View source for BMARC

{{Short description|UK defence company}}
{{for|Bulgarian Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Revolutionary Committees|First statute of the IMRO}}
{{EngvarB|date=May 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}
{{Infobox company
| name                 = British Manufacture and Research Company
| logo         =
| type                 = Private
| predecessor          =
| successor            = [[Royal Ordnance]]
| foundation           = 1937
| founder              = [[William Denis Kendall]]
| defunct              = 1992
| location             = Springfield Road, Grantham, NG31 7JB
| key_people           =
| area_served          = Worldwide
| industry             = [[Arms industry|Arms]]
| products             = Weapons
| services             =
| revenue              =
| operating_income     =
| net_income           =
| num_employees        =
| divisions            =
| subsid               =
| parent               = [[Hispano-Suiza]] (1937–71)<br>[[Rheinmetall Air Defence|Oerlikon-Bührle]] (1971–88)<br>Astra Holdings (1988–92)
| homepage             =
}}
'''BMARC''' ('''British Manufacture and Research Company''') was a UK-based firm designing and producing defence products, particularly aircraft [[Autocannon|cannon]] and naval anti-aircraft cannon. It was based on a {{convert|60|acre|ha|adj=on}} site on Springfield Road (part of the [[A607 road|A607]]) in [[Grantham]], Lincolnshire.
==History==
===Second World War===
Created and funded under the [[Air Ministry]]'s [[Shadow factory plan]] headed up by [[Herbert Austin]], the company was founded by [[William Denis Kendall]]. Shortly after start-up during the [[Second World War]] rearmament period, Kendall became MP for [[Grantham (UK Parliament constituency)|Grantham]] from 1942 to 1950.
Lord Brownlow was Chairman.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 2 February 1940, page 8</ref> Like R&H and A-B, the site had its own fire brigade. These company fire brigades would hold an inter-company sports competition at the Grantham cricket ground, with other council fire brigades as far as [[Melton Mowbray]], Bourne and [[Peterborough]].<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 22 May 1942, page 4</ref> It had a rifle club, and would hold inter-department competitions.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 21 August 1942, page 2</ref> The company raised money for Grantham Hospital, to buy it a new operating table, costing £330.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 20 November 1942, page 5</ref>
The factory had 7,800 employees in the war, with 2,000 women; the women made the bullets. Due to the London Blitz, the socialite [[Lady Ursula d'Abo]] returned home to nearby [[Leicestershire]], and her father (the Duke) arranged a job for her at the factory, as women's officer. Ursula would travel the eight miles back to her home, by horse-drawn carriage, in the dark. In the darkness the horse knew the way home to [[Belvoir Castle]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=iH3NBgAAQBAJ&pg=PT16 ''God and Mrs Thatcher: The Battle for Britain's Soul'', 2015, page 16]</ref> Ursula was having an affair with the managing director, which her brother Charles (the Duke from 1940 to 1999) did not like, who described the managing director as ''a real whole-hearted cad, of the worst type''<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=TeFuEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT241 ''The Accidental Duchess'', 2022, page 241]</ref> All of Ursula's three brothers saw operational service in the war.
[[File:Belvoir Castle - geograph.org.uk - 3982391.jpg|thumb|right|The horse knew the way home, in the dark, from the factory to Belvoir Castle, each night]]
The factory was not unknown to Luftwaffe personnel, and also the importance of what it made. The factory was sited next to the railway, which could be followed. German aircraft dropped many bombs in the [[Vale of Belvoir]] on the way home from the Midlands, as it was a known thoroughfare for their bomber aircraft
By 1943, its two production units fulfilled 46% of the UK's demand for the [[Hispano-Suiza HS.404|Hispano-Suiza 20 mm]] cannon. The remainder came from [[Birmingham Small Arms Company|The Birmingham Small Arms Company Limited (BSA)]] [[shadow factory]] in [[Newcastle-under-Lyme]], 25%; Poole [[Royal Ordnance Factory]], 25%; and the [[Royal Small Arms Factory]] Enfield, 3%. At the time of the [[Battle of Britain]] in 1940, 20&nbsp;mm cannon were only just starting to arm the [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire]] and [[Hawker Hurricane|Hurricane]]. By 1943, the RAF had converted entirely to cannon armament for its fighters.
