Collection Relating to Exhibitions Celebrating Alcock & Brown

Vickers-Armstrongs (Aviation) Ltd emerged from the reorganisation of Vickers (Aviation) Ltd and Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd in 1938. Within the new company, both the Vickers works and the Supermarine works continued to brand their products under their original names.

The parent company, Vickers-Armstrongs Ltd, was formed by the merger of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927.

Vickers Limited had established its Aviation Department in 1911. In 1928, the Aviation Department was reconstituted as Vickers (Aviation) Limited. Around the same time, Vickers (Aviation) Limited acquired the Supermarine Aviation Works, which built the Spitfire fighter plane, renaming them the Supermarine Aviation Works (Vickers) Ltd.

In 1960 Vickers-Armstrong (Aircraft) Ltd was one of the companies involved in the formation of British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) formed as a result of the merger of Vickers-Armstrong (Aviation) Ltd, Bristol Aviation, English Electric and Hunting. The Vickers brand name was eventually dropped by BAC in 1965.

Construction of the airport at Ringway began on 28 November 1935, and it opened on 25 June 1938. During the Second World War it was an important site in the production of military aircraft and in training parachutists. After the war, it reverted to a civilian airport and gradually expanded, with the second runway being added between 1997 and 2001. The airport is now owned by Manchester Airport Group plc.

Born in St John's, Newfoundland in 1882, Elizabeth Mary Holloway (known as Elsie) was a renowned Newfoundland photographer. Her parents, Henrietta and Robert Holloway, fostered a creative and curious environment at home. Elsie's father taught her photography and in 1901 she travelled to England to continue her training.

She set up a photography studio in St John's with her brother Bert and became well-known for her portrait photography. At the outbreak of the First World War, the studio had lots of work photographing the newly enlisted soldiers who were about to set off for the Front. When Bert enlisted, Elsie managed the business on her own. Unfortunately, like so many others, Bert did not return.

In 1919, Elsie was there in St John's to record the preparations for Jack Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown's historic first non-stop transatlantic flight. Later, in 1932, she photographed Amelia Earhart at Harbour Grace before she set off on the first female transatlantic solo flight.

She continued running the studio until 1946 when she sold it and retired. She died aged 89 in 1971.

The Science and Industry Museum traces its existence back to 1963, when a joint committee was formed to investigate the establishment of a museum of science and industry in Manchester. The committee consisted of representatives from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), the University of Manchester, and Manchester City Council.

In 1965, the Department of the History of Science and Technology at UMIST began to collect historic artefacts to form the basis for the new museum. The Museum originally opened in October 1969 in premises on Grosvenor Street, Manchester.

In 1972, the Museum changed its name to the North Western Museum of Science and Industry, to reflect the regional scope of its collections. The Museum had rapidly outgrown its original premises, but the creation of Greater Manchester County Council (GMC) in 1974 and the closure of Liverpool Road Station by British Rail in 1975 provided the solution to its accommodation problem. GMC became firstly a co-funder of the Museum and then, following the decision to acquire the historic station to house the Museum, the sole funder. This brought a change of emphasis in collecting. Reborn as the Greater Manchester Museum of Science and Industry in 1983, the Museum narrowed its primary geographical focus to Greater Manchester. The site itself, the world’s oldest surviving passenger railway station, is treated as part of the Museum’s collections.

In 1985, the Museum was asked to take over the adjacent Air and Space Museum, which had been set up and run by Manchester City Council. As a result of the abolition of Greater Manchester Council in 1986, the Museum secured ongoing revenue funding from the then Office of Arts and Libraries (later the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and currently the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport). The Museum name changed to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester, or MSIM, around this time.

In 2007, the Museum was rebranded as MOSI.

The Museum joined the Science Museum Group in 2012. It was rebranded to become the Museum of Science and Industry in 2015, and subsequently the Science and Industry Museum in 2018.

Rolls-Royce Limited was established by Charles Rolls and Henry Royce in 1904. The company designed and built luxury cars and with the help of Henry Royce’s previous experience in building cranes, it soon gained widespread reputation for engineering excellence.

