John Lysaght and Co. was an iron and steel company established in Bristol, England, and with later operations in Wolverhampton, Newport, and Scunthorpe.
[2] However, in 1856 he acquired from the Clark family a small hardware galvanisation business, utilising the Crawford hot-dip technique, at Temple Back, Bristol.
Demand grew quickly, and in 1869 Lysaght purchased a larger site at St Vincent's, Netham, Bristol, for a new factory which by 1878 employed 400 men and produced 1000 tons of galvanised iron sheet a month.
Shortly before its founder's death in 1895, the company acquired land at Pill Farm, Newport, South Wales, on which to build a new rolling mill.
[3][1][4] In 1919, the Lysaght family members sold most of their shares in the company to its chairman, Seymour Berry, while remaining in control of various branches of the business.
In 1920, Guest Keen and Nettlefolds (GKN) acquired the John Lysaght company, including its works at Newport, Bristol, and Scunthorpe.
[1] In 1921 the company established an Australian subsidiary in Newcastle, New South Wales, and many of the Newport workers emigrated there to start up the new mills.
[5] It was financed jointly by the company and its workers, stood in 8 acres of grounds near the works entrance, and provided a range of facilities for staff including a ballroom, tennis courts, bowling green, and ornamental gardens.