, also in Whittall Street The firm of
Pursall and Phillips operated a '
percussion cap manufactory' at Whittall Street, in
Birmingham, in the mid 19th century. In 1856, Scottish entrepreneur
George Kynoch joined the company. on a site adjacent to the
London and North Western Railway's
Grand Junction line. After
World War I many of the
UK ammunition and explosives manufacturers were brought together under Nobel Explosives to become
Nobel Industries, which was a founding element of
Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd (ICI) in 1926. Once Nobel Industries, including Kynoch Ltd, had merged to form ICI, the original Kynoch factory in Witton became the head office and principal manufacturing base of the "ICI Metals Division". Kynoch, along with names such as Eley, became brands of subsidiaries. Kynoch established a munitions factory on the north side of
Arklow,
Ireland. This factory employed several thousand workers during World War I, but closed shortly after it, all production being moved to
South Africa. Seventeen workers were killed in an explosion there on 21 September 1917. It was believed that the plant was shelled by a German U-boat During the 1950s, the sound of test firing of munitions still occasionally shattered the peace over Witton, but with the
standardization of
cartridges across the Western powers and a general downturn in ammunition requirements, the sidelines in sporting cartridges were discontinued by
Imperial Metal Industries (IMI) in 1970. IMI became independent of ICI in 1977, still producing
rimfire and
shotgun cartridges for the sporting markets. The more economically viable production of shotgun and rimfire ammunition continued. The Ammunition Division was incorporated separately as
Eley Limited in 1983. == Kynamco ==