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Brief History

  • 1817 Percival Norton Johnson (PNJ) establishes business as gold assayer in London.
  • 1822 Offices moved to 79 Hatton Garden(JM Hatton, Hatton Garden)
  • 1832 PNJ took George Stokes into partnership - known as Johnson & Stokes
  • George Stokes died and partnership ended.
  • 1837 PNJ took WJ Cock into partnership - company known as Johnson & Cock
  • 1851 George Matthey joins company to form Johnson & Matthey
  • 1852 JM appointed Official Assayers and Refiners to the Bank of England.
  • 1860 Percival Norton Johnson retired. George Matthey, John Sellon and Edward Matthey form partnership called Johnson Matthey & Company.
  • 1861 "Johnson Matthey & Company" approved as refiners to Bank of England.
  • 1867 Paris Exhibition - JM awarded two gold medals for fine display of refined and fabricated platinum.
  • 1874 The company produces first standard metre and weights in iridium-platinum for the International Metric Commission.
  • 1875 JM supplies leads for the first electric lamps.
  • 1880 Installation of equipment to fabricate precious metal sheet, wire and tube for jewellery and industrial applications.
  • 1891 Formation of Johnson, Matthey & Company Limited on 11th April.
  • 1901 Preference shares listed on London Stock Exchange.
  • 1919 Acquired JM & Co Inc - USA, JM & Co - Birmingham, Haydn Park Works.
  • 1921 Poland Street branch opened in London W1.
  • 1924 Merensky reef discovered in South Africa.
  • 1925 Discovery of vast platinum mineral deposits in Rustenberg district of Transvaal, South Africa.
  • 1926 JM research head A.R. Powell and E.C Deering devise a process for extracting and refining platinum group precious metals.
  • 1926 Acquisition of Johnson & Sons, Smelting Works, JM Vienna.
  • 1927 The company acquires majority interest in J. Bishop, USA (established 1822), the origin of JM's present operation in the Delaware Valley.
  • 1928 JM patents the only workable process for extraction and refining of platinum group metals from Rustenburg ores.
  • 1931 Formation of Rustenburg Platinum Mines.
  • 1937 Hatton Garden office rebuilding begins.
  • 1938 JM constructs Research and Development laboratories in Wembley, and relocates some mechanical production operations from London.
  • 1942 Ordinary shares listed on London Stock Exchange.
  • 1946 The company wins exclusive contracts for refining British demonetised silver coinage.
  • 1948 JM acquires subsidiaries in Australia and New Zealand. UK ceramic litho transfers acquisition added to ceramic decoration activities.
  • 1950s Gradual relocation of Hatton Garden manufacturing operations to Harlow, Wembley and Royston. Rapid development of European and worldwide operations with new production and sales outlets in Austria, Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Spain and Sweden.
  • 1964 Formation of associated company, Arora-Matthey Limited in India.
  • 1968 Two Queen's Awards won for export achievement.
  • 1969 Tanaka Matthey KK, formed in Japan; joint venture with Tanal Kikinzoku Kogyo KK, JM acquires majority interest in Matthey Beyrand et Cie, Limoges, France.
  • 1970 Queen's Award for Export Achievement (Johnson Matthey Group).
  • 1974 The world's first catalysts to control vehicle pollution are produced at JM's Royston site in May 1974.
  • 1975 The Head Office moves from Hatton Garden to Southgate, North London. JM Technology Centre relocated from Wembley to Sonning Common.
  • 1976 Queen's Award for Technological Achievement for developing catalytic systems for controlling vehicle exhaust emissions.
  • 1977 Kirkpatrick Chemical Engineering Achievement Award for development of rhodium catalysed hydroformylation process.
  • 1980 MacRobert Award - Britain's top engineering distinction - for work on control of car exhaust emissions.
  • 1981 Company renamed Matthey Public Limited Company on 31st July.
  • 1982 Queen's Award for Export Achievement (JM Chemicals).
  • 1983 The company opens new primary gold refinery at Salt Lake City, USA. Commercialisation of platinum based anticancer drugs developed by JM.
  • 1984 September 30th, The Bank of England takes control of Johnson Matthey Bankers Limited, one of the five members of the London Bullion Market, to maintain confidence in the Market.
  • 1986 Queen's Award for Export Achievement. JM opens autocatalyst plant in Australia.
  • 1987 The Banking Act required banks to disclose exposures exceeding 10% of their capital to the Bank of England and were prohibited from lending more than 25% of their capital to one borrower, mainly as a result of the 1984 debacle.
  • 1990 The opens autocatalyst plant in Belgium.
  • 1991 Queen's Award for Technological Advancement won jointly by JM's Technology Centre, the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital for work on platinum based anticancer drugs and carboplatin.
  • 1993 JM sells UK and Irish jewellery business. It opens new Technology Centre facility in Japan, and Diesel catalyst Technical Centre in Sweden. Catalytic Systems wins two Queen's Awards in 1993, for Environment Achievement and Export.
  • 1994 JM and Cookson sign Ceramic Materials joint venture agreement and form Cookson Matthey Ceramics. Company announces joint development programme on fuel cell catalysts with Ballard Power Systems.
  • 1995 The company opens autocatalyst plants in Mexico and Malaysia.
  • 1998 JM buys Cookson share of Cookson Matthey Ceramics, the business becomes Johnson Matthey's Colours and Coatings Division. JM sells Hatton Garden site. It opens autocatalyst production facility in Argentina.
  • 1999 The company sells Electronic Material Division.
  • 2000 JM opens new autocatalyst plant in India. Company receives second MacRobert Award for the continuously regenerating trap (CRT) to control emissions from heavy duty diesel vehicles.
  • 2001 The company opens new European autocatalyst plant in UK using advanced production technology. Company opens an autocatalyst facility in China. Work starts on dedicated fuel cell MEA manufacturing facility at Swindon. Acquisition of Pharm-Eco Laboratories which becomes part of Pharmaceutical Materials Division.
  • 2002 Acquires Synetix division of ICI, Cascade Biochem and Avocado Research Ltd.
  • 2003 Tracerco, part of Johnson Matthey Plc, receives the Queen's Award for Enterprise Innovation.
  • 2004 The company opens a new platinum group metal catalyst plant in Taloja, India and acquires the AMC Group of companies and Lancaster Synthesis. The Pigments & Dispersions business is sold. Johnson Matthey celebrates 30 years in the development of autocatalysts.
  • Tracerco, part of Johnson Matthey Plc, receives the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade.
  • 2006 Johnson Matthey, the industrial company continues to prosper in a number of specialised industrial and chemical fields

A Quote From the Johnson Matthey Website:-
Gold and Silver comprises our worldwide gold and silver refining and bullion manufacturing operations. Johnson Matthey is a market leader in the refining of gold and silver. The business serves the world's mining industries and recycles secondary scrap material. Gold and silver refining operations are located in the USA, Canada and Hong Kong.

Johnson Matthey Bankers Limited

Storing Your Gold Securely

Johnson Matthey 50 Gram Bar

Johnson Matthey 50 Gram Bar

Johnson Matthey 5 Tola Bar

Johnson Matthey 5 Tola Bar

 


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