| AdminHistory | The origins of Binks's wire-rope and galvanizing works went back to the mid-1830s, when George Wright Binks was a foreman ropemaker at Woolwich Dockyard, experimenting in the use of soft iron wire instead of hemp. Binks's work was connected with some of the pioneering wire-rope manufacture carried out by Andrew Smith & Company in Millwall from the late 1830s, and in about 1853 Binks went into partnership with James Stephenson in Millwall to make wire-rope. The partnership broke up around 1860, Stephenson going on to make wire-rope and submarine cable at Joad & Curling's old premises on the north side of Cuba Street. The firm of Binks Brothers moved to Strafford Street in about 1863. In 1964 the Greater London Council (GLC) issued an order for compulsory purchase of the works, which finally closed in 1970, Binks Brothers Ltd being taken over by British Ropes Ltd, which moved the business to Charlton.
Based in Stafford Street, Millwall. |
| CustodialHistory | Found by the donor in a book-dealers in Manchester, purchased then donated to the Maritime Archives and Library, National Museums Liverpool in March 2005 (Accession number: MMM.2005.49.1-3). Later transferred to Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives in November 2010. |