Robert Ross & Co Ltd was incorporated as a limited liability company in c1934 with its registered offices in Fareham, Hampshire, England, and from 1945 at Southampton, England. The company's directors were Kainer Adlard Coles and his wife Lilian Mabel Coles. The company specialised in the publication of educational and nautical books.
In November 1952 , the company name was changed to Adlard Coles Ltd , and the following year the company acquired the Yachtsman Publishing Co Ltd .1953 also saw P J Madge being appointed a director and secretary to the company. In 1962, the London-based publishers Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd purchased the entire share capital of the company and it became a wholly owned subsidiary. The following year, Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd was acquired by Granada Group Ltd , media group, London. Granada merged the business of Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd with another of their publishing subsidiaries, MacGibbon & Kee Ltd , acquired in 1968, to form Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd in 1972 . Granada sold its publishing interests to the Scottish publishers William Collins, Sons & Co Ltd , Glasgow, in 1983 .
From 1962, Adlard Coles Ltd remained a registered company until 1990 when its name was changed to William Collins G(XII) Ltd before being dissolved in 1993 .
From the guide to the Adlard Coles Ltd, publishers, Southampton, England, 1944-1962, (Glasgow University Archives Service)
