1800s

The origins of BBA Aviation can be traced to the chance meeting in Sweden of William Fenton and Walter William Cobbett. Fenton had invented woven belting for driving machinery that was superior to the woven and leather belting then in use.

In 1879 the two men became partners, with Fenton manufacturing his belting in Dundee, Scotland and Cobbett marketing and selling the product from his offices in London.

In 1883 Fenton and three of his sons moved to larger premises at Stanley in Perthshire. Two of Fenton's sons set up business on their own account in 1888 in Manchester, later moving to Lanark Mills on the Clyde. By an agreement they worked with their father rather than against him.

By 1897 it was time to put the business on a firmer footing and Fenton's two sons merged their company with Cobbett's to form the textile-belting firm of W Willson Cobbett Ltd. William Fenton died in 1898 before he could join the new company. The company was founded in Scotland.