Newton-le-Willows
the history of our local area
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Content & Copyright
Most all items in the gallery are scanned from items owned by Steven Dowd, a few items in the gallery have been scanned from photos or postcards owned by others, and are shown here with their permissionThe content and Images within this website, unless otherwise noted, are the copyright of Steven Dowd ©2001-2009.
| A history of the Vulcan Foundry |
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| Written by Steven Dowd | |||||||||||||||||||||
Page 2 of 7 Period : 1837-1865.
Subsequent to Robert Stephenson's resignation, the Works were carried on by Mr. Charles Tayleur, Jun., and later by Mr. Henry J. Tayleur, Mr. Loam being Works Manager at this time. Mr. Dupre was taken into partnership about 1842, and introduced Mr. Henry Dubs as Works Manager. Mr. Dubs was to found the Queens Park Locomotive Works in Glasgow at a later date. Sir Daniel Gooch served is apprenticeship here and was afterwards appointed Locomotive Engineer to the Great Western Railway. Mr. Edward Tayleur joined the Firm in 1843 — Mr. Dupre resigned in 1845 and Mr. George S. Sanderson was admitted to partnership in 1847. Lane's History of Newton-in-Makerfleld, gives Edward Tayleur, Esq.. as Chairman of the local board of Improvement Commissioners from 1857 to 1863, thus commencing a long record of notable public service by executives of the Firm—hut more of this anon. The growth of the new means of transport can be traced in deliveries to the Great North of England Railway, Liverpool and Manchester, Leicester and Swannington, Bolton and Leigh, London and Southampton, Grand Junction, and Leeds and Selby Railways. The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, the first passenger line in the South of England, opened on May, 3rd, 1830, was taken over by the London and Dover (later South Eastern) Rly., and this line was worked at first and for many years afterwards by six-coupled engines of the long boiler type, which had been built at The Vulcan Foundry. The earliest side tank engines for any railway, were built here in 1846, for the Waterford and Kilkenny Railway. Then followed a prosperous period lasting to the middle fifties, nearly two hundred locomotives being produced in eight years for such widely separated concerns as the Norwich and Brandon Railway, London and North Western, Chester and Holyhead, Scottish Central, Liverpool, Crosby and Southport, Cork and Bandon, and Vale of Neath Railways.
Two powerful, saddle-tanks for the Rhymney Railway were built in 1861, and as proof of the reliability of Vulcan products, these Engines were in service for forty-eight and fifty years, respectively.
The Firm of Tayleur & Co. was incorporated as a limited liability company in 1864 and under that constitution The Vulcan Foundry has since functioned.
Unfortunately, labour records of the Company do not appear to have been retained prior to the year 1865, but amongst the more interesting relics of the firm's history, are a group of -Workman's Registers," dating back to that year, and now preserved with other records in the Labour Office. We find that the number of people employed by the Company in 1865 was 537, and a glance through the yellowed pages of these ancienttomes provides a wealth of instructive and at times, humorous information. Even then, the firm's personnel had begun to develop the cosmopolitan characteristics so much in evidence to-day, for Jonathan Scott, a blacksmith, commenced from Messrs. Hogg and Delametteses, I Rh Avenue, New York City, and workers were attracted to employment with The Vulcan from places as far apart as Glasgow, Dublin, North Wales, London, Coventry, Durham and Bristol.
A reflection on the morals (or should it be quality of the beer?) of those days, is the fact that over twenty workmen were discharged for drunkenness about this time. We also note that five apprentices "absconded" and a painter, to quote the official records "ran away the same day." A blacksmith was dismissed for "not working his iron sufficient" and a coppersmith was lent to Evan's and never returned,- and Edmund Parsonage, a labourer, joined the "Yeomanry Cavalry", whilst a forge boy was discharged as being "too young to work".- Two labourers were dismissed for snowballing, and three moulders for "making a disturbance in the Works," other notices at that time being issued to a boiler maker for "making bad work" and a labourer for "taking one of the other workmen's rules"- The shortage of living quarters was evidently just as acute in those days as it is now, for we find that three blacksmiths from Liverpool had to leave because they "could get no lodgings.- There is something piquant about a forgeman and two strikers being discharged for "stealing fruit," and the spectre of the closed-shop must have been visible in November 1865, when a rivetter was dismissed for "refusing to work with a holder-up not being a club man." The most unsatisfying account is of a striker who absconded after assaulting 'Patsy', for we are left to guess Patsy's identity and the extent of his injuries. In addition to the families mentioned in the first instalment the forerunners of a number of well-known "Vulcanites" commenced with the firm about this time, amongst the more prominent names being those of Sweetlove, Roberts, Boughey, Houghton, Crane, Jones and Lawson. |
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