Yorkshire Engine Co
of Meadow Hall Works, Sheffield.
1865 “A new company, called the “Yorkshire Engine Company Limited,” with a capital of £200,000, has been formed, and the capital subscribed privately through Messrs. Chadwick, Adamson, and Co. The Company have purchased 22 acres of land near Sheffield, and will be mainly employed in the construction of locomotive engines with a capacity for extension, so as to produce from 300 to 400 engines per annum. Mr Alfred Sacre, late assistant engineer in the Locomotive Engine Works of the Great Northern Railway, has been appointed managing director, and Messrs. The Hon. W.G. Eden, T. R. Barker, W. Lansdowne Beale, George Wood, jun., and David Chadwick are the first directors. Several new features are provided for in the articles of association; and with a view to assimilating this company as nearly as possible to a private concern, the smallest subscription is limited to £5,000; no shares can be transferred within 12 months, nor afterwards except with the special consent of the Board.” [1]
1866 The works were built on 22 acres of land at Meadow Hall for the manufacture of locomotive engines on a large scale. Their first engine, built for the Great Northern Railway, was out-shopped on 29 Dec 1866, with construction of the works still in progress. The ceremony was hosted by Alfred Sacre, managing director, and Mr Stephens, company secretary. Their order book stood at nearly 70 engines.[2]
1872 Under the management of Mr. E. Sacre and Mr. Hunt, the works built the first of 15 large locomotives to Fairlie's patents for the Mexican Railway[3]. Engineers who witnessed the first trials of this locomotive included:
- the Duke of Sutherland
- His Excellency Nicholas Novoselky, Mayor of Odessa
- Mr. Charles Sacre, engineer in chief of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire Railway
- Mr. Underdown, the general manager of the M,S,L&R
- Mr. Bradley, the traffic superintendent of the M,S,L&R
- Mr. Lasenby, district superintendent of the M,S,L&R
- Mr. Sharp, assistant locomotive superintendent of the M,S,L&R
- Mr. Illimoff, of St. Petersburg
- Mr Price Williams
- Mr Samuel
- Mr Perkins
- Mr Crossley
- Mr Hunt
- Mr E. Sacre
- Mr A. Sacre
- Mr Fairlie
Later diversified into making stationary engines, torpedo engines, and boilers.
1884 The company was registered on 18 March.
1901 Boiler makers. [4]
1906-1908 Produced the 'Y.E.C.' car. Fifty built.[5]
1908 The company is also engaged in motor-car construction. [6]
1948 The United Steel Companies Ltd needed new locomotives following the end of World War II; when the opportunity arose to purchase the Yorkshire Engine company, United Steel acquired it at a good price, with a view also to centralising the engineering workshops which would serve their steelworks at Templeborough (Rotherham) and Stocksbridge.
1951 One of the companies nationalised as part of the nationalisation of the iron and steel industry[7]
1954 One of the United Steel companies returned to private ownership[8]
From 'Short Histories of Famous Firms' by Ernest Leopold Ahrons [9]
The Yorkshire Engine Company, Ltd., Meadow Hill Works, Sheffield.
"The origin of the Yorkshire Engine Company, Limited, is stated to have been a suggestion thrown out by the late Mr. Archibald Sturrock, then (1865) the chief locomotive superintendent of the Great Northern Railway at Doncaster. Mr. Sturrock drew the attention of a number of gentlemen interested in the Sheffield and Manchester engineering and iron trades to the growing and successful competition of the Glasgow locomotive builders, who were capturing large locomotive orders on the English railways. Not only had the well-known firm of Messrs. Neilson and Co secured important locomotive contracts for several of the principal main lines on this side of the border, but the competing firm of Messrs. Dubs and Co had also just been founded by Mr Henry Dubs and had started operations in Glasgow.
Mr Sturrock's suggestion, which was probably in the nature of a prophetic hint, and duly considered, and a meeting was called at 64, Cross-street, Manchester, at which it was determined to form a new company with a capital of £200,000, and Mr Alfred Sacre of Peterborough was appointed the first managing director. The works were founded at Meadow Hall, Wincobank, near Sheffield, and Mr. Alfred Sacre was responsible for the layout and equipment of the buildings and plant. The situation of the works was at that time outside the Sheffield boundary, and the facilities for housing workmen were so poor that the company found it necessary to build a number of cottages at Wincobank, which it still retains..."
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Sheffield Independent - 20 May 1865
- ↑ Sheffield Independent - 1 Jan 1867
- ↑ The Engineer 1872/02/09
- ↑ White's Directory of Sheffield and Rotherham, 1901 p849
- ↑ Beaulieu Encyclopedia of the Automobile
- ↑ The Stock Exchange Year Book 1908
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette 23 February 1951
- ↑ The Edinburgh Gazette 26 March 1954
- ↑ The Engineer 1922/08/18