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McKenzie & Holland was a mechanical engineering company based in Worcester, England. The company started life as The Vulcan Ironworks in Worcester, but the addition of two railway engineers as partners: John McKenzie & Walter Holland led to the company specialising in Railway Signalling and becoming the foremost Signalling Manufacturer of the C19 providing railway signalling solutions for much of the World.

Offices in Worcester and London serviced Europe and a subsidiary factory in Victoria, Australia with offices in Victoria & Brisbane, Queensland, serviced the far East.

Examples of their work can still be seen in the UK, Europe, India & Australia, many still in use.

History


The Vulcan Ironworks was an Iron Foundry founded by Thomas Clunes in 1857, with premises in Cromwell Road, Worcester. The firm started out as "Engineers, Millwrights, Iron & Brass Founders, Plumbers etc", according to the listing in Kelly's Directory. The works had a single tall tapering square chimney, a covered area with open sides, and a handsome main building on a largely open site on the west side of the Worcester and Birmingham Canal.

1861 : McKenzie, Holland & Clunes
In 1861, Thomas Clunes was joined by two former railwaymen, John McKenzie and Walter Holland. Both had worked for the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and left when ownership of the OWW was transferring to the [Great Western Railway]] (GWR), there vision was to use the foundry to supply the railway industry and after a few years of general railway ironwork supply they specialised into supplying railway signalling systems.

In the 1861 Census (Apr 07) the company is listed as employing 104 men and 10 boys

In 1870, the company employed around 250 men

1876 : McKenzie & Holland Ltd
McKenzie & Holland Ltd, Vulcan Iron Works, Worcester."

The entry in the Worcestershire Post Office Directory for 1876 is simply "RAILWAY SIGNAL MANFRS.

1890 : Australian Expansion
In order to capitalise on the expanding Far East market, a subsidiary factory was constructed in South Kingsville, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

.

This had rail access to the harbour in Hobsons Bay and inland to Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and beyond. The now disused factory still exists between Sutton Street & Stephenson Street.

1899 : Working with Westinghouse Brake Co.
In 1899 McKenzie and Holland in conjunction with The Westinghouse Brake Co was the first to introduce power signalling into Great Britain with the installation at Bishopsgate Street station on the Great Eastern Railway.

In 1907 a separate company was formed to carry on this business: McKenzie, Holland & Westinghouse Power Signal Co which, amongst other things equipped the whole of the underground railways of London with power operated automatic signalling.

1920 : Closure
Westinghouse Brake Co acquired certain assets of the Consolidated Signal Co. and by the acquisition of those assets, Westinghouse Brake secured controlling interests in the signal manufacturing concerns of McKenzie, Holland and Westinghouse Power Signal Co (plus various other companies). The name was changed to Westinghouse Brake and Saxby Signal Co. (later shortening to the Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company Ltd).

In 1921 the company closed it's operation in Worcester combining with the factory in Chippenham.

Company Legacy
As railway signalling systems developed in 20th century Britain, McKenzie & Holland were amongst the World leaders in innovation and design, but as on board train signalling warning systems developed, it made sense for signalling and train braking companies to come together and companies to merge. McKenzie & Holland merged with Westinghouse Brake (and others) to form Westinghouse Brake and Signals.

Equally, at the start of the 21st century with the advent of in-cab signalling systems where the driver has a screen informing him of the speed he should travel and when to stop, it has now become necessary for train signalling and braking companies to work with train manufacturing companies, and so Westinghouse Brake and Signals (renamed Invensys) merged with Seimens.

Thomas Clunes
(b. 1818, d. 28 September 1879).

By 1861, Clunes, a former "Plumber and Brass Founder" from Aberdeen, Scotland living in St Martin's, Worcester, with nine children, was a "Master Engineer employing 104 men and 10 boys"; his son Robert at age 11 was an "Apprentice to Engineer".

Clunes retired to Fowey, Cornwall, and his name was dropped from the company's name in the 1870s.

Walter Holland

 * Walter Holland became a J.P. for the City and County and was Mayor of Worcester from 1878 until 1881 and again in 1887.


 * 1904: Walter Holland, of Wood Hall, Norton, near Worcester High Sheriff of Worcestershire