Thorn Electrical Industries

Thorn Electrical Industries Limited was a British electrical engineering company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and also a past constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.

Thorn is named after the Austrian-born businessman Sir Jules Thorn, who migrated to the UK in 1923 and established the Electric Lamp Service Company, trading in electrical appliances, in 1926. Two years later, the business was incorporated and continued to steadily grow. Following the acquisition of the Atlas Lamp Works company in 1932, the firm started producing light bulbs at a factory in Edmonton. In 1936, Thorn started the domestic distribution of radios on behalf of the Ferguson Radio Corporation, which it ultimately acquired ten years later. It established DER in 1939 to manufacture televisions. Within three years of the Second World War's conclusion, the company had 2,400 employees working across multiple factories, producing lamps, lighting fittings, radios, and televisions amongst other domestic appliances.

Further expansion of Thorn took place during the 1950s, striking deals with both the US-based Bendix Aviation Corporation and the transnational conglomerate EMI Group to produce products on their behalf, as well as the acquisition of Philco's British interests. During 1961, Ultra Electronics's consumer electronics interests were integrated with Thorn.