Walter T Glover established his wire manufacturing company in 1868, occupying premises at the Bridgewater Street Iron Works in Salford. W T Glover & Co, known as Glover’s, originally made cotton-covered and braided, insulated copper wires for use on bell, signalling and telephone circuits. As trade developed, the company moved to the Springfield Lane Cable Works in 1880. At this time, factories and larger private homes were beginning to install electric lighting, which required better insulated cable. Glover's started to manufacture cables covered with between one and three layers of rubber strip, waterproof tape and compounded cotton braid. In the late 1880s, Glover's began to make lead-sheathed cables for underground use. The company became a limited company and moved to Trafford Park in 1898, securing the exclusive rights for the supply of electricity to all the roads, streets and premises of Trafford Park. In June 1919, Vickers Ltd took over Glover's. Although Vickers held most of the shares, Glover's kept its name and management. In 1929 the Vickers group reorganised and sold its shares in Glover's to Sir Tom Callendar of Callendar Cable and Construction Co. Some shares later went to W. T. Henley's Telegraph Works Ltd. and British Insulated Cables. In 1945, Glover’s became part of British Insulated Callenders Cables Limited, following the merger of Callenders Cable and Construction Co and British Insulated Cables. During the 1950s, Glover’s developed high voltage submarine power cables, used to link centres of population with sources of generation. The parent company formed a subsidiary, BIC (Submarine) Cables Ltd, to manufacture and install the Glover’s cables. Glover's submarine cables linked England and France, and the north and south islands of New Zealand. Increasing competition from other cable manufacturing companies resulted in the south side of Glover’s Trafford Parks works integrating with the newly formed Wiring and General Cables Division of the British Insulated Cables Company (BICC). The Trafford Park factory closed in 1970, but the Glover’s brand continued as part of BICC.

The Dunlop Rubber Company takes its name from John Boyd Dunlop, the first person to put the pneumatic principle into everyday use by making an air filled tube tyre for bicycles. However, he was only involved with the company from 1889 to 1894, when he joined a rival firm, Tubeless (Fleuss) Pneumatic Tyre Company. The original company was the Pneumatic Tyre and Booth's Cycle Agency Ltd, founded in 1888 in Dublin. The name Dunlop Rubber Company was first used in 1889 for a private company created to serve as one of the manufacturing units for the founder company. This founder company changed its name several times: in 1893 to the Pneumatic Tyre Company Limited; in 1896 to the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre Company Limited and in 1913 to the Parent Tyre Company Limited. In 1931 the founder company went into liquidation. In the meantime, Harvey Du Cros (who had helped to form the Pneumatic Tyre and Booth's Cycle Agency Ltd.) was providing finance to Byrne Bros., a Birmingham business engaged in the production of general rubber goods. In 1896 Byrne Bros. underwent flotation on the stock market as the Rubber Tyre Manufacturing Company based at Para Mill with the intention of building a new factory, Manor Mills, alongside it. Du Cros purchased the Manor Mills and the Rubber Tyre Manufacturing Company in 1900 and 1901 respectively, and the two companies were amalgamated to form the Dunlop Rubber Company Limited. This company purchased the founder company in 1912. In subsequent years Dunlop expanded into a vast multinational organisation. By 1946 there were 90,000 shareholders and 70,000 employees with factories in, any different countries, sales outlets in nearly every country, and rubber plantations in Southeast Asia (from 1910). Apart from merely producing tyres, the Dunlop Rubber Company Limited made cycle rims and motor car wheels from 1906, and in 1910 Dunlop developed its first aeroplane tyre and golf ball. In 1914 developed a process of spinning and doubling cotton for a new tyre fabric. A collapse in trade in 1922 after the post-World War 1 boom led to financial and administrative reorganisation, but the inter war period also saw the development of Latex foam cushioning (sold by the subsidiary, Dunlopillo) and expansion by way of new factories in South Africa and India. In 1924 the company expanded into manufacturing tennis balls and in 1925 acquired A. A. Davis, which had tennis racket manufacturing expertise. The company acquired Charles Macintosh of Manchester in 1926. After World War II (during which Dunlop played a major part as suppliers of tyres and rubber goods to the Allied forces). Dunlop expanded further to produce sports goods, sponge rubber, precision bearings and adhesives. In 1967, the company changed its name from the Dunlop Rubber Company Ltd to Dunlop Ltd, to reflect the more diversified nature of the business and in 1971 Dunlop merged with Pirelli of Italy. The merger was not successful, and was dissolved in 1981. The European tyre business was sold to its former subsidiary, Sumitomo Rubber Industries Ltd of Japan in 1983 and the following year the remaining tyre factories in New Zealand and India were sold for £200 million. Dunlop Holdings Limited (encompassing the whole company) was bought by BTR plc in 1985.