John Newton & Company History
The earliest record of John Newton & Company officially establishing itself is back in 1848. Which at this point is now nearly 160 years of trading and a business operation spanning 3 centuries.
Mr John Newton's parents came from Tuam in County Galway, Ireland in the early 1820's. It has not been possible to research the family much before that date as all the records held in Dublin were destroyed during the Civil War in 1920. All we know is that Mr Newton's mother was a 'de Birmingham', one of the original old families of Ireland.
William de Birmingham came to Ireland with Richard de Clare (strongbow) and acquired large tracks of land in the 12th Century. It is also mentioned in the records of Tuam that a de Birmingham was Archbishop of Taum also in the 12th Century. From family knowledge, Mr John Newton's parents landed at Liverpool and traveled by stage coach to Bermondsey where they settled for a time. The father and two of the brothers ultimately went on to America (the new world) where they settled.
Mr John Newton had decided to settle in Bermondsey, which in the early part of the last century was a busy area with the building of the Surrey Docks. For many years, it has provided foundries, potteries and tanneries supplying the West End of London.
He took it to a smallholding he had purchased in Verney Road where he washed and dried the hair and sold it to builders so it could be used for plastering. In those days, in order to plaster a ceiling and provide the stuccowork popular at that time, it was necessary to mix the plaster with a bonding agent and animal hair was ideal for this. The hair had to be 'teased out', mixed with the plaster and then it could be pushed up between the laths of wood that were nailed to the rafters of the ceiling.
With the great growth of building in London in the middle and latter part of the nineteenth century, the demand was very considerable and John Newton became the largest provider of plasterer's hair in the south of England. He was obviously an astute businessman because he had heard in the early 1830's that a railway was to be built from the South Coast to London Bridge and he decided to purchase land in the area for himself in advance of the railway building program, while it was still affordable. As a result of this he made a considerable profit selling many acres to the London South Coast Railway for what subsequently became the ‘Bricklayer's Arms' goods depot and marshalling yards. This was a key depot in the distribution of goods by rail and one of the largest and therefore most significant marshalling yards in the country. This made it a huge logistics target and it was heavily damaged during the air raids in the 1940's.
With the increase in road travel due to the motorway networks springing up across the country, the general overhaul of the road network in the 1960's and the decrease in rail distribution of goods, the Bricklayer's Arms depot closed in the 1980's and has since been redeveloped for housing.
John Newton used the proceeds of the land sales to the railway to purchase more land in and around South London where he built artisan houses which were let for many years. A company was formed to administer the property known as the Manson Property Company. This was a play on Mr Newton's mother, Mary Anne Newton and son. The properties were ultimately sold on in the 1960's for redevelopment and the company wound up.
John Newton and Company, however, had purchased the site at 12 Verney Road where they had been since 1870 when it was still an area of fields and smallholdings.
As well as becoming the largest supplier of plasterers hair in the south of England, John Newton and Company also expanded into the provision of hair felt. This was used as a slate underlay and incorporated the use of pitch and tar in its manufacture. The company also developed a special felt pad which was sold to the London North Eastern Railway.
This was found to be essential and used between the wooden sleeper and the cast iron shoe that held the rail track upon which the trains traveled. It was found necessary because of the increasing speed of trains in the 1870's, the vibration between the shoe and the sleeper caused a loosening of the rails which could ultimately move sufficiently to cause a derailment. Then many millions of these felt pads were made at Verney Road and sold to the London North Eastern Railway well into the 1950's. It was only with the advent of continuous welded rail that the need for them ceased.
Production of felt products continued into the twentieth century when the company also diversified into the manufacture of block ice, which was collected by fishmongers, butchers and wine merchants etc. from Verney Road with their horses and carts up until 1917. A further diversification was into a foundry producing metal parts for the ‘Woolwich Arsenal' during the First World War.
These two activities ceased at the end of 1918 and the core business of felt pads, felt underlay's and plasterer's hair continued. However, a serious blow was to affect the 'company in the 1930's when British Gypsum, the largest supplier of plaster invented the plasterboard. This is the bonded board including paper and plaster so commonly used to this day, which can be nailed to the ceiling and a skim coat of plaster to finish. This alleviated the time consuming business of mixing plasterers hair with the plaster and applying it by trowel and float to the ceiling. It became essential that John Newton look for an alternative material to sell.
Mr JA Newton, the then chairman, had as a young man been to Heidelberg University and had contacts in Germany. As a result of this, he purchased from Robert Loosen of Krefeld the patent rights to manufacture 'Kregitta' in the United Kingdom, which he had to hide about his person whilst trying to leave Germany under the ever watchful eye of the Gestapo. This was a corrugated pitch impregnated fibre material, which was used in Germany as a base for external render to be applied on wooden buildings. He decided to modify its use slightly and market it in the United Kingdom under the name Newtonite Lath. This material could be nailed to a wall and plaster or render applied to the face. Because it was waterproof, the dampness could not come through from the wall to the face of the plaster. The 'flutes' behind the Newtonite formed by the dovetail keys allowed air to circulate from floor to ceiling and thus carry away any residual dampness or mustiness.
