[1] When World War II started, in order to increase the company's productive capacity, the Admiralty financed an extension to the factory which the company ran on the Admiralty's behalf.
At the end of the war, the Labour Government retained control because of the importance of gyroscopic instruments in the development of postwar defence programmes.
[2] S G Brown was later owned by Vosper Thornycroft which merged it with another of its companies, TSS (motion sensor and subsea pipe/cable tracker specialist) in April 2000 to develop underwater gyros, the company now selling all products under the name VT TSS International.
Following a management buyout from the VT group and several subsequent years trading as 'TSS International', TSS were purchased by the Teledyne group in 2008 and now trade as Teledyne TSS International.
Some products, principally gyrocompass and hand-steering units for military vessels, continue to be sold under the SG Brown banner.