Sir Joseph Whitworth & Company, 1888

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Following Sir Joseph Whitworth’s death in 1887, ‘Sir Joseph Whitworth & Company’ was restructured. The objectives of the Company in 1888 included; “To carry on the trade or business of manufacturers of and dealers in ordnance of all kinds, including in the term ordnance all kinds of guns, torpedoes, arms and weapons for military, naval, sporting, or other purposes, and in all kinds of ammunition, gunpowder, shot, bullets, cartridges, ball, shell, or other missiles, and explosives for warlike, sporting, or other purposes, and all cases, carriages, fittings, or other things for use in connection with the above, and to purchase, sell, deal in, adapt, and use any ordnance, whether manufactured by the Company or not.”

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Sir Joseph Whitworth

Joseph Whitworth

Joseph Whitworth was born at Stockport in 1803 and was to become the foremost manufacturer of machine tools of his time. He was approached in 1854 by Lord Hardinge to investigate ‘the mechanical principles applicable in the construction of an efficient weapon.’ Unwilling to commit to the design of a complete set of machinery for manufacturing rifle muskets, Whitworth was asked to undertake the construction of the machinery for the rifle barrel only. His experiments revolutionised rifle design.