Up until this time, very little effort had been made to overcome the effects of rising and penetrating damp, particularly in the poorer quality housing. People were just expected to live with it. However, with the growth of public housing and health inspectors, landlords were now expected to make much more effort to improve the quality of their housing stock.
During the period of the Second World War, the company continued with a considerably lower level of activity. The area around Bermondsey and the Surrey Docks was heavily bombed both at the beginning of the war and latterly in 1945 when the flying bombs became the real menace. With the return to abstract normality in 1946 the country was in a very run down state and there was little money available for improving buildings so the business did not initially prosper. However, with the advent of a socialist government and a demand for better quality housing for the population of London and major cities the problem of damp proofing had to be addressed.
It became apparent that the air gap technology invented with the advent of Newtonite was a very satisfactory way of damp proofing and improving the insulation of dwellings. Sales of Newtonite therefore began to increase considerably throughout the 1950's and 60's when it became a generic term to refer to a house that had been 'Newtonited'. At one stage, over 500,000 sq. metres a year were being sold throughout the United Kingdom and to date millions of meters were installed in London alone, including royal residences, landmarks and public buildings.
With the tremendous need to overcome the damp problem in houses, new methods were introduced. In particular the chemical injection and hard renders which kept dampness either from rising through the chemical layer that had been injected into the brickwork or through the hard water resistive cementitious materials applied to the wall. These new methods dealt a very severe blow to the ventilated method of overcoming dampness and resulted in a steady decline in the sales of Newtonite. At this time it also became more difficult to obtain pitch as this was a by-product of the production of coal gas and as the country transferred to natural gas, the gas works were closed. Pitch had to be obtained from Scunthorpe where coke was produced for the Steel Furnaces. In 1981 it became uneconomic to continue to manufacture Newtonite at Verney Road and arrangements were made for Landstar coatings in Litherland near Liverpool to take the machinery and set up a production line there providing manufacture and distribution for Newtonite on a contractual basis. Sales dipped below 100,000m per year and this arrangement over the next three or four years became uneconomic for Newtonite. Still as a household name and effective for well over 50 years CD Newton looked for a modern replacement.
Approaches were made to a German manufacturer who produced polypropylene dimpled sheeting for external drainage and damp proofing. It was suggested to them that if a mesh could be attached to the front of the material, this could act as a firm backing for render or plaster and the dimples behind the material would allow the flow of air. Thus the old Newtonite 'ventilated membrane' method would be readopted in a more up-to-date and adaptable material.
After some considerable time and many experiments a material was produced with a mesh thermicaly welded to it. This was produced especially for John Newton & Co and marketed by that company as Newlath. The old Newtonite product was discontinued and the company Newtonite wound up. Newtonite had always been a company wholly owned by John Newton so the continuity of John Newton & Co itself continued as it had done over the past 130 years.
It took some time to convince the market that the Newlath product was the true successor to Newtonite but this has happened and the general opinion is that it is a far superior material, easier to work particularly in extremes of hot and cold where Newtonite became very difficult to fix.
Sales of Newlath continued, being imported and distributed from 12 Verney Road, although John Newton & Co had its headquarters for thirteen years at 160 Piccadilly where Mr. CD Newton (the current chairman) had other business interests. In 1990, as a result of further development investigations the company introduced its System 500, a full tanking system, which meant they were then able to cover all aspects of structural waterproofing and damp proofing, above and below ground.
John Newton & Company remains the leading distributor of damp proof/waterproofing membranes and the oldest established company in this sphere of the building industry, providing the highest quality materials and technical sales and specification advice. It is intended that this situation continue long into the future and steady expansion is expected throughout.
In 1999 it was decided to upgrade both products and a new version of Newlath was introduced known as 'Newlath 2000'. This had a new stud structure and an improved version of the original material. Additional membranes were also added to the System 500 range. Newton's have now developed their above ground damp proofing range to encompass solutions that will deal with all aspects of residual dampness in structures.
In addition their Newton 500 Cavity Drain system primarily for below ground use, we have the most advanced pumping and drainage mediums available for use within the structural waterproofing market today. The research and development arm continue to invest in and search out the highest quality and most environmentally friendly water management solutions moving forward.
Newtons today work in partnership with the 'NSBC' these are the top structural waterproofer's and damp specialists in the country and are the ‘Newton Specialist Basement Contractors'. They offer full PI on design and insured guarantees for the installation of their waterproofing range. It is upheld by British standards that our products when correctly installed offer the most effective and fool proof system for waterproofing and damp control in the industry as a whole. Whether you are a specifier / architect, a main contractor, a dampproofer, developer or a general builder, we are constantly seeking out new ideas and refining our old to support in the best way we know how.
The original innovators in waterproofing and damp control products... since 1848!