Grantham received 21 raids by the [[Luftwaffe]] for precisely this reason, which killed 88 people in 1941-42 (many around the ''Commercial Road'' and ''Norton Street'' area on 9 January and 4 February in 1941). On 9 January 1941 at around 7pm, 22 people were killed, with 29 high-explosive bombs, on Commercial Road, near number 71.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 1 September 1989, page 72</ref>
In mid-October 1944, censorship restrictions were halted, and the first official list of air raids on Grantham was released, once any immediate danger of repeat attacks had disappeared. Grantham had received 197 high-explosive bombs, 500 incendiary bombs, with 71 houses destroyed. 8 people were killed in [[Lincoln, England|Lincoln]], with 55 injured, [[Skegness]] had 36 people killed.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 27 October 1944, page 6</ref> Six people were killed in [[Scunthorpe]].<ref>''Scunthorpe Evening Telegraph'' Tuesday 31 August 1999, page 5</ref>
One notable raid was on 24 October 1942 when 32 people were killed when bombs destroyed most of ''Stuart Street''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Lincolnshire/Spitalgate.html|title = Roll of Honour - Lincolnshire - Spitalgate (Spittlegate)}}</ref> and its [[air-raid shelter]]. The [[Grantham Journal]] would refer to any attack on Grantham as 'an air raid on a Midlands town'.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 6 November 1942, page 3</ref> The October 1942 attack was in lots in moonlight, with 10 people killed in the air raid shelter. Also hit was St Catherine's Road, with 17 high-explosive bombs, and 20 houses destroyed. It is thought that the attack was to hit the nearby RAF Group 5 HQ.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 1 September 1989, page 84</ref>
The [[Ministry of Aircraft Production]] site on ''Springfield Road'' was hit on Monday 27 January 1941 around 2.30pm, when a plane was shot down. The [[Junkers Ju 88]] had taken off from Schiphol.<ref>''Lincolnshire Echo'' Tuesday 11 December 1945, page 3</ref> In the raid 16 people at the factory were killed, 4 high-explosive bombs were dropped on the factory with 30 people injured. 4 houses were destroyed.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 1 September 1989, page 78, page 80</ref><ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 20 October 1944, page 1</ref>
The Ju 88, A-5 4D+CT of [[Kampfgeschwader 30|9./KG 30]], crashed landed in a field at 3.30pm near Pilley's Lane at [[Fishtoft]]. The German crew set the plane on fire, and escaped, but were caught. It was their 100th mission. This was the second time that the crew had been shot down - on 10 May 1940, the crew had been shot down by a [[Fokker D.XXI]], and crashed at [[Vijfhuizen]], and one of the crew was killed, being replaced with Ernst Stiller. One of the propellers of the aircraft ended up in the BMARC social club.<ref>[https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/193113 27 January 1941 Ju 88]</ref> The crew was Oberleutnant Friedrich-Karl Rinck the pilot aged around 26 from [[Stralsund]], Obergefreiter Ernst Stiller, Oberfeldwebel Wilhelm Rüther from [[Salzhausen]] aged around 27, and Unteroffizier Ferdinand Wissing from [[Rhede]] aged around 23.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=h9hgDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT134 Junkers Ju 88: The Early Years: Blitzkrieg to the Blitz]</ref>
The factory was also attacked in daylight on 3 December 1940, but the plane was damaged by the 3rd Kesteven (Grantham and Spittlegate) Battalion who had an [[Anti-aircraft warfare|anti-aircraft battery]] at the factory.  7 people were killed on 4 February 1941.
The 1942 morale-raising film ''[[The Foreman Went to France]]'' was based on an employee of the Grantham factory. [[Melbourne Johns]], from Pembrokeshire, was working at the Grantham factory and realised in 1940 that the Hispano-Suiza factory in France had important Deep Hole Boring Machines that could be of immense value to the Germans and set out on a mission with a team to recover the equipment. Finding the French factory and local village deserted, they drove the equipment back to England on a lorry. Melbourne Johns died in Grantham in 1955. The Deep Hole Boring Machine (DHBM), used for [[Boring (manufacturing)|drilling]] the barrels of the guns, in the Grantham factory was very valuable, and was encased in a specially-made bomb-proof shelter.
