Hunslet – the Engine Building Neighbourhood
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Kitson |
Fowler |
Round Foundry |
Manning Wardle |
Hunslet |
Hudswell |
McLaren |
Mann |
Yorkshire
Shepheard & Todd, Kitson and Co, John Fowler, J&H McLaren,
Hudswell Clarke, Manning Wardle, Hunslet Engine Co and E.B.Wilson are
names which many who are interested in steam engines will recognise
at least a few of. These companies all operated next door or across
the road from each other making Hunslet very much a neighbourhood of
engine builders. To understand why this happened we need to look at a
little of the history of these companies, and ideally to look at the
area itself to try and get an idea of how it might have been years
ago when the whole area was a mass of engineering companies.
The beginning of engine building in Hunslet
In 1837 Charles Todd left Fenton, Murray & Jackson's of
Holbeck to establish a new firm with James Kitson and financial
backer David Laird. The first engine works is said to have been established in old mill buildings on
Pearson Street leased from John Fretwell. The reason the firm was
established here was largely due to family connections. John Fretwell
had a great niece called Ann who was married to James Kitson and a
niece called Isabelle who was married to Charles Todd. The firm built 6 locos for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway,
of which Lion still survives in Liverpool Museum. Legend has it that when the first engine was built it was too big
to get it out of the mill’s doorways and a hole had to be
knocked in the wall. The use of old mill buildings must have been very short lived however as on the 1st September 1837 the firm advertised in the Leeds Mercury that they were working in 'entirely new buidlings erected for the purpose.'
The Todd Kitson & Laird partnership was short lived and in
late 1939 Kitson & Laird formed the Airedale Foundry on the north
side of Pearson street while Todd teamed up with John Shepheard to
form Shepheard & Todd’s Railway Foundry on the south side
of the street.
Manning Wardle’s Boyne Engine Works
Jack Lane was once the address of four engine building companies,
today two of their head offices still survive. Walking along Jack
Lane from the Leeds the first one we come to is the former office of
Manning Wardle. Also still in evidence is the gateway to the former
works with the cast iron gateposts bearing the inscription "BOYNE
ENGINE WORKS", though nothing survives of the works themselves.
Manning Wardle were the first company to emerge in the wake of E.
B.Wilson’s and their early engines were practically identical
to E. B.Wilson products. People within E. B.Wilson’s, including
manager Alexander Campbell had established the new works alongside
the Railway Foundry. Opening in 1858 for the first year or so it started business as a general engineering facility producing all manner of metal work but after the collapse of E. B.Wilson’s Manning
Wardle purchased the intellectual property and took on their good
will.
When Manning Wardle ceased production in the 1920s the goodwill
transferred to Kitson, though this arrangement was short lived with
Kitson themselves not surviving much longer. The Manning Wardle works
site saw a number of industrial uses as well as making arms in the
war.
Picture of the former Yorkshire PSW Co works
Bibliography
Several books have been published about the Leeds engine building industry, a list is displayed in the Links and Further Reading section.
External Website Links
steamindex.com:
This site features a comprehensive list of loco manufacturers and includes greater detail about the history of the local firms
Hunslet Remembered's section about the locomotive building industry and about steam road vehicle manufacture
The current Hunslet Engine
Company website
Acknowledgements
This article was produced by Kris Ward, any feedback or contributions about the Leeds engine making industry would be greatly appreciated.