GEC History, 1886-1999, an introduction

1886 General Electric Apparatus Company

G.Binswanger and Company, an electrical goods wholesaler established in London during the 1880s by a German immigrant named Gustav Binswanger (later Byng), was the building block for GEC.

In 1886 Byng was joined by another German immigrant, Hugo Hirst, (later Lord Hirst) the 'Father of GEC' and the company changed its name to The General Electric Apparatus Company (G.Binswanger). This date is regarded as the real start of GEC.

Hugo Hirst	Gustav Byng

The following year, the company produced the first electrical catalogue of its kind. In 1888 the firm
acquired its first factory in Manchester for the manufacture of telephones, electric bells, ceiling roses and switches.

In 1889 The General Electric Co. Ltd. was formed as a private limited company, also known as G.E.C., with its head office in Queen Victoria Street, London. The company developed the use of china as an insulating material in switches and manufactured light bulbs from 1893. In 1900, GEC was incorporated as a public limited company, The General Electric Company (1900) Ltd. And from 1903 it was styled 'The General Electric Co. Ltd.'

Rapidly growing private and commercial use of electricity, especially in lamps and lighting equipment, ensured buoyant demand and the company expanded both at home and overseas with the establishment of branches in Europe, Japan, Australia, South Africa and India and substantial export trade to South America.

Hugo Hirst had become Managing Director in 1906 and when Gustav Byng died in 1910 he also
became Chairman until his death in 1943.

• During 1920, Hugo Hirst gave a series of lectures to the GEC Debating Society, of which he was Chairman at that time. During these talks he described the events that took place during the five years leading up to the formation of the General Electric Company in 1886, through to the year 1900. Transcripts of these lectures, in two parts, are available here: Part 1, Part 2
• The Annual Dinner of GEC in 1904 saw the first performance of "The GEC March", compose by Louis Hillier and commissioned by the Company. It incorporated a musical part written for electric bells, still new technology at the time. You can read more and play The GEC March here.

1919 Britain’s First Industrial Research Laboratories

During World War I the Company was heavily involved in the war effort with products such as radios, signalling lamps and arc lamp carbons.

In 1919, GEC established Britain's first separate industrial research laboratories at Wembley and
moved its head office to new premises in Kingsway, London two years later. From the 1920s the
Company was involved in the creation of the National Grid.

GEC continued to acquire companies and embark on joint ventures, as well as expanding its
manufacturing operations overseas and its domestic branch network.

During World War II, GEC was a major supplier to the military of electrical and engineering products.

Significant contributions to the war effort included the development of the cavity magnetron for radar, with advances in communications and the mass production of electric lighting.

1961-67 Acquired RAI & AEI

In 1961, GEC took over Radio and Allied Industries (RAI), and with it emerged the new power behind GEC, Arnold Weinstock, who took over as Managing Director in 1963, moving the headquarters of the electrical giant from Kingsway to Stanhope Gate.

Weinstock embarked on a program that was to rationalize the whole British electrical industry, but
began with the rejuvenation of GEC. In a drive for efficiency, Weinstock made cutbacks and mergers, injecting new growth and confidence in GEC - reflected in the profits and financial markets.

In the late 1960s, the electrical industry was revolutionised as GEC acquired Associated Electrical
Industries (AEI) in 1967, which encompassed Metropolitan-Vickers, BTH, Edison Swan, Siemens Bros., Hotpoint and W.T. Henley.

1968 Merged with English Electric

In 1968, GEC merged with English Electric, incorporating Elliott Bros., The Marconi Company, Ruston and Hornsby, Stephenson, Hawthorn & Vulcan Foundry, Willans and Robinson and Dick Kerr.

The background was the rationalisation of the UK heavy electrical industry. The desire of the Central Electricity Generating Board, the principle buyer, was to have only two principal manufacturers for turbo-alternators, the main elements in power stations. A merger of English Electric and GEC-AEI would give "The General Electric and English Electric Companies Limited" almost exactly half of the turbo-generator business.

On 6th September the two companies issued a joint statement announcing that ‘a total merger should be effected between them ... under the chairmanship of Lord Nelson with Arnold Weinstock as managing director’. GEC continued to expand under Sir Arnold Weinstock, with the acquisition of Yarrow Shipbuilders in 1974 and Avery in 1979.

The late 1980s witnessed further mergers within the electrical industry, with the creation of GPT by
GEC and Plessey in 1988, and the joint acquisition of Plessey by GEC and Siemens the following year.

An equal investment by GEC and Compagnie General D'Electricitie (CGE) formed the power generation and transport arm, GEC ALSTHOM, in 1989.