STAFFS HOME GUARD WEBSITE - MISC. INFORMATION   
KYNOCH WORKS
WITTON, BIRMINGHAM

from  George Kynoch & Co.  to  IMI plc
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At least two members of the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion, South Staffordshire Home Guard - Capt. H.M. Myers and his son Pte. G.C. Myers - spent much of their working lives at Kynoch Works, a huge North Birmingham factory where ammunition, non-ferrous metals and other products essential for the war effort were manufactured. Many other employees must also have been members of the Home Guard, in this battalion and in other Warwickshire and Staffordshire units.

The Works also had its own large Home Guard unit. In addition to the history below, other pages on this website refer to Kynoch in WW2 - Kynoch Works Home Guard: a 1942 report - Kynoch Works Home Guard - a 1944 image  -Kynoch Works: air raids

Here is a History of the Company, from 1862 until 2008 and from Kynoch to IMI 

On the following pages is a short history of Kynoch, originally known as Kynoch & Co and later by many other names including G. Kynoch & Co. Ltd., Kynoch Ltd., Nobel Industries, ICI Metals Ltd., ICI (Metals Division), Imperial Metal Industries Ltd. and finally IMI plc - for a century and a half one of Birmingham's largest and best known companies which despite several transformations during its long life still retains its roots in Birmingham.


TO READ ITS STORY, SELECT FROM.......                                                            

     

           

     SHORTCUTS:   1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000

 

 
SEE ALSO...MORE WW2 KYNOCH WORKS INFORMATION
     Kynoch Works Home Guard - a 1942 report
     Kynoch Works Home Guard - a 1944 image
     Kynoch Works - air raids

OR...

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N.B.    The text of this History has been neither produced nor approved by IMI plc. It is based almost completely on published information and is the author's personal interpretation of events. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure that it is accurate, no responsibility of any kind can be accepted by this website nor by the author for any errors or omissions which may have occurred. If however you can offer additions, corrections or other comment, these will be gratefully received. Please use FEEDBACK.

The main sources for this History are:
  -  "Under Five Flags" published in 1962 by The Kynoch Press (for the period of 1862-1962; the       author of this excellent and entertaining record, whose contribution was not       acknowledged within the book, was Dorothy Thomas, an employee of the Company).
  - "A World of Engineering - The Story of IMI 1862-2001" by Ewan Fraser and John Metcalf,      Good Books, 2002
  -  IMI Annual Reports
  -  Press Reports
  -  Memories of ex-employees

Acknowledgement is gratefully made to IMI plc for permission to use their copyright images.
Information on many other Birmingham manufacturers is to be found within the MadeInBirmingham website.

Text © staffshomeguard.co.uk 2007-2008                                                 v2.2 - 10th April 2008
Images  © IMI plc 2002-2008