| AdminHistory | The partnership of Caird and Rayner was established at 777 Commercial Road, Limehouse in 1889 by Edward Bonar Caird (engineer) and Thomas Rayner (coppersmith). They specialised in the design and manufacture of seawater distilling apparatus and feed water heaters for marine boilers. In 1894 a new office building was built in the cleared yard in front of their two-storey workshop at 777 Commercial Road. Two years later a second office building and workshop were built at 779-783 Commercial Road. The Post Office London Directory at this time describes Caird and Rayner as "coppersmiths, engineers, brewers' engineers, brass founders and finishers and manufacturers of feed water heaters and distillers."There was further expansion in 1902-1903 to include a second engineering workshop at 785 Commercial Road. By this time 170 skilled men were employed. Customers included the British and foreign admiralties and it seems that by 1915 Caird and Rayner had given up engineering work for brewers to concentrate on their Admiralty work.
Following the death of Edward Bonar Caird in 1925, Caird and Rayner became a limited company in 1927 with three directors including Frank Grimble and Matthew Nimmo Caird. During the Second World war as a result of extra Admiralty work and the Blitz, the company opened a subsidiary factory at Watford known as Bushey Works.
In about 1972 Caird and Rayner left Commercial Road though production of desalination plant continued at Bushey Works. The name of the company was changed to Caird & Rayner-Bravac Ltd in 1986, which became Caird and Rayner Clark Ltd in 1990. The company went into liquidation in August 1993 and was dissolved in 1995.
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| CustodialHistory | Tom Ridge received these records from a squatter in the former Caird and Rayner offices in Commercial Road who found them in a basement. |