During the First World War Rolls-Royce added building aero engines to its skills. This enabled them to later become involved in the development of jet engines. They worked engines for both the civilian and military market. However, a costly over-run in designing and building the RB211 civilian aircraft engine brought the company to financial ruin. Even though the RB211 proved a great success in 1971 the owners of the company entered voluntary liquidation.

The government of the day bought the productive parts of the company which became known as Rolls-Royce (1971) Limited. Portions of the company were sold to British Aircraft Corporation and transferred the profitable car division to Rolls-Royce Motors Holdings Limited. In 1987 Rolls-Royce Ltd was privatised and subsequently became Rolls-Royce plc. The Rolls-Royce Motors brand was bought by BMW in 1998.

Aer Lingus was established in 1936 and is the flag carrier airline of Ireland. The company's first aircraft was supplied by Blackpool and West Coast Air Services, with which it was associated. Aer Lingus' first route was between Dublin and Bristol (Whitchurch) Airport. Routes expanded to include Liverpool and Croydon, before the outbreak of war in 1939 led to Aer Lingus being restricted to flying to Manchester's Barton Aerodrome and Liverpool, when security allowed. In 1945 services to London resumed. Through the late 1940s and 1950s expansion continued with flights to Rome, Amsterdam, Brussels and New York. Flights to Boston launched in 1960.

Originally majority owned by the government, the airline was privatised between 2006 and 2015. It became a wholly owned subsidiary of IAG, International Airlines Group.

The Daily Mirror is a British newspaper, launched on 2 November 1903 by Alfred Harmsworth (later Lord Northcliffe) as a newspaper for women, run by women. In 1904 changed it to a pictorial as unsuccessful and called The Daily Illustrated Mirror. This name ran from 26 January to 27 April 1904. Originally aimed at a middle class readership, in 1934 a decision was taken to increase sales by appealing to working class readers. Based in London, in 1955 the paper also began to produce a Northern edition from Manchester. By 1960 The Daily Mirror was Britain's best-selling tabloid newspaper. It was overtaken by The Sun in 1978.
The Daily Mirror was sold to Robert Maxwell in 1984, and produced its first colour edition in 1988. The 1990s were a difficult decade for the paper, which underwent large-scale restructuring. In 1999 The Daily Mirror merged with regional newspaper group Trinity to become Trinity Mirror. Printing was moved to facilities in Oldham and Watford. In common with other tabloid papers, The Daily Mirror saw sales fall in the early 2000s. In 2012 the paper merged with its sister title, The Sunday Mirror.

Norman Edwards Associates (Manchester) was a British limited company operating out of Old Trafford and later Chorlton, Manchester from c 1959 until c 1989. The business provided photography and public relations services. Clients included the Irish airline Aer Lingus.

Co-ordinating body for air sports in the UK, founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain. It was granted its Royal prefix in 1910. The Club published a magazine, Flight International, from 1962 onwards.

Founded as the The Daily Telegraph and Courier by Colonel Arthur B. Sleigh in June 1855. Joseph Moses Levy, the owner of The Sunday Times, agreed to print the newspaper, and to pay for the inital cost of printing the first edition. However, the newspaper was not a succes and Colonel Sleigh was unable to pay the ongoing costs. Joseph Levy took over the newspaper and relaunched it as The Daily Telegraph.

The Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce was established in April 1794 as the Manchester Commercial Society at Spencer's Tavern, St Ann's Square, Manchester. In 1810 it became known as the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, a name it held until 1970, when it became the Manchester Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Later it became the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. As of 2024 it was the largest accredited Chamber of Commerce in the UK with over 4000 members. The Chamber enables its members to network and represents the interests of businesses locally.

The Manchester Guardian Limited was established in 1907 when C.P. Scott bought The Manchester Guardian from the estate of his cousin, Edward Taylor. In 1924, it bought The Manchester Evening News and became The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Limited. The Manchester Guardian newspaper became known as The Guardian in 1959 and the company name subsequently changed to Guardian and Manchester Evening News Limited.

