Birmingham Small Arms Research Articles

Sejarah Bentor Sebagai Icon Kota Pematang Siantar

Economic and social development in urban areas is highly dependent on an effective transportation system to support population mobility and economic growth. One form of transportation that is characteristic of Pematangsiantar City is the BSA (Birmingham Small Arms) motorbike cart, which has a rich history and has become a tourist icon that attracts the interest of many people. However, the decline in the number of BSA motorbike carts in Pematangsiantar City is a concern, due to factors such as increasing prices, competition from other types of transportation, and lack of support from the local government. To maintain the sustainability of BSA motor carts as part of the city's identity and cultural heritage, as well as utilizing tourism potential to drive the local economy, collaborative efforts are needed between motor cart owners and drivers, the government and the community. This research uses a qualitative approach, with a case study method, to explore understanding and experiences regarding BSA motorbike carts in Pematangsiantar City, with the hope of contributing to the understanding of the use, challenges and potential of BSA motorbikes in the context of intra-city transportation in Pematangsiantar City.

Measuring profit and performance, a cautionary tale: Birmingham Small Arms c.1911–c.1936

ABSTRACT Prior to the enactment of the Companies Act 1948, the ability of British company directors to largely determine the nature and form of the corporate financial statements published by their company, renders the information provided in those statements highly problematic. Of particular concern were the ability to hide transactions affecting reserve account balances and the lack of any legal requirement for companies which owned subsidiaries to present consolidated accounts. In the light of the problems and pitfalls identified previously in the literature, this study analyses the usefulness of reported profit figures as a means of measuring company performance, through an examination of the published financial statements of the conglomerate manufacturing firm, Birmingham Small Arms Co. Ltd., between 1911 and 1936. Although the analysis, which utilises internal accounting records, suffers from the usual problems associated with a single case study, it does complement earlier findings, thereby extending our understanding of the extent to which directors of British conglomerate companies manipulated corporate financial statements in the interwar years.

Depreciation during the second industrial revolution: the British cycle and motor vehicle industries, c.1896–c.1922

ABSTRACT This study examines the approach to depreciation adopted by companies engaged in two light engineering industries associated with the second industrial revolution: the cycle and motor vehicle industries. Through an examination of the published accounts of 21 companies engaged in these sectors at some time during the study period, and the archival records of two of them (Birmingham Small Arms and Daimler), this study examines the extent to which firm depreciation practices differed from those in more traditional sectors (iron and steel, coal, transport) previously examined by historians. It is found that depreciation was applied more regularly and, at least in some cases, according to set rates and using sophisticated systems. Nevertheless, the depreciation practices of firms, especially in the motor vehicle sector, have been deemed to render net profit figures unusable as a means of comparing business performance before the introduction of new legal requirements relating to financial reporting introduced by the 1928 Companies Act.

Statistical Analysis as an Adjunct to Historical Research: Identification of the Likely Manufacturers of British Pattern 1907 Bayonets Supplied by the Birmingham Small Arms Company to the Siamese Government in 1920

In 1920, the Birmingham Small Arms Company supplied 10,000 Pattern 1907 bayonets to the government of Siam to accompany an order for rifles. The original maker of these bayonets was unknown, but historical research indicates that the Wilkinson Sword Co. Ltd. was a primary maker. The weights of some surviving Pattern 1907 bayonets, including twelve bayonets from the 10,000 described above, produced by the six makers in the UK before and during the Great War (1914–1918) period were available. A statistical analysis of the data was performed to compare with the historical research. The results strongly supported that the Wilkinson Sword Co. Ltd. was a primary maker. They were also sufficient to exclude from this batch of twelve bayonets the Royal Small Arms Factory (Enfield) and Vickers Ltd. as manufacturers. The statistical evidence for the presence of bayonets made by J.A. Chapman Ltd., R. Mole & Sons and Sanderson Bros. was weaker than that for the Wilkinson Sword Co. Ltd., but was nevertheless supportive of that hypothesis. Overall, the analysis was consistent with the supply to Siam of commingled bayonets from British government stores. It was noted that the bayonets for the Siam contract fell into a relatively narrow weight range, but the reason for this could not be determined.

