Our history in the United Kingdom

1843

Wilhelm (William) Siemens goes to England on behalf of his brother Werner to sell the rights to Werner’s patented gold-plating technique

1850

A Siemens & Halske sales agency is established under William’s direction

1853

William takes over the running of the English business, which primarily involves the selling of water meters

1858

The Londoner agency is converted into an independent company known as Siemens, Halske & Co. with its own workshops

1863

A cable factory is built in Woolwich

1865

The company is renamed Siemens Brothers

1868–1869

Siemens Brothers lays the Russia to Teheran section of the Indo-European telegraph line

1873–1874

The first Atlantic cable is laid by Siemens Brothers with the cable steamer "Faraday", built specially for this purpose

1880

Siemens Brothers is converted into a stock company

1881

An order is received to supply electric lighting for the Savoy Theater in London

1903

The Stafford dynamo plant starts production

1906

Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works Ltd., London and Stafford, is founded

1908

An incandescent lamp factory is built in Dalston

1914

The shares of the English Siemens company are confiscated by the British government

1929

Contacts are reestablished; a cooperation agreement is concluded

1964

A Siemens sales company is founded under the name Siemens Ltd.

1989

The Plessey Company is taken over jointly by Siemens and GEC; Siemens takes over the research center Roke Manor Research; a controlling stake in Oxford Magnet Technology is acquired

2001

An order is received for EMU cars for the new train Desiro UK specially developed for the UK ("Desiro UK")

2004

BBC commissions Siemens to operate its company-wide IT infrastructure

2005

In the biggest modernization program in the UK, Siemens wins an order for the periodic delivery of medical systems for both the Barts and Royal London hospitals

2008

In London, Siemens and McKinsey publish a study on sustainable infrastructure

2009

Siemens wins order to provide 175 wind turbines for the world’s largest offshore wind farm London Array (inaugurated 2013)

2012

Siemens opens the world’s largest exhibition center dedicated to the future of cities, the Crystal in East London

2013

Acquisition of Invensys Rail, a leading global supplier of signaling and control equipment for rail

2013

The Department for Transport awards a contract for 1,140 new Desiro City commuter rail carriages for the Thameslink route making this the biggest order Siemens has ever won in Great Britain