An Essex-based company revolutionised window design and construction, provided windows for government housing schemes (and for the Titanic), built a whole village for its workers, and supplied the forces with munitions in both World Wars.

The company is, of course, Crittall. It is impeccably Essex in its history. Frances Berrington Crittall first bought an ironmongery in Braintree in 1849. His son Francis Henry Crittall began manufacturing metal windows in 1884, and in 1889 the Crittall Manufacturing Company Ltd was formed. It employed just 34 men in the 1890s.

The company's technical edge over competitors has underpinned its success. The Fenestra Joint invented in 1909 allowed slimmer glazing bars and therefore more light. Universal steel profiles in 1912 allowed mass production and therefore lower costs. Standard "Cottage windows" produced in Witham from 1919, introduced steel windows to residential housing (not common up to this point). Galvanising (and later hot-dipped galvanising) from 1939 gave better all-weather protection.

By 1907 the growing company was operating a subsidiary in the United States, the first company manufacturing steel windows there.

1914-18 saw the company switch (like most others) to weapons manufacture. With a mostly female workforce they produced five million shells during the War. The first one (an 18-pounder) was supplied to them as a sample with no instructions, so they chopped it in half and reverse-engineered it before producing the first batch of 200,000. Unusually for British companies, Francis Crittall ensured his female workers had equal pay, and paid annual leave.

In 1918 Crittall opened a major works in Witham, fuelled by demand for metal windows for government housing schemes.

This period also saw massive international expansion, in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, India, Germany and China.

In 1926 Francis Henry Crittall started the model village for its workers at Silver End. Known as "The Guv'nor" by his workers, he wanted to provide good quality housing and facilities for his staff near the factory. Silver End was built over six years from 1926 to 1932, and had a department store, dance hall, cinema, library, snooker room and health clinic.

The distinctive white, flat-roofed houses at the heart of the village embody Modernist design ideals typical of the 1920s, and (of course) they have Crittall Windows. Francis's second son, Walter 'Pink' Crittall oversaw a lot of this development, working closely with architect Thomas S Tait.

1939-45 again saw commitment to munitions production. The volume of German air raids meant that the factory was much more in the front line during this war (Braintree was only fifteen minutes flying time from the coast), and two workers were always rostered to maintain air raid watch from a metal shelter on the roof.

Post-War, aluminium windows became the standard for metal windows, and Crittall was at the centre of the 1950s-60s explosion in housing growth. The firm moved to new premises in Braintree in 1990. Various takeovers and mergers occurred in the post-War period, but the name lives on and the company opened a new factory and head office in Witham in 2007.

John Francis Crittall was the last family member active in the business, and he retired in 1974.