Richard Thomas and Baldwins
Richard Thomas and Baldwins Ltd (RTB) was a major iron, steel and tinplate producer, primarily based in Wales and formed in 1948 by the merger of Richard Thomas & Co Ltd with Baldwins Ltd. It was absorbed into British Steel Corporation in 1967. The business now forms part of Corus, a subsidiary of Tata Steel.
Richard Thomas & Co[edit]
Richard Thomas & Co Ltd was an iron, steel and tinplate producer and colliery proprietor. The founder, Richard Thomas (died 1916), leased two tinplate works in Gloucestershire: Lydbrook in 1871 and Lydney in 1876. He went on to acquire local collieries and, in 1888, the Melingriffith Tin Plate Works near Cardiff.[1]
Richard Thomas & Co, in which Thomas was succeeded as managing director by his son, Richard Beaumont Thomas, in 1888, became one of the principal tinplate manufacturers in the UK.[2]
The Ebbw Vale Steel Iron and Coal Company was taken over by Richard Thomas & Co in 1936, and a new steel plant and strip mill was erected in the town.[3]