Ransome & Marles was a partnership of two people with different skill sets. Alan Ransome had a company in Chelsea which designed and manufactured woodworking and timber-handling machinery. While inventor Henry Marles held some patents for the design and manufacture of ball bearings.
When they met, A. Ransome & Co already had some experience in bearings manufacture and was already supplying "Famous English Motor Manufacturers".
They begun by assembling bought-in balls with their own components then moved on to manufacturing their own balls. A new ball-making plant was installed in new premises alongside A. Ransome & Co's own. The adjoining engineering works of A Ransome & Co, the original Stanley Works, were bought by Ransome & Marles when they were put up for sale in 1932.
The premises were described as a freehold site of nine acres with sidings to the L & NE railway and factory buildings covering 130,000 sq ft. The factory and plant extensions programme which finished in 1938 was in direct response to a new demand for new motor vehicles as well as re-armament.
During WW2, Ransome & Marles were the biggest manufacturer of ball bearings and roller bearings in the allied world and was very important to the allied war effort.
The German air raid on the factory on the 7th March 1941 resulted in the deaths of 41 people and left 165 badly wounded.
Government forces swept in to Newark afterwards to get the factory rebuilt and up and running again within three weeks.
