GENERAL ELECTRIC COMPANY, LTD. A Brit ish joint stock company, covers in its operations the entire field of electrical engineering, from the equipment of the largest generat ing stations, power transmission systems, railway electrifica tions and the like down to lamps, bells and the small electrical accessories used in domestic service.
The foundations of the present company were laid in 1886 with a small London establishment for the supply of electrical appa ratus. With electric lighting a commercial success, a new depart ment was established, and the "G.E.C.," as it is familiarly known, has developed. In the early eighteen-nineties the lamp works, the source of Osram lamps, were incorporated, followed by glass works for the conversion of the raw material at Leamington.
In 1900 42 acres of land were purchased at Winton, Birming ham, for the erection of works for the making of dynamos, mo tors, conduit tubes, etc., followed soon after by the purchase of a further 63 acres, partly for works extensions and partly for a hous ing estate for the employees. The arc-lamp carbon works estab lished at this time on this site, the only one of its kind in Great Britain, subsequently played an important part in the World War.
While the war was in progress the G.E.C. made further exten sions in many directions, chiefly at the instance of the Govern ment and in 1928 was a self-contained enterprise, covering every department of electrical manufacture. The nominal capital of the company was nearly f10,000,000, of which some f6,000,000 was share capital, and the remainder debentures. The profits in 1927 exceeded L1,000,000.