Whessoe is a company based in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

and on

Teesside Teesside () is an urban area around the River Tees in North East England. Straddling the border between County Durham and North Yorkshire, it spans the boroughs of Borough of Middlesbrough, Middlesbrough, Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, Stockton ...

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. It was formerly a supplier of chemical, oil and nuclear plant and instrumentation, and today is a manufacturer of low temperature storage.

History

Kitchings and I'Anson

The Whessoe Company traces its origins back to an iron foundry shop founded in 1790. That family business was inherited by William Kitching (d. 1850) and Alfred Kitching (1808–1882), both Quakers, who established the ''Hope Town Foundry'' in

in 1832.Sources: * * *Sources: * *, Hope Town Foundry (original location, −1860) Both William and Alfred Kitching were on the board of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, as well as being shareholders. They built several locomotives for the railway, including subcontracted manufacturing and repair work from

Timothy Hackworth Timothy Hackworth (22 December 1786 – 7 July 1850) was an English steam locomotive engineer who lived in Shildon, County Durham, England and was the first locomotive superintendent of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. Youth and early work ...

. 1845 built, Hackworth designed, Tory class Derwent is preserved in the

National Railway Museum The National Railway Museum (NRM) is a museum in York, England, forming part of the Science Museum Group. The museum tells the story of rail transport in Britain and its impact on society. It is the home of the national collection of historical ...

collection. In 1860, the

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near with ...

purchased the 'Hope Town Foundry' site to extend its Hopetown Carriage Works and the Kitching business relocated to ''Whessoe Foundry'' also in Darlington., Hope Town Foundry (1860–), also known as Whessoe Foundry In 1861, A Kitching was recorded as employing 45 people. The business passed from the Kitchings to their cousin Charles I'Anson. The term 'Whessoe Foundry' was first applied to Charles I'Anson & Company in the 1860s, the name Whessoe being a locality name applied to the foundry. From 1850 to 1890 the company expanded into the manufacture of steel structures, cranes, and gas works equipment. In 1881 the company became a

limited liability Limited liability is a legal status in which a person's financial Legal liability, liability is limited to a fixed sum, most commonly the value of a person's investment in a corporation, company, or joint venture. If a company that provides limi ...

company.

Whessoe Foundry Company

In 1890 the ''Whessoe Foundry Company Limited'' was formed, and in 1920 the company was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

as ''Whessoe Foundry and Engineering Co Ltd'',

Shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

acquired 51% of the shares. From 1890 onwards the company mainly manufactured equipment for the gas and oil industries, such as

gas holder A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows t ...

s. It also made linings for underground railway tunnels and later, equipment for the nuclear and petrochemical plants. Whessoe designed and constructed reactor vessels for power stations including

Calder Hall Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station is a former Magnox nuclear power station at Sellafield in Cumbria in North West England. Calder Hall was the first full-scale nuclear power station to enter operation in the West, and was the sister plant to the ...

and advanced gas-cooler reactors at Hunterston B and Hinkley B.

Whessoe LGA

Whessoe's business supplying low temperature gas storage equipment remained in Darlington, successively owned by Preussag Noell,

Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. It was established in 1887 as a concrete product manufacturer. History Aktiebolaget Skånska Cementgjuteriet (Scanian Cement Casting Ltd) was established i ...

and Al Rushaid. In 2013, it was acquired by

Samsung C&T Corporation Samsung Construction and Trading Corporation (; stylized as Samsung C&T) is a South Korean construction and engineering company. It was founded in 1938 as the first Samsung company and was initially involved in construction and overseas trading ...

as Whessoe Engineering Ltd.

Whessoe Varec

In 1997

Endress+Hauser Endress+Hauser (Endress and Hauser) is a Switzerland, Swiss-based globally operating process and laboratory instrumentation and automation supplier. In 2023, the family-owned business employed over 16,500 people and generated revenue of €3.72 ...

acquired the Whessoe Varec instrumentation business.

Controversies

Whessoe Oil and Gas was revealed as a subscriber to the UK's

Consulting Association The Consulting Association (TCA) was an UK business (described by its key figure as "a non-profit making, unincorporated trade association"), based in Droitwich, which, from 1993 to 2009, maintained a database of British construction workers an ...

, exposed in 2009 for operating an illegal construction industry

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

, and was among 14 issued with enforcement notices by the UK

Information Commissioner's Office The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is a non-departmental public body which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. It is the independent regu ...

Notes

References

External links

*
Whessoe at About Darlington
{{Authority control Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Companies based in County Durham Darlington Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Nuclear technology companies of the United Kingdom