[1] Cable drum carriers were supplied to the General Post Office and vehicles and ground equipment built for the Royal Air Force.

[1] The business began in 1921 as a partnership of Harry Shelvoke and James Drewry, both of whom had successful careers in commercial vehicle design and manufacture.

[1] The "Freighter", originally a multi-purpose flatbed truck notable for its tiny wheels and tiller-type steering, was adapted for refuse collection.

In that year the reasons given by the chairman were the introduction of their new Defiant forklift trucks, the transfer of production to a new factory building, and a scarcity of labour and materials in the face of intense competition from the big motor manufacturers.

Babcock & Wilcox began a bid for Butterfield-Harvey in mid 1977 declaring its main interest to be in Shelvoke and Drewry which then represented more than a third of Butterfield's activities.

[citation needed] In the late 1970s, Shelvoke and Drewry went head-to-head with its arch-rival Dennis, and once-again began to manufacture fire engines through its newly established Special Purpose Vehicles (SPV) division.

[12] Shelvoke Dempster was held by Krug International (UK) Limited, a British subsidiary of American investor Technology Incorporated.

Dennis Eagle expected the extra business would add about £2.5 million to turnover but no new Shelvoke designs would be made once current orders were filled.

[16] Shelvoke's demise was attributed to a number of factors - for instance the deregulation of waste collection in the 1980s meant that many municipal authorities subcontracted this activity out to private companies.

Shelvoke had also spent huge amounts trying to make money on the special purpose vehicles venture, and fought an increasingly futile battle with Dennis.

They tenaciously stuck with their Revopak continuous loading system for waste collection vehicles, which, although effective, was more expensive to operate due to higher fuel consumption, and authorities looked for cost-saving intermittent-loading dustcarts instead.

Dennis launched their Phoenix range of sweep/slide style refuse compactor dustcarts in 1979, which, with their lower operating costs, quickly eroded Shelvoke's market share.