John Musgrave & Sons was established in 1850 as the successor company to Musgrave, Son and Heaton. It became a limited company, John Musgrave & Sons Ltd, in 1881.

Musgrave, Son and Heaton was founded in 1838, through a partnership with his son Joseph and John Heaton. The company established its works at the Globe Ironworks in Bolton in 1839. It operated until 1849, when the partnership with Heaton was dissolved.

John Musgrave and his son Joseph then formed a new partnership, John Musgrave & Sons, in 1850, continuing to operate from the Globe Ironworks. Advertisements claimed that the company had been founded in 1839, referring back to the establishment of the Globe Ironworks by the previous company.

John Musgrave & Sons developed and manufactured horizontal stationary steam engines for collieries, pumping stations, and textile mills. Their products sold around the world.

John Musgrave died in 1864 and his four sons continued the business. From around 1866, the company's products included steam engines, steam hammers, boilers, bridges. cranes and gears.

The company built a separate works in Westhoughton in 1902 for the boiler making side of the business. This investment seems to have caused financial difficulties and, in 1911, the company put its Globe Ironorks into voluntary liquidation. The company was refinanced in 1913, as John Musgrave & Sons (1913) Ltd.

The Westhoughton boiler plant closed in 1912 and was acquired by the Admiralty and re-equipped to manufacture naval guns in July 1915.

In August 1920 shares in John Musgrave & Sons (1913) Ltd were offered on the open market but by December 1924 the company had appointed receivers. The business continued to trade for a further two years. Final closure came in December 1927 when Galloways acquired Musgraves' goodwill, designs and drawings.