Founded in 1904, B. Elliott & Co., Ltd., through various mergers and acquisitions, is now Asquith Butler Ltd.

Over the years B. Elliott & Co., Ltd. made "Victoria" milling and grinding machines and equipment, "Elliott", "Alba" and "Invicta" shapers, "Cardiff" lathes, "Velox" hacksaws. "Milford" grinders, "Progress" drills, "Samson" and "Speedax" metal working machines and "Selecta" portable grinders and home workshop equipment. At their peak in the 1960s they had at least 1000 employees.

In the early 1950s the Invicta Shaping Machine Works, Ltd., were manufacturing shapers that were distributed by B. Elliott & Co. It appears that Elliott owned Invicta. Perhaps Invicta began as a separate business from Elliott but was acquired by Elliott shortly after.

By 1966 they had become the Elliott Machine Tool Group, with B. Elliott (Machinery) Ltd. as a subsidiary. Other subsidiaries included the former Snow & Co. (grinding machines), Press & Shear Machinery Co., Elgar Machine Tool Co. (importer of machine tools), Modern Machine Tools Ltd. of Coventry (machine tool manufacturer), not to be confused with a similarly-named Canadian machine tool manufacturer. In 1966 they acquired Willson Lathes Ltd.

Information Sources

• More history and machine information can be found at Grace’s Guide. and from Asquith Butler's History of the Elgamill.
• See also the lathes.co.uk site's pages on
  • Elliott Cardiff Major, Senior, Prefect, and Crusader lathes;
  • Elliott Omnispeed, Omnitool & Omniturn lathes;
  • Elliott Progress drilling machines;
  • Excel (Victoria) grinding machines and jig borers;
  • Victoria milling machines;
  • Alba and Elliott shapers;
  • Elliott Sturdimil and Omnimil milling machines;
  • Downham, Elliott and Gate jig borers;
  • Velox hacksaws.