Arthur Baker and Sons

Dates: before 1895 to after 1951

Location: Excelsior Gauge Works, 174 Winwick Road, Warrington

Specialities: tools used in wire working such as wire gauges, hammers, draw plates and broaches.

Unlike many of the other Warrington companies on this list A. Baker and Sons specialised in neither making or weaving wire. Instead they specialised in manufacturing the tools used in the wire industry such as  wire gauges (which were used to measure the thickness of wire) and dressing plates (which were used to thin and elongate the wire).

Advert for Arthur Baker & Sons showing wire gauge (Graces Guide)

Arthur W. Baker and Sons was founded in Birmingham in 1868, where they began to make more accurate gauges for wire drawers. Arthur moved his business to Warrington in 1873 and opened the Longford works in 1879. The company’s wire gauges were used in the foremost wire works in the country, and then beyond as the company began to expand its export market. All kind of gauges were produced at the works – ones for wire sheets, metals and glass – as well as other tools for the wire industry such as machine- and hand- wortle plates (dressing plates) and hammers.

During the 20th century the works were updated for the production of gap gauges and other specialist precision tools for the manufacturing industries.

Arthur W. Baker and Sons closed in 1992 upon the retirement of the last owner, Mr Richard Baker, and the Excelsior works was demolished the same year.

This article was written for the Wire Works Project 2020-2021, a National Lottery Heritage funded project aiming to highlight and celebrate the legacy left by the wire industry, which dominated Warrington’s employment structure for over 170 years, putting the town at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution.