John Langham founded Langham Industries in 1980 with the acquisition of Stone Manganese Marine, the world’s leading manufacturer of marine propellers. The formation of Langham Industries followed a long career in the engineering industry after first studying Mechanical Engineering at Cambridge University, and was born out of the desire to create a globally competitive and truly customer focussed organisation at a time when many UK engineering companies were in decline.

In 1982 the Group expanded with the acquisition of Stone Foundries, the largest UK light alloy foundry serving the aerospace industry and Stone Fasteners, a leading manufacturer of aircraft rivets and specialist nails. Both these companies, like Stone Manganese Marine, were formerly part of Stone Platt Industries and trace their origins back to 1831 when Josiah Stone started manufacturing copper nails for building wooden ships at Greenwich.

In 1983 Christopher Langham, a qualified engineer, joined the Group after working for Dunlop Tyres and the Ford Motor Company, and studying business at Harvard University.

The Group has since expanded through a combination of organic growth and acquisitions. In 1989 Tridan Engineering was purchased to provide a world class machining facility for the aerospace and other high technology industries already served by the Group. In the 1990’s service businesses were developed to complement the manufacturing base and provide greater stability of earnings. The most significant development in this strategy occurred in 1996 when the former naval base at Portland in Dorset was purchased from the Ministry of Defence. This excellent deep-water facility and 2000 acre sheltered harbour has since been developed into a successful commercial port and is now a substantial Group business with further growth potential.

Most recently, Clevedon Fasteners, a manufacturer of high quality commercial rivets and specialised fasteners was acquired in 2000 and has subsequently become the largest such producer in the UK when the rivet business of Aylesbury Automation was added in 2002.