R A Lister and Company - History

History

Founded in 1867, R. A. Lister and Co. were initially manufacturers of agricultural equipment, but after the invention of the internal combustion engine the company became a world-renowned name in engineering. By the early 20th century Listers were producing petrol engines, initially to power sheep-shearing equipment. These products remained an important part of the company's business, but over time the product range expanded considerably, ranging from electric lighting plants and dairy equipment to garden furniture.

Lister employed Danish inventor Mikael Pedersen and manufactured his innovative Dursley Pedersen bicycle.

Sir Robert Ashton Lister was still alive in the late 1920s, at which time the management of the firm had passed to younger members of his family. In 1926 the chairman of the board was Austin Lister, and the company was run by the five sons of Austin's brother Charles: Robert, George, Percy, Frank and Cecil. Inevitably this occasionally caused tensions, as for example George managed home sales and Frank was in charge of buying, while Cecil did not have a clearly defined role at all; and, although Robert was the eldest, it was Percy (later Sir Percy) who had by far the most significant impact.

As managing director Percy led the firm through a period of significant growth and prosperity in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1926 the workforce was around 2000 and was growing rapidly; the company ran a 24-hour manufacturing operation, expanding its range of products and supplying retailers to around 6000 UK customers and many more worldwide. Retailing revenues were particularly healthy in Australia and New Zealand, where sheep-shearing equipment was in great demand.

The company headquarters were housed in an early 16th-century Priory building in Dursley (which remained the headquarters of Lister Petter at time of writing in 2009). In the nearby valley was located a foundry, together with a number of other workshops necessary for the production of engines and the various other products offered, including a machining shop, capstan lathe shop, engine assembly lines, and a coopers' shop.

Lister engines were traditionally painted a mid-range shade of Brunswick Green, which continues to be used by Lister Petter (see below) at time of writing (2009). In 1929, the first of Lister's own design of "CS" (cold start) diesel engine was made in Dursley. The CS is a slow-running (600 rpm), reliable engine, suitable for driving electric generators or irrigation pumps. The CS type engines (the range spanned single-, twin-, triple- and four-cylinder versions in a range of power outputs) gained a reputation for longevity and reliability, especially in Commonwealth countries, to which they were widely exported. Some CS engines ran practically continuously for decades in agricultural, industrial and electrical applications.

By around 1930 Listers were producing around 600 engines a week, most of which were small at around 1.5 to 3 hp; many of these had applications in the construction industry. Listers continued to flourish during the 1930s, riding the economic financial crisis and building on its many earlier successes.

The most successful Lister engine was the Lister 'D' type engine, most of which were 1.5 horsepower/ 700 RPM units. Over 250,000 'D' engines were built between 1926 and 1964, and were used for a wide variety of light tasks such as pumping and small-scale electricity generation. The Lister 'D' is still one of the most widely seen vintage stationary engines in the UK. Unauthorized copycat engines ("Listeroids") have also been produced in other countries.

Having survived the Second World War, Listers continued to benefit from its reputation for durable, reliable high-quality engines, and its pedigree as an old-established firm. However labour costs in the post-war period made a return to the heyday of the 1920s and 1930s impossible. Competition from rivals such as Petter, and from overseas were also factors to be contended with, and in 1965 Listers was acquired by Hawker-Siddeley (see below) who had also bought its old rival Petter in 1957.

Hand-cranked Lister diesel engines were used in many early dumpers.

In 1986 Hawker-Siddeley merged the two engineering concerns to form a new company, Lister-Petter, which was now placed to build on the strengths of both its predecessors. The economic climate of the 1980s and 90s, however, led to a change in the company's fortunes, and Hawker-Siddeley had to sell out. An unstable period followed, and, having narrowly escaped collapse, the company was split; part was acquired by Deutz AG but the core part of the business was bought out by venture capital investors who began to rebuild its product range.

In the early years of the 21st century, as in previous decades, small, durable, reliable industrial and marine engines continued to be a staple, notably the ALPHA water-cooled industrial and marine engines (2-, 3- or 4-cylinder) and the "T" air-cooled series (1-, 2- or 3-cylinder). Although Lister-Petter no longer ran a foundry, engines and diesel generating sets continued to be assembled and sold from a factory on the original site in Dursley. The new investors began to extend the product range to include more powerful engines and a wider range of generating set specifications. In 2007 a new heavy-duty engine, the OMEGA, offering up to 268 kW, was added to the company's product range.

In 2007 Lister Petter held an exhibition in Dursley to mark its 140th anniversary, which included a group photo of staff on the 60th anniversary in 1927. Listers has always had strong family traditions, and one employee who attended this 2007 exhibition was able to identify both her maternal grandparents in the 1927 photo.

In 2009 Lister Shearing (now a separate company) celebrated its centenary.