110 YEARS IN BUSINESS
2020 is a milestone for Dickinson Group of Companies, as the company celebrates its 110th anniversary having been founded in 1910.
James Halliwell Dickinson, great-grandfather of Trevor Dickinson, the present Chairman of the Dickinson business was born in Lancashire England in 1880. James Dickinson being an ambitious young man in, 1901 decided to emigrate to South Africa. In 1910 he formed J.H. Dickinson Construction (Pty) Ltd and after his son John. R Dickinson was born the company's name was changed to J.H. Dickinson & Son (Pty) Ltd. The company became renowned as a successful master builder, having built many landmarks in the industrial town Vereeniging.
In 1928, the company undertook the refractory installation works on one of the first blast furnaces being built in South Africa. This was the start of the company's industrial services business, and from 1935 traded under the name John R. Dickinson Refractory Brickwork Specialists (Pty) Ltd. James Dickinson over the years he established various businesses:
J.H. DICKINSON ESTATES (PTY) LTD
DICKINSON MOTORS (PTY) LTD
UNION CERAMICS COMPANY (PTY) LTD
HENLEY PIPE COMPANY (PTY) LTD
Following in his father's footsteps, Neville joined John R. Dickinson in his business and in 1966 the company's name was changed to J. R. Dickinson & Sons (Pty) Ltd becoming renowned at The Refractory Specialists. Neville over the years diversified the company to provide a broad range of specialist products and services to the refractory consuming industries:
REFRACTORY FIBRE &
ANCHOR SYSTEMS (PTY) LTD
Refractory Anchor Systems
REFGUN (PTY) LTD
Precast Refractory Shapes
FIBREFORM (PTY) LTD
Ceramic Fibre Products
In 1990, Trevor Dickinson joined the family business and continued to adopt the Dickinson family entrepreneurialism. Dickinson Group of Companies continued to expand its range of services to focus on being the Leading Metals Smelting & Mineral Processing Contractors, with the establishment of the following businesses:
DICKINSON DEMOLITIONS (PTY) LTD Furnace Demolition Services
DICKINSON COPPERBELT SERVICES LTD
Zambia & DRC Copperbelt
DICKINSON HOLDINGS
TRADING (PTY) LTD
Group's South African holding company
DICKINSON MOSINTRAST LTD
Russia and other CIS countries
DICKINSON PROJECTS (PTY) LTD together with Trevor's brothers
Grant and Gavin the company became
renowned as a leading property
development company in South Africa
DICKINSON GROUP (PTY) LTD
name changed to
DICKINSON FURNACE SERVICES (PTY) LTD
J.R. DICKINSON & SONS (PTY) LTD
name changed to
DICKINSON GROUP (PTY) LTD
DICKINSON INDUSTRIES (PTY) LTD
Industrial Products & Services
DICKINSON TECHNOLOGIES (PTY) LTD
Asset & Risk Management Digitization Solutions
The company's vision is to be recognized as a global leading asset integrity management and industrial solutions company, based on providing innovative solutions and market-leading technologies while continuing our leadership in selected geographic regions.