INDUSTRIES 



on for a few years longer under the two firms 

 of Messrs. John Rennie & Co. and Messrs. 

 George Rennie & Co. 



The founder of the firm which subse- 

 quently became known as Maudslay Sons 

 & Field, was Henry Maudslay, who was 

 born at Woolwich in 1771.* After a brief 

 training in the arsenal at Woolwich, he 

 entered the works of Bramah, and for nearly 

 ten years was engaged in making locks. In 

 1798 he set up on his own account as an 

 engineer in Wells Street, Oxford Street, 

 removing to Margaret Street in i8o2. Here 

 he patented several inventions, two of them 

 for calico printing,^ and one, in 1807, for a 

 steam engine.' In 18 10 he set up the 

 famous works in Westminster Bridge Road, 

 Lambeth, which were afterwards carried on 

 under the style of Henry Maudslay & Co., 

 and later when Mr. Joshua Field was taken 

 into partnership under that given above. 

 The establishment was begun with 1 50 men 

 and a 6 horse-power steam engine.* One of 

 the elder Maudslay's most valuable inven- 

 tions was his measuring machine, so finely 

 adjustable as to be able to register one ten- 

 thousandth of an inch. Among his pupils 

 and workmen were some who afterwards 

 became famous in the engineering world. 

 Sir Joseph Whitworth and James Nasmyth, 

 to name two of the most important of these, 

 worked for some time with him at Lambeth. 

 Two of his sons, Thomas Henry Maudslay 

 and Joseph Maudslay, were also well known 

 engineers, and helped to continue the business 

 after his death in 1831. Joseph Maudslay 

 had received a training in early life as a ship- 

 builder, and it was doubtless chiefly due to 

 him that the firm, like that of the Rennies, 

 became devoted more especially to marine 

 engineering. In 1839, in conjunction with 

 Joshua Field, and in 1841 by himself, he took 

 out patents for the double-cylinder steam 

 engine for ships," which came into extensive 

 use, and the making of which we are told 

 constituted a large portion of his firm's opera- 

 tions about the year 1850." At this date the 

 premises covered about 3 acres of ground and 

 1,000 men were employed in them. The 

 casting foundry was said to be one of the 

 largest and busiest in the kingdom. The 



» See the article ' Maudslay,' by R. B. Prosser 

 in Diet. Nat. Biog. for many of the following 

 facts. 



» Pat of Invention, Nos. 2872, 31 17. 



3 Ibid. No. 3050. 



« Brayley and Britton, Hist, of Sun: v. App. 

 44. 



5 Pat. of Invention, Nos. 8060, 8881. 



« Brayley and Britton, loc. cit. 



II 41 



engines in use consisted of two of 10, four of 

 6, and one of 4 horse-power, with every 

 application of machinery that could facilitate 

 the iron and brass foundry, model making, 

 turning, boring, planing, clipping, rivetting 

 and the like. The precision with which all 

 this machinery could be adjusted to perform 

 these various operations called for particular 

 comment. For more than a quarter of a 

 century the firm constructed the engines for 

 ships of the royal navy. Joseph Maudslay 

 took a great interest in the question of marine 

 propulsion and in the development of the 

 screw propeller. He took out a patent in 

 1 843 for propelling machinery,' and in con- 

 junction with Joshua Field, two others in 

 1845 and 1846 for the same object.* He 

 died in 1861, his elder brother surviving him 

 until 1864. The firm continued until its 

 dissolution within the last few years to be 

 carried on under the same style, but was 

 afterwards converted into a limited company. 

 In its later years branch works were opened 

 at Greenwich, and in 1900 the Lambeth 

 establishment was the first of the two to be 

 abandoned. 



At the present day the various metal trades 

 and the manufactures of engines and machinery 

 which are carried on in Surrey, especially in 

 Southwark and Lambeth and the more metro- 

 politan districts, are very numerous. Nearly 

 thirty companies of iron-founders, many of 

 them of considerable importance, are estab- 

 lished between Rotherhithe and Battersea. 

 Several of these, however, have their foundries 

 in the midlands and the north, where the 

 girders, columns, stanchions, gas and water 

 pipes and the like, to the storage of which 

 their London premises are devoted, are cast. 

 But in a large proportion of the cases the 

 actual works are within the county. Among 

 such works we may mention those of Messrs. 

 Measures Brothers, Limited, and the Thames 

 Bank Iron Company in Southwark, the Globe 

 Foundry Company, Limited, in Battersea 

 Park, and Messrs. H. Young & Co., Limited, 

 of the Nine Elms Iron Works. In the more 

 rural parts of the county are the East Surrey 

 Iron Works of Messrs. H. & G. Measures 

 at Croydon, with their extensive stores of 

 iron and steel columns, girders and joists, the 

 ironworks at Millmead, Guildford, of Messrs. 

 Dickenson & Burne, iron and brass founders 

 and makers of agricultural implements, and 

 the works of Messrs. George Coffin & Sons 

 at Addington, who also make a speciality of 

 their agricultural and horticultural implements. 



' Pat. of Invention, No. 9: 

 * Ibid. Nos, 10637 and 



i33- 

 1039. 



53 