CONTROL, CONFLICT AND CONCESSION: CORPORATE GOVERNANCE, ACCOUNTING AND ACCOUNTABILITY AT BIRMINGHAM SMALL ARMS, 1906–1933

This paper takes as its starting point the relevance of a historical perspective to the study of corporate governance. Corporate governance is concerned with the institutions that influence how business corporations allocate resources and returns, and with the exercise of accountability to investors and other stakeholders. The historical model adopted is that of personal capitalism which is informed by scholars such as Chandler, and in the British context, Quail. Birmingham Small Arms, a quoted and diversified engineering company, was selected for analysis because although it was relatively large and adopted a holding company format, it retained many of the characteristics of a personal capitalist firm. Our longitudinal study of 1906 to 1933 shows that what emerged at BSA was a dominant group of directors who were eventually impelled to concede change by a sustained shareholder critique and an altered legal and business environment.

‘The American System of Manufactures’ in Birmingham: Production Methods at the Birmingham Small Arms Co. in the Nineteenth Century

(1989). ‘The American System of Manufactures’ in Birmingham: Production Methods at the Birmingham Small Arms Co. in the Nineteenth Century. Business History: Vol. 31, No. 1, pp. 29-43.

Dudley Docker: The Life and Times of a Trade Warrior.

List of illustrations, figures and tables Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1. Dudley Docker and his world 2. Domestic life and early career 3. Birmingham's industrial titan 1902-14 4. Business leagues and business newspapers 1905-14 5. The Great War 1914-18 6. The Federation of British industries and the British Commonwealth Union 1916-22 7. Diplomacy, the British Trade Corporation and the British Stockbrockers Trust 1916-25 8. Armaments, electricity and rolling-stock 1917-29 9. Inter-war politics 1922-39 10. International electrical and railway trusts 1914-44 11. Birmingham Small Arms 1918-44 12. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index.

Frank Edward Smith, 1876-1970

Frank Edward Smith died on 1 July 1970 in his ninety-fourth year. He was astonishingly active in mind and body up until about six years before his death. Unfortunately like many busy people, he left practically no records of his life and work. The author of this biographical memoir was 28 years his junior and never knew him except by sight and reputation. Accordingly he has had to rely on the generous help of others, mostly those who worked under Sir Frank in one or other of his various activities. F.E., as he was affectionately known at the Admiralty, was a remarkable example of a scientist who successfully turned to administration. He was an outstanding builder of scientific organizations, leaving his impact on the Admiralty, the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, on the Royal Society, on Anglo-Iranian Oil, on Birmingham Small Arms—the list is almost endless. Fortunately there were periods of responsibility which are identifiable and these form a framework for the appreciation of his career as set out in the sections which follow.

Francis William Aston, 1877-1945

Hard winds are blowing. The contemporaries of Lord Rutherford who helped him to lay the foundation of the nuclear sciences are following one by one their great leader. Francis William Aston, one of the most successful architects of that edifice, was born on 1 September 1877, at Camomile Green, Harborne, Birmingham, as the third child and only surviving son of a family of seven. His father, William Aston, was a metal merchant of Harborne, second son and third child of George Aston, farmer and metal merchant of Birmingham. The family is presumably descended from a branch of the well-known family Aston of Tixall, Staffordshire. His mother was Fanny Charlotte Hollis, youngest daughter of Isaac Hollis, gunmaker of Birmingham, founder of Isaac Hollis & Sons, now the Birmingham Small Arms Company. Francis William Aston was brought up on his father’s small farm, now Tennal House, Harborne, then in the county of Staffordshire. He was fond of all animals, a passion which followed him all through his life. His earliest memories of a scientific nature were the formation and study of soap bubbles in the rick- yard. His first research (carried out under conditions of extreme secrecy in a disused pigstye) was the action of sulphuric acid on pieces of zinc in an old blacking bottle.

University and Educational Intelligence

BIRMINGHAM.—The first list of donations in response to the appeal of the University for 500,000l. has been published, showing gifts or promises to the amount of more than 250,000l. Nearly half of this amount, however, is given to the Petroleum Mining Endowment Fund, and, whilst making the University unique as a centre of instruction and research in this particular branch of engineering, it will not be directly available for relieving the general indebtedness. The largest single gift is an anonymous one of 50,000l. for the general fund. A sum of 5000l is earmarked for a chair of Italian, and an equal amount is given by the James Watt Memorial Fund for a James Watt research chair in engineering. The Birmingham Small Arms Co. gives 6500l, and the Daimler Co. 3500l A gratifying feature of the list is the number of names of old students who have contributed. The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has given 3200l, and the Worcestershire Education Committee has made an additional grant of 200l per annum. It is announced that a second list will be issued shortly, and it is to be hoped that more of the large firms in the city and neighbourhood will appear therein.