From Cradle To Great

Palmers Travelling Cradle and Scaffold Company was established in 1880 by Edwin J. Palmer who was a former Navy ship’s captain and Master Mariner. He used his vast knowledge of ropes, pulleys and rigging to develop a manually operated cradle that could be used to access the sides of any building and later went on to develop the improved traversing or travelling cradle, The cradle first used a cable system, but later improvements were made and an innovative monorail track was employed.

An advertisement in the 1904 annual edition of ‘Academy Architecture & Review’ edited by the architect Alexander Koch, revealed that Palmer’s Scaffold and Cradles were being used both by London County Council as well as the Guildhall and many municipal authorities. The following year they were also advertising their ‘patent ladder scaffold’ as being ideal for construction work inside churches and halls. By now they were official contractors to His Majesty’s Office of works and had begun the preservation and treatment of decayed stonework. Daniel Palmer Jones and his brother David Henry Jones in effect revolutionised scaffolding and instituted many of the processes, standards and industry practices that are still used today. Daniel in particular who is widely considered as the ‘Grandfather of Scaffolding, invented his patented ‘Scaffixer’ coupling device and with his brother formed the ‘Patent Rapid Scaffold Tie Company Ltd’, leading to the development of the ‘Tubular Scaffolding Company’ and ‘Scaffolding Great Britain Ltd – SGB.

In 1913-14, Palmers were called upon to erect seven wireless station masts in Ireland including a 500 foot steel mast at Ballybunion, County Kerry. Palmers also removed and restored the clock hands of Big Ben in London, repainted the footways of Tower Bridge and framed up the ceiling to redecorate the Royal Albert Hall. In addition they undertook major contracts at Olympia and provided cradles for the erection of the Royal Liver building in Liverpool. Their early advertising described the company as ‘Scaffolding experts specialising in repairing and restoring buildings using suspended scaffolds and stages and steel wire lashings.’ However, they also manufactured or supplied a wide range of building accessories such as barrows, trestles, towers, ladders, steps, and Scaffixer products.

By 1912, Palmers were confidently describing their Special Steel Wire Scaffold Lashings as ‘The scaffold cord of the future’, and advertised it as such in the Board of Trade Journal in June of that year.

The Architects’ & Builders’ Journal for April 23, 1913 gave a glowing report of Palmer’s travelling cradle which was to be exhibited at the World’s Fair in Ghent, Belgium, (aka The Ghent International Exhibition), describing the cradle as so ‘omnipresent’ that the ordinary man in the street was familiar with its merits. It went on to describe the cradle on display at the exhibition:- “It is large enough for two men to work in, travels along a wire rope, giving access to any part of the structure upon which It is proposed to work, and it can be raised, lowered, or moved horizontally by one of the men in the cradle, without extraneous assistance. The cradle weighs less than threequarters of a hundredweight, and the wire head-ropewould carry eight tons. The cradle can be fixed anywhere without interfering with the roof and its use entails no obstruction of the pavement or floor. Palmer’s steel wire scaffold lashing is being made at the stand, where also are shown many examples of ladders, steps, trestles, barrows, trucks and trollies, and particular attention may be drawn to Palmer’s lever-lock extending ladder.” Fascinating stuff!

The company appear to have been keen to exhibit their products at every possible opportunity because In the same year (1913) the trade magazine ‘The Surveyor and municipal engineer’ reported that Palmer’s had a stand at the Building Exhibition at Olympia where; ‘...trucks and many other productions of the company will be on view, their registered steel putlog, being an especially interesting item.’ By 1921, the company was of sufficient merit to be included in Kelly’s Merchant, Manufacturers and Shipper’s of the World’ directory published in New York.

In later years, ‘Palmer’s Travelling Cradle & Scaffold Company’, then located in Bournemouth Hampshire, was incorporated as a limited company, and has never looked back, and in more recent times became involved in power generation projects, offshore fabrication and even the nuclear sector. 1961 saw their workforce increase and by that time they were employing 250 workers and described themselves in advertisements as ‘contractors, and manufacturers of permanent building external maintenance equipment including the Palmatic electric cradle’. A takeover saw the firm come under German ownership with a name change to Thyssenkrupp Palmers which by 2012 had become XERVON Palmers. But five years later, the company returned to British ownership when in January 2017 entrepreneur, Colin Butt purchased the company from its German owners and rebranded the company as Palmers Scaffolding UK Ltd. Today, the Palmers brand continues to thrive thanks to the skills of its 300+ staff with operation centres in Glasgow, London, Teesside, Bristol, Chester and Belvedere in Kent. Over their 135+ years, Palmershave grown to be one of the UK’s biggest and best, working on an ecclectric sector range and wide number of prestigious projects.