It became the Guardian Media Group in 1993. The Group is owned by Scott Trust Limited.

The Daily Mail is a British national newspaper, first published as a broadsheet in 1896 by Alfred Harmsworth, later made 1st Viscount Northcliffe. The newspaper was formed as the result of a merger between the Hull Packet and The Hull Evening News. Harmsworth and his brother Harold edited and managed the paper. From 1900 the paper was printed simultaneously in London and Manchester. By 1902 circulation had reached over one million, placing amongst the top-selling newspapers of the day.

The Daily Mail has been published by the Daily Mail and General Trust since 1922, when the trust was created to oversee the Harmsworth family's media interests. In 1929 Esmond Harmsworth, son of Harold, took over the Chairmanship, alongside the 2nd Lord Rothermere. Under their aegis the trust was floated on the stock exchange in 1932.

In the 1930s the paper supported fascism, with favourable reporting on Mussolini, Hitler and Oswald Moseley's Blackshirts - The British Union of Fascists.

The postwar years saw the launch of a Scottish edition of the Mail, in 1946. Initially printed in Edinburgh, then Manchester, the paper was moved to Glasgow in 1995.

The Mail went from broadsheet to tabloid format in 1971. In the same year it took over The Daily Sketch.

The 3rd Lord Rothermere, Vere Harmsworth, became Chair of the Daily Mail and General Trust in 1978. He was succeeded by his son Jonathan Harmsworth in 1998. This period saw the launch of a sister paper, The Mail on Sunday, in 1982. The Mail stopped being printed in Manchester in 1987.

Today the Mail is Britain's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its headquarters are currently at 2 Northcliffe House, London. Its online presence, MailOnline, reaches a global audience. Recent editors include Paul Dacre, and Geordie Greig, who succeeded him in 2018.

The Manchester Evening Chronicle was established by Manchester City football club chairman Sir Edward Hulton in 1897. In 1923, following Hulton's death, the paper was sold to Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook. It was sold again in 1924 to Allied Newspapers. The Evening Chronicle was merged with the more successful Manchester Evening News in 1963.

Manchester businessman Mitchell Henry set up the Manchester Evening News on 10 October 1868. Originally a personal propaganda sheet by which Henry aimed to secure voters to elect him to parliament, when Henry failed to be elected the title was sold to Manchester newsmen, Peter Allen and his brother-in-law John Edward Taylor, under whom circulation increased. In 1879 the company moved from Brown Street to premises in Cross Street shared with the Manchester Guardian. The MEN’s strength lay in the number of classified advertisements placed by local businesses.

In 1924, John Russell Scott, elder son of the Manchester Guardian's C.P. Scott, bought the MEN bringing the newspaper under the same ownership as the Guardian.

By 1939, under the editorship of William Haley, the MEN had become the largest provincial evening paper in Britain. At the end of the Second World War, the MEN pulled off a national scoop by being the first paper to publish the news of the end of the war in Europe.

In 1963, the MEN acquired the failing Evening Chronicle, its main rival, producing a combined title with a daily circulation of around 480,000.

In 2010, the MEN was sold by the Guardian Media Group to Trinity Mirror and moved headquarters from Scott Place, Manchester, to the Trinity Mirror headquarters in Chadderton, Oldham.

The British Aircraft Corporation, often known simply as BAC, was formed on 18th July 1960 with the merger of the aviation interests of English Electric, Vickers-Armstrong and the Bristol Aeroplane Company. This was undertaken due to pressure from the British government, who had warned that it expected a consolidation of the aircraft industry, along with the guided weapons and engine industries, due to a decrease in the number of contracts it was going to offer. There was also some encouragement in the form of the contract for the TSR-2 aircraft, at the time the most advance aircraft design Britain had every produced, as well as the continuance of government research and development spending and a guarantee of aid for promising new types of civil aircraft.

