Ferrograph 1949 - 1977
- occupation:
- Manufacturer
- Nationality:
- British
- born in:
- South Shields, South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom
Richard Merrick, one of the owners of Wright and Weaire, became interested in tape recorders in 1947 after being introduced to Louis Fishoff who had identified tape recorders as a new growth market. Fishoff convinced Merrick to look into producing a tape recorder. Merrick discussed this with Ernest Niblett, another of the owners of Wright and Weaire, who confessed that he had been interested in this technology for some time. So they decided to pursue the idea and had produced their first tape recorder in 1948, the Wearite Tape Deck.
The British Ferrograph Recorder Co was established in 1949 to market these tape recorders. Over the 1950s, the company gained a few patents and in 1958, Wright and Weaire changed their name to the Ferrograph Company with manufacturing activities being transferred to a new subsidiary, Wright and Weaire Ltd. In 1959, Ferrograph was absorbed by the Wilmot Breeden Group at which point they also started producing amplifiers, radio tuners and monitor loudspeakers.
In 1977, the company was experiencing falling sales which were causing heavy losses. Wilmot Breeden sold Ferrograph for £500k and, to protect jobs, the National Enterprise Board merged Ferrograph with North East Audio Ltd (NEAL). NEAL took over all operations.
