Andrew Stewart was originally employed as a salesman by Eadies of Dalmarnock, South Lanarkshire, specialists in the manufacture of lap-welded and loose flange tubes.
In 1860, Andrew set up business as a maker of butt-welded and lap-welded tubes, establishing a small works at St Enochs, Glasgow, taking his brother James into partnership in 1862.
[1] The company met with rapid success, and in 1867 moved to a large site at Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, where it built the Clyde Tube Works.
In 1889 Andrew saw his sons set up their own business in Glasgow as tube manufacturers under the name of Stewart Brothers.
Extraction commenced in the following year and the ore was then transported by rail to the Albion Works in the West Midlands.
Lloyds Ironstone Company, who erected two blast furnaces on the edge of the village in 1910, started iron production but the main problem was the extraction of the ore itself, the physical act of getting the ore from the ground was in need of mechanization and before the end of the 19th century a mechanical digger, with a bucket capable of holding 11 cubic yards arrived in the mines.
To increase production further a steam shovel, after finishing work on the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal, was brought to Corby.
[2] The newly merged company, now named Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd set about to establish its position and extending its interests.
[7] The company decided to move to Corby, Northamptonshire (52°29′54″N 0°39′46″W / 52.498414°N 0.662788°W / 52.498414; -0.662788), in November 1932, enabling it to make use of the local iron ore to feed their blast furnaces and Bessemer steel converters.
The new construction was carried out to a very tight timetable, from the clearing of the site in 1933 the first of the Corby blast furnaces was lit in May the following year.
Following a rebuild to increase capacity of No.2 furnace, Corby works became the third-most economic pig iron producing plant in the world.
6 battery of 51 ovens was commissioned in 1961; however, after the footings were installed for the blast furnace, the rest of the construction was put temporarily on hold, and work was never continued.
The best-known contribution of the works was Pipe Line Under The Ocean (PLUTO), a pipeline built, following the Normandy landings to supply fuel for the invading forces.
Due to the high cost and low quality of local iron ore, steel production at Corby was set to close in November 1979.