The ownership of the new company would split between the original owners of the constituent divisions. As such both Vickers-Armstrong and English Electric received 40% of the shares and the remaining 20% was given to Bristol. Existing designs would be produced under these existing brands and the BAC name would initially only be added to group marketing material. The group also took over the design of the Bristol 223 supersonic airliner, which would be merged with a similar Sud Aviation design to produce Concorde. The head of research and development for the new company would be Sir Barnes Wallis who remained in this position until 1971.

During September 1960 the new company would acquire a 70% stake in Hunting Aircraft and at the same time would also be awarded the contract for the TSR-2.

In 1961 the first BAC design was produced, the BAC One-Eleven, and the company also established a subsidiary in the United States of America under the name British Aircraft Corporation (U.S.A.) Incorporated, which was aimed at promoting sales of the company’s aircraft and guided weapons.

During 1963 the group underwent a great deal of expansion and restructuring. It first acquired the guided weapons divisions of English Electric and Bristol Aircraft which it merged to form a new subsidiary, known as British Aircraft Corporation (Guided Weapons). This not only produced a number of guided missiles but also expanded to include electronics and space systems. In October BAC underwent a major change when it became a holding company and a new subsidiary was formed as British Aircraft Corporation (Operating) Limited. This took over the constituent aircraft manufacturers, Bristol, English Electric Aviation, Hunting Aircraft and Vickers-Armstrong Aircraft, which became divisions of the new company under the following names, BAC (Filton Division), BAC (Preston Division), BAC (Luton Division), and BAC (Weybridge Division). The guided weapons division would also be added into this group. The ownership of the holding company would remain with the three original companies.

During 1965 BAC would undergo a major loss when the British Government cancelled the TSR-2 project due to increasing costs. This was a major blow to the company but it was able to survive due to the success of its One-Eleven airliner.

In 1966 the group would form a joint company with Breguet under the name SEPECAT. This was established to develop a new strike aircraft for the British and French air forces and would eventually result in the Jaguar. The year would also see Rolls Royce acquire the Bristol Aeroplane Company so that it could amalgamate its engine business with that of Bristol Siddeley Engines. As a result, it would also acquire the 20% Bristol held in BAC. Although Rolls Royce initially stated that they did not wish to take over these shares they did not initially dispose of them and it wouldn’t be until the company went bankrupt in 1971 that Vickers and the General Electric Company, which had acquired English Electric in 1968, were able to purchase the 20% share. As well as this in September 1966 the Minister of Aviation, Tony Benn, announced that he believed that BAC and Hawker Siddeley should be merged into a single company. Despite this BAC’s success with the One-Eleven airliner and large defence contract with Saudi Arabia made it unlikely the parent companies would be willing to sell their shares and the proposal was soon dropped.

The British Aircraft Corporation would be a major opponent to the Airbus proposal during 1967, arguing instead in favour of its own design, the Three-Eleven. This design was initially ordered by British European Airways, but government pressure cancelled this and replaced it with the A300 design. As a result, BAC would not be involved in Airbus and it would be Hawker Siddeley that was the British representative, producing the wings for the new aircraft.

On 1st August 1968 British Aircraft Corporation Limited, the holding company of the group was renamed British Aircraft Corporation (Holdings) so that the operating subsidiary could be renamed British Aircraft Corporation. The newly named company would enjoy a major success when the first Concorde protype flew on 2nd March 1969, followed by the first British Concorde’s flight on 9th April the same year from BAC Filton. The design would eventually enter service with British Airways and Air France on 24th May 1976. The same year would also see the company forming a joint enterprise with Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm, Fiat and Fokker. This was known as Panavia Aircraft GmBH and had been established to produce a multi role combat aircraft, which would become the Tornado.

On 29th April 1977, despite opposition from BAC and as a result of the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act, the British Aircraft Corporation was nationalised. Along with Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and Scottish Aviation it would be merged into the newly formed British Aerospace.

