J. Stone & Co

Josiah Stone established an engineering workshop in 1831, producing cast copper nails for the shipbuilding industry in nearby Greenwich. In 1842, with George Preston and John Prestige, he co-founded J. Stone & Co and relocated to premises in railway arches where he made hand pumps and manual firefighting engines. With the company's product range expanded to include rivets and other engineering items, the firm established a foundry in Deptford's Arklow Road in 1881, becoming a specialist in casting large copper propellers. The company's non-ferrous foundry moved to Charlton in 1917, and became J. Stone and Co (Charlton) Ltd in 1951. It produced 22,000 propellers for the Royal Navy during World War II (its products being fitted to battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and numerous smaller vessels), plus propellers and water-tight doors for RMS Queen Mary, RMS Queen Elizabeth and Royal Yacht Britannia. The Deptford factory closed in 1969, but production of nails and rivets continues at Langham Industries' Charlton-based Stone Fasteners. ==Sporting legacy==

Workers from Stone's Deptford Arklow Road foundry established a rowing club in 1923. Membership of the Stones Rowing Club was restricted to company employees, but after the company refused a grant to purchase new equipment, the club broke away from the works and set up independently, with headquarters in the nearby Lord Clyde public house (western end of Clyde Street). The club was then known as the Clyde Rowing Club before moving in the mid 1930s to another public house, The Globe on Royal Hill in Greenwich (demolished c. 1938), from which the club took its current name, Globe Rowing Club. ==References==