Crompton Parkinson

Crompton Parkinson was a British electrical manufacturing company. It was formed in 1927 by the merger of Crompton & Co. with F & A. Parkinson Ltd. The brand is now part of Brook Compton.

Crompton & Co. was a lamp manufacturer founded by R.E.B. Crompton in 1878. The company was widely known for installing the first electric lighting in Windsor Castle, Holyrood Palace and other prominent buildings. F & A. Parkinson Ltd. was a successful electric motor manufacturing company founded by two brothers, Albert and Frank Parkinson who was a former student, and later a major benefactor of Leeds University. The university's Parkinson Building, opened in 1951, is named in his honor. Crompton Parkinson was taken over by the Hawker Siddeley aerospace group in 1968 which became part of BTR in 1992. BTR merged with Siebe to form Invensys in 1999. After selling off several divisions, Invensys was acquired by Schneider Electrical of France in 2014. Crompton Lighting Australia is now owned by Gerard Lighting, whilst Brook Crompton is now owned by Wolong Holding Group Co Ltd of China. Crompton Lamps was sold to Cooper Industries but is now independent.

In 1968, Crompton Parkinson acquired Vidor Batteries, a manufacturer of radio and flashlight batteries. Founded in 1934 by businessman Thomas Noah Cole, the company was located in a former Vickers-Armstrong munitions factory in Erith, Kent. He had also purchased Burndept Wireless, a well-established radio manufacturer. The combined company was called Vidor-Burndept. Cole had made his fortune from his previous company Lissen Ltd., a manufacturer of radio kits, accessories and batteries, which he sold to Ever Ready in 1928.

In April 1941, the Erith factory was almost completely destroyed by a German incendiary raid, forcing the company to relocate production to a former jute mill in Dundee, Scotland. Other factories were also opened, at South Shields and Brechin. A Vidor slogan from the 1950s was "They do say a Vidor battery lasts a month longer!". In the early 1960s Cole sold Vidor-Burndept to Royston Industries, a sheet-metal manufacturer.

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