Pearson, S, & Son Ltd

Sectors:

  • Luxury / consumer goods production Domestic ceramic products manufacture
  • Utility services Electricity generation & supply
  • Construction Inland navigations construction & civil engineering
  • Financial services Merchant & investment banking services
  • Publishing & printing Newspaper & periodical publishing
  • Extraction Oil & gas extraction
  • Oil, coal, coke, etc, products manufacture Oil products refining
  • Construction Other construction & civil engineering exc railways, roads & inland navigations
  • Publishing & printing Other publishing
  • Construction Railways construction & civil engineering
  • Construction Roads construction & civil engineering
  • Transport services Shipping services - long distance, inc ship ownership & management

Notes:

Traced origins to Samuel Pearson, d1884, who, with his son, established a construction and brickmaking business at Cleckheaton in 1844. Soon after it moved to Bradford and initially focused on railway and water supply contracts. Weetman D Pearson, later Lord Cowdray, 1856-1927, joined in 1872 and soon dominated the business and was sole owner from 1894. By 1882 undertaking London work and transferred head office to London in 1884. By 1890 handling huge international infrastructure contracts and by 1914 was UK's largest construction business. Incorporated 1897. After 1900 diversified into Mexican oil production, refining, transport and marketing to create a major oil business operating as Mexican Eagle Oil Co Ltd, selling his Mexican oil interests to Shell in 1919. From 1920s diversified further into oil, electricity and financial services, in particular acquiring the London merchant bank, Lazard Brothers. Subsequently gave up contracting and developed other business interests that included publishing [Longmans], newspaper ownership [Financial Times and Economist], ceramics manufacture [Royal Doulton], etc, developing a well defined holding company structure as a business conglomerate. For many years continued in ownership and management of Pearson family as a leading UK business. From 1990s refocused as an international publishing/media house

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