Murex Limited was a leading

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provider of services to metallurgists, smelters and refiners, and welders. It was an original constituent of the

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index of leading stocks on the

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History

Murex was founded in 1909 as an

iron founder An iron founder (also iron-founder or ironfounder) in its more general sense is a worker in molten ferrous metal, generally working within an iron foundry. However, the term 'iron founder' is usually reserved for the owner or manager of an iron fou ...

and a

ferroalloy Ferroalloy refers to various alloys of iron with a high proportion of one or more other elements such as manganese (Mn), aluminium (Al), or silicon (Si). They are used in the production of steels and alloys. The alloys impart distinctive qualitie ...

manufacturer. The company moved to Rainham,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in 1917. In the 1930s, Murex made large quantities of electrodes at their factory in

Waltham Cross Waltham Cross is a town in the Borough of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, England, located north of central London. In the south-eastern corner of Hertfordshire, it borders Cheshunt to the north, Waltham Abbey to the east, and Enfield to the sout ...

, and many ships including HMS ''Ark Royal'' and ''

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'' have been welded using Murex equipment. The business was sustained by a high level of activity during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but after the war ended, its profits reduced substantially. It fell out of the FT 30 index in 1967 when its share price declined, and it was replaced by

Beechams The Beecham Group plc was a British pharmaceutical company. It was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Founded by Thomas Beecham who opened the first factory in St Helens, Lancashire in 1859, Beecham focused on marketing the business by ...

. Welding equipment made by Murex occasionally comes up for sale.

Demise of the business

Murex was acquired by the BOC Group in 1967. In the UK, the rights to the Murex brand were sold to

ESAB ESAB, ''Elektriska Svetsnings-Aktiebolaget'' (), is an American-Swedish industrial company. The ultimate parent company of ESAB is ESAB Corporation, a New York Stock Exchange listed (TickerESAB with its principal executive office in North Bethe ...

. Murex Limited was dissolved on 11 June 2013.

References

{{Authority control Manufacturing companies established in 1909 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1967 Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in Essex 1909 establishments in England 1967 disestablishments in England