The earliest arrival in this field was the firm of Garrard at Swindon. Garrard & Co., Crown Jewellers, of Albemarle Street, London, were founded in 1721. They existed until 1952, when the firm was amalgamated with the Goldsmiths and Silversmiths Company, but a year later the title of the combined concern was changed to Garrard & Co., Crown Jewellers, to preserve continuity. In 1915 the directors of the original firm, anxious to make a contribution to the war effort and retain existing craftsmen in employment, formed an engineering concern under the title of 'The Garrard Engineering and Manufacturing Co. Ltd.' and rented a small works at Willesden where they started to manufacture such precision instruments as bomb-sights. This class of work continued until 1918 when the company decided to make light precision mechanisms a permanent feature and started to concentrate on gramophone motors—an article then not made in England in any quantity, but imported from the United States, Germany, and Switzerland. Looking for suitable premises, they found a factory at Newcastle Street, Swindon, of approximately 27,000 sq. ft., where they began to manufacture in 1919.
(fn. 147)The factory provided welcome employment for female labour, and their workers were often daughters of the men at the railway works. A branch establishment was also used during the Second World War. As Garrard's grew they had to recruit from an everincreasing distance and by 1952 their employees lived in many places in north Wiltshire.
The early hand-made gramophone motors were soon followed by a mass-produced article, but although this made them cheaper, they lost none of their precision and the business grew. Additions to the floor-space had to be made in 1923 and in 1928; office blocks were added in 1938 and a canteen and other amenities as well as manufacturing space were added during and after the Second World War. They had started with 30 people in 1919, but sixteen years later they had 1,750. In between the boom periods of expansion there were, of course, spells of depression as was inevitable with a product such as they made. One of the lessons learned in depression was the need for diversification. Clocks were added accordingly in 1931, and automatic record changers in 1932.
War in 1939 once more saw Garrard's switching over to the production of armament parts requiring great accuracy, radar mechanisms, timing devices, and small motors capable of many uses. (Electric motors had been built there since 1927.) Additional premises were taken over in Swindon and at Arkell Hall, Gorse Hill.
(fn. 148) A small factory was started at Marlborough during the war and continued in production afterwards.
(fn. 149) Before and after the Second World War, large numbers of record changers and radiogram units were made and exported all over the world and these articles constituted the chief products of the firm. In 1952 the total buildings of the firm covered approximately 170,000 sq. ft. and land had been acquired for further extension. About 1,800 people were employed. Mr. H. V. Slade, O.B.E., J.P., one of the founders of the business, was chairman and managing director of the company.
