History of John Yates & Company, Ltd.

John Yates & Co., Ltd. was an English forged tool maker in the Birmingham area. The firm also went by J. Yates & Co., and Yates & Co. Their products included brick trowels, axes, brick axes, billhooks, spades, eye hoes, picks, mattocks, and other edge and striking tools. An early specialty was hoes and other tools for overseas cotton, rubber, and tea plantations.  By 1900, Yates was also advertising hand tools for road construction and mining. Yates brick trowels and catalogues are very rare.

The Mining Journal, Vol. 89, 18 Jun 1910, pg. xi

Yates began before 1838, when it advertised in Osborne's railway guide book. At that time they operated Pritchet Street Works, and by 1863 had added Exchange Works on Rocky Lane in Aston, later Aston Manor, Birmingham. It remained at Exchange Works for another 100 years.      

Osborne's Guide 1838

There are occasional print references to the company through 1965. By 1953 John Yates & Co. was included in the Eva Industries Group of Companies owned by Eva Brothers Ltd., of Crabtree Forge, Clayton, Manchester.  The group was renamed Eva Industries in 1960, and it continued to acquire toolmakers, including Edge Tool Industries (Edward Elwell Ltd. and Chillington Tool Co.) in 1962, reaching at least 10 subsidiaries in 1972.  In 1982 Eva Industries was acquired by Anglo-Indonesian Corporation plc. Currently, the John Yates & Co. name is held by the Ralph Martindale Group of Companies, who still manufacture agricultural hand tools as Ralph Martindale & Co. and Chillington Tool Co.  The date that John Yates & Co. tools stopped being manufactured is unknown.

Yates & Co. brick trowel stamp

Yates & Co. brick trowel (incorrect handle)

J. Yates & Co. brick trowel, photo by Dennis Blanton 

J. Yates & Co. stamp, photo by Dennis Blanton