Our company began life in 1866 as a family-owned foundry, manufacturing railway carriages and gas lit lampposts.
Over time we changed emphasis in the products manufactured, becoming the leading maker of domestic boilers in the UK.

After many years of research on fairer alternatives to the family-owned model, Philip Baxendale – whose great grandfather had started the business – took the company into employee trust ownership in 1983 enabling employees to share in wealth creation, participation and fulfilment from working in the company of their fellow owners.

In 2000, having sold its manufacturing activities, the company developed into a capital fund and consultancy service called Baxi Partnership specialising in supporting mutual and employee ownership, carrying on the vision of Philip Baxendale.

In the same year, the original Trust Deed was strengthened and enshrined in perpetuity by The Baxi Partnership Trusts Act 2000. To our knowledge, we are the only employee-owned company in the UK whose formation and aims are underlined by an Act of Parliament created solely for that purpose.

In recognition of the importance of this history, 30 years after Philip took the original business into employee ownership, in 2013 we re-branded the business simply Baxendale.