Page 25 - High Duty Alloys

High Duty Alloys Redditch Heritage

a hundred yard stretch of Windsor Road were still in place outside the factory wall.
Another nice touch was the introduction from the start of Christmas parties for the
employee's children.

Devereux did not own High Duty Alloys. The firm was actually one of the founder members
of Hawker Siddeley when it was formed in 1935 along with Armstrong Whitworth, Avro,
Gloster and Hawker Aircraft (there had been no Government help in constructing the
Redditch factory, although much assistance did come from the Bristol Aircraft Company).

Devereux left the firm at the and of the war and soon afterwards founded the Fulmer
Research Initiate. He had many other interests and involvements and during the war had
been a director at the Ministry of Aircraft Production, which as the title suggests was
involved in getting the best aircraft to the frontline as quickly as possible. In his spare
time he had taken up farming to become a pioneer in the artificial insemination of cattle,
while apparently his pig records were hard to distinguish from the component batch cards
at High Duty. He died suddenly while attending Ascot races on June 22, 1952, worn out
by his efforts during those six years of war. Much like today, Britain was accused in the
1930s of being behind much of the rest of the world in matters of science, invention and
research, but Devereux was one man who always tried to address that problem with his
own efforts.

Page: 25