, Thomas Rhodes, Martin Scragg, Charles Rothwell, John Lang, James Byrom, Joseph Walter Watts, James Uttley, Joseph Rushton
Joiners: James Whitehead, James Sutcliffe, Thomas Watson, Jacob Marshall
Moulders: Thomas Armitage, Samuel Mitchell
Grinder: Joseph Woolhouse
A reorganisation of the firm took place in 1859, in which seven of the original members withdrew their interests. These members were James Sutcliffe, Thomas Watson, Martin Scragg, James Uttley, Thomas Cheetham, Charles Rothwell and Jacob Marshall. Another original member, Samuel Mitchell, had died prior to 1859.
As of 14 May 1872, Taylor, Lang & Co. became incorporated under the Companies Act of 1862. A Memorandum of Association was completed and signed on 25 April 1872, securing limited liability for the company's members. The capital of the company was declared as £50,000, divided into 5000 shares of £10 each. 700 shares were taken up immediately, by John Lang, 'Brick of Cocker Hill', James Whitehead, Thomas Rhodes, Henry England, Joseph Watts and John Storrs. Notice of the Situation of the Registered Office of Taylor, Lang & Co. Limited was provided as "The Castle Ironworks in Back Grosvenor Street in Stalybridge in the County of Cheshire." The final Charter Agreement was signed on 24 June 1872.
Devaluing of shares
A Special Resolution was passed on 5 August 1887 (confirmed a month later on 2 September), "that One Share be added to each holder of Four Shares in the Capital of the Company."
Another Special Resolution three years later altered Article No.43 of the company's manifesto, stating that "No business shall be transacted at any General Meeting except the declaration of a dividend, unless a quorum of members is present at the time when the Meeting proceeds to business, and that 15 of the Members competent to vote shall constitute a quorum." Another, passed 14 September 1900 (confirmed 5 October), introduced a maximum of six and a minimum of four directors, alongside minor changes to the dating and wording of articles relating to the Annual General Meeting.