The company, for morale, had an amateur revue group, called the 'Hot Spots'; a production at the town's Theatre Royal on Thursday 15 February 1940 was attended by the actor [[Leslie Howard]]; Howard would be shot down on [[BOAC Flight 777]] on 1 June 1943 by eight [[Junkers Ju 88]] aircraft. The 'Hot Spots' group took part in [[Wings for Victory Week]] events.<ref>''Nottingham Journal'' Wednesday 14 February 1940, page 3</ref><ref>''Nottingham Evening Post'' Thursday 15 February 1940, page 4</ref><ref>''Nottingham Evening Post'' Friday 16 February 1940, page 8</ref>
On Friday 6 August 1943 the social club featured [[Felix Mendelssohn's Hawaiian Serenaders]], with the [[Band of the Royal Air Force Regiment]]. As part of factory entertainment, [[Gracie Fields]] entertained workers at the town's cinema on Tuesday 31 August 1943.<ref>''Nottingham Journal'' Friday 27 August 1943, page 4</ref><ref>''Nottingham Evening Post'' Tuesday 31 August 1943, page 1</ref> Afterwards Gracie visited a local airfield, and stayed the night at Mr Kendall's home - 'Brusa' on Belton Lane.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 3 September 1943, page 1</ref>
It also put on events at the Empire Theatre on George Street, and at the Sleaford Corn Exchange.<ref>''Sleaford Gazette'' Friday 11 February 1944, page 2</ref> It arranged a Brains Trust panel question evening at the Sleaford Picture drome on Saturday 12 February 1944 at 8pm.<ref>''Sleaford Gazette'' Friday 11 February 1944, page 3</ref>
and at the State Cinema in Grantham at 3pm on the Sunday.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 11 February 1944, page 8</ref> On both panels were [[Alexander Critchley]], [[John Loverseed]], a Battle of Britain pilot, [[George Reakes]], [[Clement Davies]] later the Liberal leader until 1956, [[Edgar Granville, Baron Granville of Eye]], [[John McGovern (politician)]], and [[Aneurin Bevan]].
By the end of the war, the factory had made 5 million rounds of ammunition, and 100,000 cannon shells. Jim Eade (1905-1983), who worked for Denis Kendall at BMARC, was later the editor of the Grantham Journal from 1945 to 1967.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 3 June 1983, page 1</ref>
===Post-war===
[[Image:20mm gun.jpg|thumb|right|Royal Navy 20&nbsp;mm cannon]]
In 1974, the company acquired a {{convert|720|acre|km2|adj=on}} site at [[RAF Faldingworth|Faldingworth]], near [[Market Rasen]] which had two indoor firing ranges for testing and proving of cannon ([[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon]]). The site also had the capability to store nuclear weapons such as [[Red Beard (nuclear weapon)|Redbeard]] and [[WE.177]]. This site is currently used by [[BAE Systems]]. The company also made the [[Oerlikon 30 mm twin cannon]] (GCM).
{{main|British support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war#BMARC,_Astra_and_Oerlikon}}
BMARC was a subsidiary of [[Hispano-Suiza]] ([[Switzerland|Suisse]]), S.A. in [[Geneva]] and then was owned from 1970 to 1987 by [[Oerlikon Contraves|Oerlikon]], the Swiss defence contractor. It was then sold to British Astra Holdings, which had a head office in Kent, in May 1988.
With Contraves of Switzerland (now called [[Rheinmetall Air Defence]]) and [[Plessey]], it developed the Seaguard naval anti-missile defence. In 1984 the Royal Navy bought the Dutch [[Goalkeeper CIWS]] (made by Signaal, now [[Thales Nederland]]) in an agreement whereby the Dutch armed forces would buy, in exchange, the [[Rolls-Royce Marine Spey]] engine for their [[Karel Doorman-class frigate]]s.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 3 February 1984, page 1</ref>
In the 1990s, the company was investigated for [[British support for Iraq during the Iran–Iraq war|alleged illegal dealings]] with [[Iraq]]. [[Jonathan Aitken]] was a non-executive director of the company from September 1988, and in a libel trial in March 1997, BMARC was accused of selling weapons to [[Iran]].<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/8/newsid_2500000/2500465.stm BBC trial report]</ref> On 11 December 1995, an ITV ''[[World in Action]]'' programme covered the subject and the [[Scott Report]]. It was extensively (and exclusively) investigated by the ''[[The Guardian|Guardian]]'' newspaper, largely motivated by the potential to discredit (and later convict) Jonathan Aitken.
