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W&T Avery and the Titanic
On 10th April 1912, Birmingham businessman William Edward Hipkins of W. & T. Avery Limited, Soho Foundry, Smethwick, boarded the Titanic. As Managing Director of the company, Hipkins was embarking on a business trip which was set to further Avery’s successful forage into the U.S. market. When the Titanic disappeared from the register of shipping, she took with her 1,503 lives. William Edward Hipkins was amongst them. A biography of William Hipkins which includes a history of Avery’s up to 1912 is available at the museum.
When the Titanic slipped beneath the waves, she also took with her a number of Avery’s weighing machines, located in the doctor’s office and the mail room. As well as the range of weighing equipment supplied to the ship itself, Avery’s also supplied equipment to other contractors for the ship such as Noah Hingley, Sheffield Steel and the builders of the ship, Harland & Wolff in Belfast.
Our Historical Links with Shipping
Soho Foundry was opened in 1796 and built by James Watt and Matthew Boulton, to build steam engines for industry. The site also pioneered steam propulsion in ships with Boulton and Watt supplying the engine that powered Robert Fulton’s famous steamboat in the United States. James Watt and Company supplied the Royal Navy with marine engines, but, the most famous marine engine produced at Soho Foundry was the screw engine for Isembard Kingdom Brunel’s ‘Great Eastern’, the largest ship in the world for nearly fifty years!
W. & T. Avery Limited took over Soho in 1895 and the links with shipping continued. Avery’s supplied weighing equipment to the shipping industry including the development of a special weighing machine for medical use on ships. Avery’s went on to purchase the Bristol firm of Parnell’s, a famous shop fitting company that also produced interiors for passenger ships including the famous Mauretania (II).
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