GUEST, KEEN AND NETTLEFOLDS, LIMITED. This British joint stock company was registered in 190o to acquire the businesses of Guest and Co., ironmasters, steel-makers and colliery proprietors, and that of The Patent Nut and Bolt company Ltd. who, in addition to being ironmasters and colliery owners, manufacture iron and steel railway fastenings, etc. In 1902 the screw manufacturing firm of Nettlefolds Ltd. was acquired, and so the name of the company became Guest, Keen and Nettlefolds Ltd. In 192o a controlling interest was acquired in John Lysaght Ltd., manufacturers of black and galvanised sheets, in Joseph Sankey and Sons Ltd., makers of panel sheets, steel furniture and parts for the motor trades, and in Bayliss, Jones and Bayliss, Ltd., makers of railway fastenings, fencing and telegraph iron work. In 1921-24 control was taken of a number of important collieries. In addition, the company has a considerable interest in Guest, Keen and Piggotts, Ltd., steel pipe makers, in the Crown Preserved Coal Co. Ltd., makers of patent fuel, in Tarmac (South Wales) Ltd. and in The Orconera Iron Ore Co. Ltd., at Bilbao, Spain. In these operations the company employs (1928) an issued and fully paid share capital of over Li 2,500,00o, and there are debentures for L1,850,000.
The chief businesses amalgamated in this great company have a long and romantic history. The business of Guest and Co. was established about 16o years ago, and was one of the pioneer firms in the manufacture of iron. Developments made it the largest pro ducer of coal, iron and steel in South Wales. The Dowlais Iron Works, belonging to Guest and Co., was established as long ago as 1758. The first steel rails made by the Bessemer process were rolled at these works in 1865. The works at Smethwick were origi nally owned by Fox, Henderson and Co., the engineers who built the Crystal Palace, and the bolt and nut manufacture was begun there as long ago as 1853. The Heath-street works at Birmingham were established by the late John Sutton Nettlefold in 1826. Jo seph Chamberlain, father of the late Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain became a partner of his brother-in-law J. S. Nettlefold, in 18J4. The late Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, M. P., also became a part ner in the business but retired in 1874. (L. C. M.)