Engineering

Petrochemical Engineering

Beechams pharmaceuticals plant Scotland

I left school and joined Humphreys and Glasgow Ltd. as an Apprentice in 1958. The apprenticeship lasted five years and I emerged as an Electrical Draughtsman in what is generally referred to as Petrochemical Engineering.

At that time the company was privately owned and run by the Chairman Mr. Ambrose Congreve who was married to Majorie Glasgow, the daughter of one of the company founders Dr. Glasgow.

The company was very prosperous during the 1950's and 60's, when it had major contracts with the Gas Board for plants producing gas from coal and oil, as well as successfully diversifying into chemical engineering.

But all good things come to an end and the discovery of oil and gas in the North Sea plus a downturn in the chemical industry left H&G struggling to find sufficient work.

I left H&G in 1966 and worked with several other petrochemical contractors before returning to my original company in 1977 as the Electrical Drawing office Supervisor.

In the 1970's H&G first diversified into the offshore oil and gas business and were reasonably successful until a world recession made our relatively small private company unable to compete with the major players.

The company was first sold in 1983 to an American company Ensearch based in Dallas. Later the company was split into offshore and onshore divisions and sold on to two other companies.

The offshore portion was bought in 1992 by Kvaerner a.s., a major Norwegian offshore and ship building company. Humphreys and Glasgow by then had already lost its identify and its roots, especially after being torn in half.

Many contracts were successfully completed by Kvaerner Oil & Gas in their Croydon offices, but due to the massive competition to win the few projects available and the resulting pressure to complete the contracts in the minimum possible time, work was never again so enjoyable as in the early days at Humphreys and Glasgow Ltd.

Humphreys & Glasgow's centenary book 1892 - 1992
Founded in 1892 as a partnership between two Americans, Arthur Graham Glasgow and Alexander Humphreys. A highly successful business was established based on the design and supply of town gas plants.
For more than 90 years the company was under the control and direction of only two men, Dr. Glasgow followed by his son-in-law Mr. Ambrose Congreve. In 1983 the company was acquired by ENSEARCH Corporation of Dallas, Texas.

The thumbnails below are linked to larger pictures

Drawing office 1958

H&G Head Office Humglas House in 1960

22 Carlisle Place (Humglas House) in 2002

Phillips Judy North Sea oil & gas platform