Thomas Edward Vickers
(1833-1915)

As the head of Vickers Ltd. for over 50 years, Thomas Edward Vickers controlled one of the biggest industrial firms in the world. The Sheffield based firm, which also had branches in Manchester and Birmingham, specialised in armaments, ships, guns, railway and engineering products.

Vickers began in the late eighteenth century as Naylor Vickers & Co. Thomas Edward Vickers worked his way up through the ranks, starting at the Millsands works, and before long he was running the business. In 1863 the firm moved to the larger Don Works at Brightside.

Thomas Edward Vickers also became Sheffield's Master Cutler (1872), a JP and Colonel of the Hallamshire Rifles.