Hudswell, Clarke and Co

Page 118 in Worrall's Directory 1891

Hudswell, Clarke and Co (HCCL) of the Railway Foundry, Leeds was an engineering and locomotive building company

• 1860 W. S. Hudswell founded the company having served his apprenticeship with Kitson and Co with John Clarke the work's manager from the same company

• 1866 Mr Rodgers joined the company

• 1870 The company name was changed to Hudswell, Clarke and Rodgers

• 1880 Rodgers left the company and the name changed to Hudswell, Clarke and Company

• 1894 Etchell's 'Non-Drip' Shaft bearing

• 1895 Advert. 'Rodgers' pulleys. Non-drip shaft bearings

• 1899 Advert. 'Rodgers' pulleys. Non-drip shaft bearings

• 1900 Around 575 locomotives had been built since the company started

• 1917 Advert. 'Rodgers' pulleys. Over 181,000 in use.

• 1927 Around 1,600 locomotives had been completed since the company started

• 1920s Increasingly the production of diesel locomotives gradually outstripped the steam locomotive

• During WW2 the company diversified into armaments, as did so many other engineering companies. In the post-war period Hudswell, Clarke and Co Ltd (its full title, and note the comma) was closely involved in many secret programmes, including the British nuclear weapon programme. The airframe for the first British nuclear bomb, Blue Danube was manufactured by Hudswell Clarke at its Roundhay Road, Leeds. The airframe for Red Beard, the second generation tactical nuclear bomb, followed with that for Violet Club, the Interim Megaton Weapon; and there were many other projects.

• 1960 Advert for underground diesel engines. 'Designers and builders of steam, diesel mechanical, diesel electric, electric and battery locomotives for all purposes'

• 1961 The last steam engine built and they had made 1,807 of these in the 101 years of the company's existence

• The locomotive part of the business is now part of the Hunslet Engine Co. Locomotive-building was always only one part of a diverse product inventory that included underground diesel-powered mining locomotives, hydraulic pit-props and related mining equipment.

• All the bombs detonated at the Christmas Island H-bomb tests were contained in airframes designed and built by Hudswell Clarke. The company were also major contributors to other military projects, eg. the Centurion main battle tank conversion into an armoured bridge-layer, that served with the British Army for many years.

• The contraction of defence manufacturing in the mid-1960s contributed to the sale and demise of the company.

Sources of Information

• [1] Wikipedia
• Directory 1891 Worrall's Cotton Spinners
• British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816
• The Engineer of 8th June 1894 p499
• Mining Year Book 1960. Published by Walter E. Skinner. Advert p25
• Directory 1917 Worrall's Yorkshire Textile Advert p158
• Mechanical World Year Book 1895. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p152
• Mechanical World Year Book 1899. Published by Emmott and Co of Manchester. Advert p224