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Mullard

Logo: Robishungry, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons3

British manufacturer of electronic components

Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronic components. The Mullard Radio Valve Co. Ltd. of Southfields, London, was founded in 1920 by Captain Stanley R. Mullard, who had previously designed thermionic valves for the Admiralty before becoming managing director of the Z Electric Lamp Co. The company soon moved to Hammersmith, London and then in 1923 to Balham, London. The head office in later years was Mullard House at 1–19 Torrington Place, Bloomsbury, now part of University College London.2 It is part of Koninklijke Philips NV.1 It ceased to exist in 1988.1 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1920Founded1
  • Industryelectronics industry1
  • HeadquartersLondon1
  • Founded inLondon1

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Mullard 1926 advertizing logo
Photo: Published by en:Mullard, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons5

Mullard Limited was a British manufacturer of electronic components. The Mullard Radio Valve Co. Ltd. of Southfields, London, was founded in 1920 by Captain Stanley R. Mullard, who had previously designed thermionic valves for the Admiralty before becoming managing director of the Z Electric Lamp Co. The company soon moved to Hammersmith, London and then in 1923 to Balham, London. The head office in later years was Mullard House at 1–19 Torrington Place, Bloomsbury, now part of University College London.2

The story

Founded by Stanley R. Mullard in 1920, in London.1

Leadership

Who has led Mullard, and when. Pick a name to see everywhere that person has worked.

Products and brands

  • cathode ray tube
  • infrared detector
  • semiconductor device
  • vacuum tube

Listed on Wikidata.1

Factories

Mitcham

Mullard opened a new manufacturing plant at the end of New Road, Mitcham, Surrey in 1929. A second building was added in 1936. Both buildings had a very distinctive flat roof construction and were very similar to those at Philips' headquarters in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Co-sited with the Mullard buildings was the manufacturing complex for Philips Radios. Mitcham was also home to the Mullard Application Laboratory.

Blackburn

In the late 1930s Philips opened a plant in Blackburn, Lancashire, and during the Second World War some operations were moved there from Mitcham; by the end of the war, nearly 3,000 were employed. Tungsten and molybdenum wire were produced on-site from 1954, and a glass factory was built in 1955. In 1962 over 6,200 were employed and Mullard described the Blackburn works as "the largest valve manufacturing plant in Europe".

By 1949 Mullard had produced a number of television sets, such as the MTS-521 and MTS-684. In 1951 Mullard was producing the LSD series of photographic flash tubes.

Others

Mullard had factories in Southport and Simonstone, both in Lancashire. The latter closed in 2004. There was also a sister factory at Belmont in Durham (closed in June 2005). Other factories included those at Fleetwood (closed in 1979) and Lytham St. Annes (closed in 1972). A feeder factory at Haydock closed in 1981. A small factory in Hove closed in the early 1970s.

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Mullard brand name

Philips continued to use the brand name "Mullard" in the UK until 1988. Mullard Research Laboratories in Redhill, Surrey then became Philips Research Laboratories. As of 2007, the Mullard brand was used by Sovtek for valves sold as ECC83, EL34 (European type numbers used by Mullard and many others), etc.

From Wikipedia’s article on Mullard, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Subsidiaries and ownership

Former owners and parents

From Wikidata.1

Timeline

  1. 1988Dissolved Dissolved1
  2. 1927Acquired Acquired by Koninklijke Philips NV1
  3. 1920Founded Founded in London1

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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