===Falklands War===
The company was awarded [[The Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade (Export) (1981)]].<ref>''Lincolnshire Echo'' Tuesday 8 March 1983, page 16</ref>
In planning the Vulcan raid, [[Operation Black Buck]], the RAF was most interested in the capabilities of the anti-aircraft twin 35-mm [[Oerlikon GDF]]. The station commander of [[RAF Waddington]] sent the station intelligence officer, Flt Lt Martin Hallam, to speak to Spike Jones, a former senior RAF officer, now at the Grantham factory. The meeting was arranged by the managing director Werner Loyk (Swiss). The RAF were able to find out capabilities of radar, but the RAF were told that it would be unlikely for the Argentines to have transported the bulky [[Roland (missile)]] system.
The Argentines had taken the system to the Falklands, and the system would later shoot down a Sea Harrier on 1 June 1982. The Argentines would also shoot down two of their own aircraft with the Oerlikon 35mm.<ref>[https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=1f1ri0doU9YC&pg=PA233 ''Vulcan 607'' 2012, Rowland White, page 233]</ref>
After the Falklands War, many Royal Navy vessels had BMARC 20mm cannon added, as many of these ships had had woeful protection in that war, against substantial Argentine air attacks.<ref>''Illustrated London News'' Monday 1 July 1985, page 25</ref>
===Financial collapse===
On 4 February 1992, after owing £50&nbsp;million, Astra went into receivership. In Britain, it also owned the pyrotechnics company Haley & Weller (who made [[grenade]]s). After the financial collapse of Astra Holdings, in April 1992 BMARC was bought by [[British Aerospace]], briefly becoming part of [[Royal Ordnance]]. The company closed the Grantham site later in 1992, and the site was sold in 1994.
===Visits===
The site was visited on Tuesday 26 January 1943 by the [[Minister of Supply]], Sir [[Andrew Duncan (businessman)|Andrew Duncan]].<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 29 January 1943, page 4</ref> On Sunday 7 September 1941 the [[Band of the Royal Air Force College]] gave a concert in the BMARC social hall.<ref>''Grantham Journal'' Friday 12 September 1941, page 8</ref>
==Royal Navy use==
Ships using the 20&nbsp;mm weapons are the [[Type 22 frigate]], the [[Type 42 destroyer]], the {{Sclass|Fort Victoria|replenishment oiler}}, the {{Sclass|Fort Rosalie|replenishment ship}}, the {{Sclass2|River|patrol vessel}}, the {{Sclass2|Castle|patrol vessel}}, the {{Sclass|Fearless|landing platform dock}}, [[Type 82 destroyer|HMS Bristol]], and {{ship|RFA|Fort Victoria|A387}} and {{HMS|Roebuck|H130|6}}.
==Current use of the site==
The former site's offices are now home to the Springfield Business Park, with the rest of the factory part developed for housing. South Lincolnshire Enterprise Agency was based there.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
[[Image:British 20 mm Oerlikon shell diagrams.jpg|thumb|right|Cross section of Oerlikon 20 mm cannon shell]]
* [http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/sites/f/faldingworth/index1.html Faldingworth site]
* [https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-06-13/Debate-1.html Statement to Commons by Michael Heseltine Jun 1995]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/document/ram/document_20040913.ram Listen to a BBC documentary about BMARC/Astra.]
* [http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server?show=nav.1626&imageIndex=89 20mm weapon] on [[HMS Cumberland (F85)|HMS ''Cumberland'']]
===Video clips===
* [http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=48195 Dennis Kendall in 1945]
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:1992 disestablishments in England]]
[[Category:Companies based in Grantham]]
[[Category:Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Defunct firearms manufacturers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1992]]
[[Category:Science and technology in Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:Manufacturing companies established in 1937]]
[[Category:British companies established in 1937]]
[[Category:1937 establishments in England]]