Bonnersfield, Atlas Works

Britain's first aluminium foundry set up by William Mills (1856-1932) in around 1885. Mills was a founder member of Wearside Golf Club in 1892. In 1896 he registered two patents for aluminium heads for golf clubs. He was the first to put his designs into production. He set up a subsidiary called the Standard Golf Company. Between 1901 and its closure in 1939, the company offered 135 models of golf club. It became the leading manufacturer of aluminium clubs in Britain. It may have produced 400,000 clubs, each stamped with an individual number. Sir William Mills moved to the Black Country around 1905. He set up a foundry producing castings for motor cars and aircraft. From 1915 he produced the hand grenade or 'Mills bomb' and was knighted in 1922. Former employees of the Standard Golf Company set up rival golf club workshops in Southwick - the Cowan Golf Company and the Imperial Golf Company.