Shelvoke and Drewry

During the Second World War, like most British manufacturers, Shelvoke and Drewry's entire output was devoted to the war effort, producing aircraft parts, equipment for landing craft and tanks, and even a miniature submarine (the Welfreighter) at their Letchworth plant.

Profits were falling by 1964. In that year the reasons given by the chairman were the introduction of their new Defiant forklift trucks, the transfer of production to a new factory building and a scarcity of labour and materials in the face of intense competition from the big motor manufacturers.[4]

In March 1966 Shelvoke and Drewry were bought by Yorkshire engineers W P Butterfield[5] which later became a component of the Butterfield-Harvey Group. Butterfield-Harvey sold the Fork-lift trucks division to Rubery Owen Conveyancer in 1974. The chairman explained that with "limited labour and facilities it has only made a marginal contribution to Shelvoke and Drewry profits".[6] Order books for the dustcart products were reported to be "nine months long".

Babcock & Wilcox began a bid for Butterfield-Harvey in mid 1977 declaring its main interest to be in Shelvoke and Drewry which then represented more than a third of Butterfield's activities.[7] But the bid failed to proceed.

1980 WX fire engine, as featured on the TV series London's Burning.

1982 P-Series Revopak dustcart

In the late 1970s, Shelvoke and Drewry went head-to-head with its arch-rival Dennis, and once-again began to manufacture fire engines through its newly established Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) division. S&D had also collaborated with Dennis along with Ogle Design to develop a new common cab for both companies' product lines - this emerged as the P-Series in 1978. By the end of 1979 the chairman reported that Shelvoke and Drewry turned out about 1,000 vehicles each year. Dustcarts left the factory as finished products but fire and air crash tenders were fitted out, completed, by outside contractors. A quarter of municipal vehicles were exported and 85 per cent of the special purpose chassis were sent overseas.[8]

Early in 1981 Shelvoke and Drewry were obliged to report they had made another 150 redundant having previously cut the jobs of over 300 employees. Remaining workers were on a three-day week and apprentices on a two day week.[9] The following year another 100 jobs were cut and factories were closed.[10]

At the end of 1983 Butterfield was rescued by a short-term loan from an American investment company, Technology Incorporated. Butterfield was unable to raise alternative funds to make repayment and under the terms of the loan Technology Incorporated assumed control of Butterfield. Ownership was transferred to Shelvoke Dempster on 1 January 1984. Dempster Systems was an American subsidiary of Technology Incorporated.[11]

Otherwise Shelvoke's circumstances did not change. Demand for dustcarts had not picked up again, Shelvoke was described as Butterfield's "running sore". One of the two Shelvoke factories was forced to close (160 jobs) and in-house component manufacture was contracted out.[11]

The first new Shelvoke Dempster product, Dempster's Routechief intermittent rear loader, went into production at Letchworth. Shelvoke Dempster also distributed these American-made products: Routeking II rear loader, Dumpster front loader, Dinosaur and Dragon III roll-on and roll-off systems and Dempster Dumpster products. Established Shelvoke products like Revopak and the special-purpose vehicles remained in production at Letchworth. The Letchworth workforce was now 350 people.[12]

Shelvoke Dempster was held by Krug International (UK) Limited, a British subsidiary of American investor Technology Incorporated.[13] Krug decided to wind up its industrial and engineering divisions and in the summer of 1989 announced it was keen to sell Shelvoke.[14]

In mid 1990 there was a management buy-out of Shelvoke Dempster and Dempster was removed from the name of the business. Shelvoke's 194 employees were to be offered a share in the business.[15]

However the new venture went into receivership in July 1991. The receivers sold the saleable activities and the remaining assets and design rights were bought by Dennis Eagle. About 70 Shelvoke staff were made redundant. Dennis Eagle expected the extra business would add about £2.5 million to turnover but no new Shelvoke designs would be made once current orders were filled. Parts and maintenance would be supplied for the remaining (2,000?) Shelvoke vehicles still operating. The Letchworth factory closed.[16]