Hofherr Schrantz : Clayton Shuttleworth or HSCS were formed by the merger of two Austro-Hungarian agricultural engineering businesses in 1911. A new joint stock company was formed with headquarters in Vienna and Budapest. Clayton & Shuttleworth which had been founded in Lincoln, Lincolnshire Lincoln in 1842 and had established themselves in Vienna in 1857 and later in Budapest continued its independent operations outside Austria, Hungary and Romania.
Vienna in 1869
Mathias Hofherr started an agricultural machinery factory in Vienna in 1869 and a further factory in Budapest. In 1881, the Hungarian-born János Schrantz joined the company as a capital partner. Both companies had expanded considerably and Clayton and Shuttleworth had opened a further five assembly plants and factories in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and in the newly established kingdom of Romania.
First factory
Clayton and Shuttleworth's first factory in Vienna was built in Wien-Landstraße in 1860, but in 1905 the company relocated the factory to Floridsdorf. Following this a new company was formed in 1911 by combining all the Hofherr Schrantz and Clayton Shuttleworth factories in Austro-Hungary and Romania. The Vienna factory of Hofherr Schrantz which operated from 92 Erlachgasse in Favoriten was closed as was also the Clayton Shuttleworth offices at 33 Lowengasse in Vienna III.
Expansion
The company continued to expand and after World War I HSCS became the largest tractor manufacturer in eastern Europe. The Vienna factory in Floridsdorf was appropriated in 1938 by Heinrich Lanz AG of Mannheim at the time of the Anschluss in Austria. During World War II the factory was used by the Nazis in the production of V2 rockets. From 1950, the number of employees decreased steadily. The company was merged with Trauzl-Werke AG in Vienna in 1969, and the Floridsdorfer Fabrik was sold to Elin AG in 1968.
Redevelopment
In 1970, the entire company joined Böhlerwerke AG. The factory site at Floridsdorf is currently undergoing redevelopment. The main building has now been refurbished and on 23 November 2017 was opened as Creative Culture Traktorfabrik, a collective venture containing artists studios.
The Budapest factory became Hungarian state property in 1948 and was renamed Vörös Csillag Traktorgyár in 1951. Its independent operation ceased in 1973 when it was attached to Rába. Their products were widely exported and many of the DUTRA imported into Britain were ftted with Perkins Engines. The factory was finally closed in 2010, however many of the hundred-year-old buildings are still in use by smaller companies.
Leopold Weiss, Die Gross-Industrie Oesterreichs. Festgabe zum glorreichen fünfzigjährigen Regierungs-Jubiläum seiner Majestät des Kaisers Franz Josef I. dargebracht von den Industriellen Oesterreichs 1898, Vol. 3, Wien, pp 42–43.
Mathis F Big Business in Österreich. Österreichische Großunternehmen in Kurzdarstellungen, Wien: Verlag für Geschichte und Politik, pp. 152–153.
Moore N, Pictures from Budapest: Who were Hofherr-Schrantz-Clayton-Shuttleworth?, Lincolnshire Past and Present, No.115, Spring 2019, pp. 3–8.
