Plessey
 |
|
| Public | |
| Industry | Electronics, defence and telecommunications |
| Fate | Acquired (in 1989 by GEC/Siemens joint holding company - GEC Siemens plc) |
| Successor |
GEC (1989–1999) Siemens Plessey (1989–1997) Marconi Communications (1998–2006) Siemens Communications (1998–2006) BAE Systems (1999 till date) |
| Founded | 1917 |
| Defunct | 1989 |
| Headquarters | Ilford, England |
|
Key people
|
Sir John Clark (Chairman) |
The Plessey Company plc was a British-based international electronics, defence and telecommunications company. It originated in 1917, growing and diversifying into electronics. It expanded after the Second World War by acquisition of companies and formed overseas companies.
It was listed on the and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. In 1989, it was taken over by a consortium formed by GEC and Siemens which split the assets of the Plessey group.
The majority of Plessey's defence assets were amalgamated into BAE Systems in 1999 when BAe merged with the defence arm of GEC, Marconi Electronic Systems (MES). A small portion of the defence market, mostly embedded electronic systems and circuitcards remained with GE, formerly GE Fanuc and now GE Intelligent Platforms (GE-IP) based in Towcester. The bulk of Plessey's telecommunications assets were acquired by Ericsson through its 2005 acquisition of Marconi Corporation plc, a successor company of GEC. The remainder of the communication assets went to Telent plc.
The Plessey company was founded in 1917 in Marylebone, central London. The original shareholders were Thomas Hurst Hodgson, C.H. Whitaker, Raymond Parker and his brother Plessey Parker. A talented German engineer, William Oscar Heyne was employed by the company. Heyne later became the Managing Director and Chairman of Plessey and was one of the key figures in the development of Plessey during the 1920s and 30s. The company moved to Cottenham Road in Ilford early in 1919 (and then to Vicarage Lane where it remained). In 1925 the original company was wound up and a new one formed with a greater share capital. Most of the early work carried out by the company was mechanical engineering rather than electronics.
An early customer of Plessey was a galvanising company called British Electro Chemists. One of that company's shareholders was Byron G. Clark, an American, who was also a business associate of T.H. Hodgson, one of the founders of Plessey. The Clark family would eventually dominate the management of Plessey for most of its history. Byron's son Allen George Clark joined the company in 1921, and went on to become a major driving force behind the development of Plessey, followed later by his sons John Allen Clark, and Michael William Clark, both of whom rose to prominent positions in the company.
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Wikipedia