Built on the distribution system for royal and government documents, a postal service was known as the Royal Mail has been in existence in the United Kingdom since 1516, when Henry VIII established the position of Master of the Posts. This role was renamed Postmaster General in 1710. During its existence, the Royal Mail has been known as the Royal Mail Steam Packet Co and Royal Mail Lines Ltd. It is also known as Royal Mail Limited, Royal Mail Group and Royal Mail Holdings plc.

During the 17th century, the Royal Mail service was made available to the general public, run as a monopoly by various parliamentarians, lawyers and merchants. The General Post Office was eventually established in 1660. With a network of Post Offices, members of the public could easily send and receive letters and parcels. Their post went from the Post Office to distribution points called sorting stations. From there the post was sent on for delivery. In the beginning, the recipient of the post had to pay the fee and they had the right to refuse the item if they didn't want to pay. The charge was calculated based on the distance post had to be carried, and the General Post Office kept a separate account for each item.

Between 1719 and 1763, the postal network expanded, with private mail coaches provided by Wilson & Company of London and Williams & Company of Bath. The first Royal Mail coach ran in 1784, operating between Bristol and London.

The first mail train ran in 1830 on the Liverpool & Manchester Railway line.

The Uniform Penny Post was introduced in 1840, with a single rate for delivery anywhere in Great Britain and Ireland, pre-paid by the sender. It wasn't until 1968 that the first and second class postage rates were introduced. Royal Mail postal boxes were introduced in Jersey in 1852 and on mainland Britain in 1853. The Post Office introduced a national telephone service in 1912. British Telecom separated from the Post Office in 1980, under the British Telecommunications Act. Post codes were introduced across Great Britain and Northern Ireland between 1959 and 1974.

The 1969 Post Office Act made the General Post Office a statutory corporation, known as the Post Office.

In 1986, the Royal Mail's functions were split into three businesses: Royal Mail Letters, Royal Mail Parcels and Post Office Counters. In 1990, Royal Mail Parcels became known as Parcelforce. The Postal Services Act 2000 made the Royal Mail a public limited company. In 2001, the Royal Mail rebranded as Consignia, but the following year became Royal Mail Group plc, due to the lack of Consignia's success as a brand. The new chairman Alan Leighton announced that Royal Mail Group would focus on its key brands - Post Office, Royal Mail and Parcelforce.

A slight change in legal status in 2007 meant that Royal Mail Group plc became Royal Mail Group Ltd. The Postal Services Act 2011 allowed for up to 90% of Royal Mail to be privatised, with at least 10% of shares to be held by Royal Mail employees. On 1 April 2012, Post Office Ltd became independent of Royal Mail Group and was reorganised to become a subsidiary of Royal Mail Holdings, with a separate management and board of directors. A 10-year inter-business agreement was signed between the two companies to allow Post Offices to continue issuing stamps and handling letters and parcels for Royal Mail. After almost 500 years of Government ownership, the Royal Mail was floated on the London Stock Exchange on 15 October 2013.

The Science Museum, London has it has its origins in the Great Exhibition of 1851, held in Hyde Park in the huge glass building known as the Crystal Palace. In 1857, South Kensington Museum opened on the site of what is now Victoria and Albert Museum. In 1862 the Science collections move to separate buildings on Exhibition Road and in the 1880s a Science library is established, with a Science Collections director appointed in 1893.

In 1909, when the new buildings were opened, the title was confined to the Art Collections. The Science and Engineering Collections were finally separated administratively and the name 'Science Museum', in informal use since 1885, was officially adopted. It was on June 26th that year that the institutional reorganisation into two independent institutions was ratified and the title "Science Museum" was officially bestowed.

A change in the underlying philosophy of the Science Museum can be said to date from about 1960. The emphasis began to shift from technical education informed by historical exposition, to a more broadly-based policy of preservation of historical artefacts placed in their historical and social context.

The history of the Science Museum over the last 150 years has been one of continual change. The exhibition galleries are never static for long, as they have to reflect and comment on the increasing pace of change in science, technology,
industry and medicine. Even if this sometimes means the removal of some wellloved objects to store, we can be certain that some of their modern replacements will become cherished in turn.