Sharp, Roberts and Co
Sharp, Roberts and Company of Faulkner Street (Globe Works) and Great Bridgewater Street (Atlas Works), Manchester were an engineer, machine and locomotive manufacturer formed by Thomas Sharp and Richard Roberts.
May 1826 Roberts, Hill and Co and Sharp, Hill and Co were dissolved and re-formed as Sharp, Roberts and Co
1826 June 24th. Advertisement: 'To the MANUFACTURERS of MANCHESTER and the NEIGHBOURHOOD. THE Patentees of the newly invented POWER LOOM, on which Dr. Birkbeck gave his Lecture at the Mechanics' Institution, in London, on the eighth of June, beg leave to announce that they have made arrangements with Messrs. Sharp, Roberts, and Co. for the Manufacture of them, and have appointed them Sole Agents for granting Licences to use them in this district, at whose Works, in Falkner-street, the Loom may now be inspected. June 23, 1826' [1]
1828 William Crossley of Sharp, Roberts and Co was listed as a contact in relation to advertised sale of flax mill in Wrexham [2].
1828 Opened the Atlas Works to manufacture textile machinery and machine tools.
1833 They had built a few stationary steam engines, and then built a locomotive, Experiment for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. It was a four-wheeled 2-2-0 with vertical cylinders over the leading wheels. After a number of modifications, three similar engines were built for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway. Although they were relatively fast, they were too hard on the track at speed.
1833 Trial of steam-powered coach on Oxford Road, Manchester; it had been designed by Mr Roberts and built by Sharp, Roberts and Co [3].
1834 Charles Beyer joined the firm.
1836 December 31st. 'The Partnership heretofore subsisting between Thomas Sharp, Thomas Jones Wilkinson, Robert Chapman Sharp, John Sharp, and Richard Roberts, as Engineers and Machine-Makers, at Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, under the firm of Sharp, Roberts, and Co. was this day dissolved by mutual consent, so far as respects the said Thomas Jones Wilkinson and Robert Chapman Sharp, who retire from the said concern.— Witness our hands this 31st day of December 1836. Tho. Sharp. Thomas Jones Wilkinson. Robt. C. Sharp. Jno. Sharp. Richd. Roberts. [4]
1837 A new 2-2-2 locomotive design was produced with horizontal inside cylinders under the smoke box and additional bearings to support the crank axle. Around 600 of these locos were built between 1837 and 1857. Ten of the first were sold to the Grand Junction Railway, with the "Sharpies" becoming a standard to compare with the "Bury" engines.
1838 The company had 3 establishments, in Falkner Street and Great Bridgewater Street, one of which was the Atlas Works where locomotive engines were assembled; Thomas Sharp, John Sharp and Thomas Sharp, Junior were present at the visit of Marshall Soult [5].
1841 Listed as Sharp, Roberts and Co, machinists, engineers, boiler makers, etc., 79 Faulkner St and Great Bridgewater St [6].
1841 Thomas Sharp died.
1843 The partnership of Sharp, Roberts and Co was dissolved. John Sharp and Thomas Beatt Sharp carried on their part of the business at the Atlas Works in Oxford street and Great Bridgewater street as Sharp Brothers. Richard Roberts carried on business at the Faulkner street Works. [7]
Charles Beyer was appointed chief engineer in Roberts's place.
During 1851 and 1852 twenty engines were built for the London and North Western Railway to the design of Edward McConnell, the so-called "Bloomers," subcontracted from Wolverton.
In 1852, the senior partner, John Sharp, retired and was replaced by Charles Patrick Stewart, the name of the company changing to Sharp, Stewart and Co. Shortly afterwards Charles Beyer left.
1853 Listed as makers of locomotive engines. [8]
1853 There is a description of the works of Sharp Brothers and Coin the 1853 Directory of Manchester and Salford pages xxxiii.
1853 Thomas Beatt Sharp and William Sharp listed as being engineers at Sharp, Brothers and Co, ironfounders, engineers, millwrights and machinists, of Great Bridgewater St and Oxford St, St Peter's (the same as Thomas Sharp and Co) [9].
See Also
Sources of information
- ↑ Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser - Saturday 24 June 1826
- ↑ The Times, 2 August 1828
- ↑ The Morning Post, 20 December 1833
- ↑ [1] Gazette Issue 19464 published on the 7 February 1837
- ↑ The Manchester Times and Gazette, 21 July 1838
- ↑ Pigot and Slater's Directory of Manchester & Salford, 1841
- ↑ [2] Gazette Issue 20237 published on the 27 June 1843
- ↑ 1853 Directory of Manchester and Salford
- ↑ 1853 Directory of Manchester and Salford
- British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816