LAIDLAW

In the 1930’s, architectural ironmongers rarely ventured outside their immediate location and each major city had a well-known high quality distributor: Laidlaw in Manchester; Quiggan in Liverpool; Ramsay in Newcastle; and Parker Winder and Achurch in Birmingham. These companies generally looked after the sales interests of the top quality manufacturers – Wm. Newman & Son for door closers; Walter Rowley for hardware; and E. Tonks for locks. There was little building from 1939 to 1945 apart from reparation of war damage and Government projects.

Companies worked to Government direction – Laidlaw had metal labels made for ammunition boxes with the details of future contents stamped on them. The company benefited from the post war boom which, in the construction sector, focussed on local authority housing, especially in the Wythenshawe area of Manchester. David Whitworth joined the company in 1955 as Company Secretary, becoming Managing Director in 1958 on the sudden death of his father who had been MD since 1945. The company then employed 70 staff in Manchester.

Laidlaw were supplying many hospital projects and when the Ministry of Health made it a condition that national coverage had to be offered, Laidlaw took the lead by creating, with other ironmongery businesses, the Architectural Hardware Consortium, giving David Whitworth the opportunity to get to know senior staff in the member companies. He later used this knowledge to make acquisitions or to start ‘greenfield’ sites to develop a branch network. In 1969, Laidlaw acquired KS Neale Ltd, a Birmingham architectural ironmonger followed by further acquisitions in Scotland (1973) and, significantly, in London (1972), with Alfred G Roberts (Exports) Ltd who represented UK and continental manufacturers in the Middle East.