James Archdale, after apprenticing at Greenwood & Batley, worked at John Hetherington & Sons and then moved to Birmingham where he worked for a couple of years as foreman at Tangye Brothers (later Tangye, Ltd.) before starting his own business. As James Archdale he began manufacturing lathes and cutting-off machines. Within a few years a cartridge manufacturer had become his largest customer and he began to make machinery for manufacturing cartridges and guns). By the late 19th century the company was doing well with their more general-purpose machinery, including radial drilling machines, planers, shapers and milling machines, and by the early 20th century they had discontinued their cartridge and gun machinery, though they resumed making such machinery during the two world wars.

In 1902 the business was reorganized as James Archdale & Co., a private company. In about 1909 it became James Archdale & Co. Ltd. In 1949 it became a public company. Around that time the company relocated to Blackpole in nearby Worcester. In 1953 the company was acquired by Staveley Coal and Iron Co., a change that would prove to be the beginning of the end. Staveley's owners were in the process of buying up a number of machine-tool firms in the expectation that the British government was going to nationalize that industry.

By the time of the acquisition by Staveley, Archdale's product line had become outdated. The existing Archdale management, who had let new product development languish, were largely left alone by Stavely, who were apparently not much interested in long-term investments anyway. By the 1960s Stavely had replace Archdale's sales agent, Alfred Herbert Ltd., with Stavely acquisition Drummond-Asquith, a direct competitor. This did not augur well for Archdale, and as Stavely became disillusioned with the machine tool business Archdale suffered disproportionately in the cuts, and then in 1973 the Archdale factory was closed altogether. Some employees bought the parts-supply business, incorporating as Xdale, Ltd., which lasted until about 2006 but we cannot find any activity after that.

Information Sources

• March 2016 newsletter of the Worcestershire History Society has a very useful article on the history of this firm.
• A 1912 report from the US Consulate in Melbourne reports on the shops of engineering firm Geo. W. Kelly & Lewis of that city. The shop's machinery is itemized, and a "sensitive drill has recently been purchased from J. Archdale, of Birmingham. The latter machine has a stump and arm like a radial drill, giving it a wide range of action; and it has, at the same time, rather more power than the usual sensitive drill, as was demonstrated by the way it was pushing a half-inch twist drill when the writer saw it."
• Page on James Archdale & Co. in Grace’s Guide
• Page on Archdale Lathes in Tony Griffith's Lathe website.