The Beginning
The founders of Albright, Mr. Victor Bedggood and Mr. Roland Catt, were introduced to each other by a mutual partner in the early months of 1944. From May 1944, Messrs. Bedggood and Catt worked in their spare time, without any remuneration, until the end of August 1945.
After successfully working together informally, they decided to start a company with their mutual partner and Lion Switchgear was officially incorporated on 16th May 1945. However, conditions – insufficient orders combined with too high labour costs – proved to be unsuitable to maintain a satisfactory position for the company. In conclusion, Victor and Roland detached themselves from Lion Switchgear in June of 1946 with the idea to form a new company.
The acquisition of the Red Lion Road premises and goodwill from Lion switchgear followed. All that was required was a name for the new company. Quite unconnected with either Messrs Bedggood or Catt, a company called Albright [Engineers] Ltd had been incorporated on 25th March 1943. However, this company had remained dormant since that time and had little or no tangible assets. It was therefore purchased in September 1946 by Messrs Bedggood and Catt as a means of acquiring an established registered company. Albright as we know it came into being.
The initial objective of the new company was to be subcontracting manufacturing engineers with an emphasis on electrical products. It required a great deal of courage to embark on such a venture: The second world war was over; the UK was all but bankrupt and there was an enormous surplus of manufacturing capacity because of the war ending. Then came the winter of 1947, one of the worst on record which caused transport disruptions, restrictions on power consumption and food shortages. This harsh winter resulted in a severe lasting effect on British Industries with around 10 per cent of the year’s industrial production lost and millions of pounds in damage from the March floods.
The new company had to survive this situation in the first year of operation.
The strong commitment and determination of the directors ensured the company survived the circumstances of their first year in business. Though it is believed that the directors sold personal possessions in order to keep the company afloat. The spirit, integrity and belief shown by the founding directors has endured through the company’s history which has become synonymous with quality, commitment and innovation.
From these challenging beginnings the Albright company flourished, moving from manufacturing specialist switch gear to customers designs to manufacturing our own designs, thus establishing the start of the Albright Contactor Range in 1955.
By 1962 we were ready to expand, which initially involved supplying our contactors to Europe. Roland and Victor’s sons, Tony and Nigel respectively, joined the company in 1970, and by 1973 they had been passed the baton to manage Albright’s fortunes. 1978 saw the supply of our contactors into the USA market and under Tony and Nigel’s leadership, our manufacturing capability increased when we opened a 2nd facility in the UK at Whitchurch in 1986. Further expansion into Europe (Lithuania) and Asia (China) followed in 2008. To manage sales, along with a sales office in the UK, strategically placed Sales Offices have been set up in Japan (1993), France (1999), China (2008) and Germany (2009). An established network of international distributors completes our global coverage. Devon 4x4 is an official distributor of Albright, based in the UK, shipping worldwide.
Over the years, the range of industry leading products has continued to grow to meet customers’ needs and opportunities in the market. We now offer more than 100 types of contactors and emergency disconnect switches with over 10,000 unique part numbers. Our markets are wide and varied and include, but are not limited to, applications in the Electric Vehicle, Telecoms, Medical, Marine, and Transport industries.
Albright Today
Remaining a privately owned company, with the 3rd generation now at the helm, we are proud to be one of only a few companies that wholly designs and manufactures its own contactor product ranges. During our 70 + years, we have gained expertise and built a reputation for innovative and original designs and excellent standards of manufacture. We strive to build right first time and deliver a repeatable process to our customers. Ultimately ensuring that Albright continue to deliver high quality, reliable and innovative contactors to our valued customers.