Hands up everybody who thought the British LaBour Pump Company started off in Blundell Street! Les George has a yellowing, fragile copy of the Evening Telegraph dated Thursday December 14th, 1967, saying that the company was formed late in 1937, one of its directors being the late Mr. H. (Harry) E. LaBour. They had an office in Artillery Row, London and the works were in Raffield Road, Silvertoen, London. The E. T. goes on to say it was a modest beginning with a staff of a dozen or so. Its initial equipment supplied by the USA was lathes and a mechanical saw, a radial drill and a vertical borer plus a dynamometer manufactured by GEC of the USA in 1908. In November 1938 the company moved into Blundell Street, not very far from St. Pancras Station, and increased the plant by the addition of extra drills and lathes. In 1952 Mr. R.W.G. Bullen was apoointed Managing Director, assuming control of the total works and office area of 11,000 sq. feet, known as Niobate Works. In the eleven years he was in that post the total floor area increased to some 26,468sq. feet due to the acquisition of other nearby buildings. In 1963 the company was acquired by the American Gage and Machine Company, at which time Mr. J.D. Bullen was appointed Managing Director, with Mr. R.W. G. Bullen going to America to become President of the LaBour Pump Company in Elkhart, Indiana and was also appointed Chairman of the British Company. A small article in this same Evening Telegraph recalls a visit in May 1967 of top American executives of the parent company, The American Gage and Machine Company to see our part-built factory. They were Wallace E. Carroll, Chairman of the parent company, Chester F. Buckley its President, and William F. Huck, another Director. They gave a dedicatory lunch at which the guests included members of Wellingborough Urban District Council. During the day the Americans unveiled the commemorative plaque below in the foyer of the new building. On the date of this E.T. article the Managing Director was Mr. J.D. Bullen age 43 , Company Secretary Mr. T.W. Baughen age 36, and Engineering Manager Mr. A.J.S. Garner age 27. LaBour Elkhart : With regard to the American Company, the old factory and foundry have been demolished. The factory site had been in a state of disrepair for years, misused by druggies and vandalised. The neighbours were glad to see its demise and moves were afoot in 2010 for demolition. The two websites below will tell you move, the second one is about the plans for future use of the site. Les has emailed two websites in the States asking for information : the FIRST article is reproduced by the kind permission of Jason Overholt of WSBT as requested by email to Les on the 8th December 2014. We have also been promised photos of the plant by Denny Cordell, the Elkhart Brownfields co-ordinator in 2009 of the demolition projects. Denny has an extensive collection of photo's before,  during and after demolition which he can make available to us. http://articles.wsbt.com/2010-02-16/county-tax-sales_24802259 - THIS WEBSITE IS FOR THE WSBT ARTICLE AS BELOW. http://www.elkharttruth.com/news/2011/02/27/Plans-for-LaBour-Pump-include-a-garden-and-a-greenhouse.html

We have been contacted from Mr. Dave Robinson whose Grandfather Dwight Westlake worked in LaBour Elkhart. He came over to England in the late 1940's. Dave has been going through his paper and sent some pictures of LaBour Elkhart. He also found a video that his grandfather took, and we will try and add this to the website. Some of the people in the video could be grandparents or even great grandparents. Let us know once video is put on. We would like to thank Dave Robinson for this information.