At this time sail had just given way to steam and wooden ships to steel, and the railways were competing with colliers for the carrying of coal from the North East of England to London and the South.
These changes had a significant effect on nautical instrument manufacturers, as the magnetic compass for a wooden sailing vessel was very simple and required little in the way of compensation.
Unfortunately, Mr. Lilley had quarrelled with the Glasgow company, who withdrew the agency and established their own branch in London (later to become Kelvin White and Hutton).
In 1943, with estate duties in mind, the North Shields company was reconstituted and took the name of John Lilley and Gillie Limited, although the shareholders, directors and personnel remained unchanged In the early 1970s Lilley and Gillie developed close links with Observator in Rotterdam, who manufactured one of the first fully reliable transmitting magnetic compass systems.
The Observator shareholders, Holland America Line, bought the share capital of John Lilley and Gillie Limited., but retained all the personnel and the directors.
Since then, the company has consolidated its position as a Class A Admiralty Chart Agent and nautical instrument manufacturer, and has gradually entered the field of marine electronics.
[citation needed] In June 1988 the Holland America Line sold the shares in Lilley and Gillie and the London company, Brown & Perring, to Kopcke International Supply Systems, a large Dutch ship chandler owned by Consolidated Press (the Australian entrepreneur Kerry Packer's holding company).
In July 1989 Lilley and Gillie, Brown and Perring and a Kopcke subsidiary, Cullen Metcalfe, were consolidated as divisions of one operating company, Sestrel International.
December 2002 saw the consolidation of all the manufacturing activities to the larger Birmingham site, with sales, distribution and administration remaining at North Shields.
An independent British company founded by David and Anne Edmonds in 1987, PC Maritime was the first manufacturer to support the UK Hydrographic Office ARCS product in 1996 and was actively involved in UKHO developments including the ECDIS service trials.
Glenn had spent 12 months at North Shields in 2004 and then was transferred to their sister company DPM (UK) Ltd in Liverpool where he was appointed Managing Director.
In May 2013 the Directors of John Lilley & Gillie Ltd's holding company, (Harrison Maritime), decided to concentrate on the Equipment side of the business and consequently sold the Admiralty Chart agency operation within the group.