A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



gather that he was already carrying on his business 

 in 1772. Whether he was also a machine maker 

 there is no evidence to show, but it seems 

 probable. In 1772, also, Joshua Wrigley was 

 carrying on his trade as pump-maker and bell- 

 hanger in Long Mill-gate. In 1773 xMeredith 

 and Mayall were established as pin-makers at 

 Salford Bridge. At the same time the firm of 

 John Milne and Co., of Cannon Street, were 

 wire workers. 



Our attempt to trace the rise of the hardware 

 and allied trades in Manchester might have been 

 more satisfactory had directories for the town 

 been published between 1773 and 1788, and 

 again between 1788 and 1794. These gaps 

 make it impossible to fix, even approximately, 

 the date of the foundation of several firms. The 

 best-known Manchester firm of engineers at 

 the end of the eighteenth century appears to 

 have been Bateman & Sherratt, of Hardman 

 Street, Salford. In 1795, Aikin wrote the 

 following accoimt of the firm : — ' 



A considerable iron foundry is established in Salford, 

 in which are cast most of the articles wanted in 

 Manchester and its neighbourhood, consisting chiefly 

 of large cast wheels for the cotton machines ; 

 cylinders, boilers, and pipes, for steam engines. . . . 

 This work belongs to Bateman & Sherrard.' . . . 

 Mr. Sherrard is a very ingenious and able engineer, 

 who had improved upon and brought the steam 

 engine to great perfection. Most of those which are 

 used and set up in and about Manchester are of their 

 make and fitting up. They are in general of a small 

 size, very compact, stand in a small space, work 

 smooth and easy and are scarcely heard in the build- 

 ing ivhere erected. 



We have been able to gather only very little 

 about the history of this firm. It is first men- 

 tioned in the Directory oi 1 794. In 1788 the 

 firm does not appear to have existed, but James 

 Bateman is described as an ironfounder. The 

 last mention of the firm occurs in the Directory 

 of 1824-5. In 1829 James and Thomas 

 Sherratt were established in Hardman Street as 

 ' ironfounders, steam-engine manufacturers, etc' 

 In 1836 this same firm is described as 'iron- 

 founders, engine manufacturers, millwrights, and 

 hydraulic press-makers.' In 1838 the name of the 

 firm is no longer given in the general part of the 

 Directory, but only under the list of trades. After 

 this all mention of the firm ceases. The deduction 

 we draw from the Directorv of 1838 is that the 

 firm came to an end after the list of trades had 

 been drawn up, but before the Directory proper 

 was completed. We have been unable to dis- 

 cover whether the firm merely lost its identity 

 through amalgamation with some other firm, or 

 whether it really died out. 



' J Description of Manchester, 176. 

 * A more usual spelling appears to have been 

 Sherratt. 



In addition to Bateman & Sherratt, Aikin 

 says ' * there are five other foundries in 

 Manchester, which do a great deal of business.* 

 He gives their names as Brodie, M'Niven & 

 Ormrod, Smith & Co., Bassett & Smith, Mrs. 

 Phoebe Fletcher, and John Smith. From the 

 Directory we learn that a firm of Smith & Co., 

 ironfounders, existed in 1788 and 181 1. Of 

 the history of the others we know nothing. As 

 far as engineering is concerned, Aikin's list does 

 not appear to have been complete. In 1794 

 Heywood & Belshaw were established as * ma- 

 chine-makers ' at 4, Redcross Street, and William 

 Marsden as 'machine maker' at 31, Hilton 

 Street.* John Buxton, machine maker, of 

 18, Fleet Street, is mentioned for the first time 

 in the Directory of 1797. The only reference 

 to George Hughes, of Manchester, machine 

 maker, is that in the Index to Wills for 1799. ' 



With regard to the early developments of 

 engineering in other parts of Lancashire, Butter- 

 worth's information about Oldham is the most 

 detailed. 



The first machine makers in the neighbourhood of 

 Oldham were Messrs. Edmund & Samuel Elson of 

 Tetlow Fold, Northmoor. They constructed nu- 

 merous jennies of 14 and 20 spindles. Other machine- 

 makers than Elsons speedily appeared on the field, 

 and the first individual who established a machine- 

 making workshop in the village of Oldham was 

 Mr. Jonathan Ogden. . . . Messrs. Heap & Cowper, 

 of Glodwick, are said to have been machine makers 

 on a small scale.'" 



The machine-making business was as yet in its 

 infancy and never became of more than ordinary 

 extent till the great enterprize and perseverance of the 

 late Elijah Hibbert, Esq., fully developed its capabili- 

 ties. About 1797 Mr. William Rowbottam . . . 

 established a small machine-making workshop in 

 Schoolcroft and a roller making concern at Bell- 

 Factory. A few years afterwards Messrs. John 

 Garnett and William Jackson commenced machine- 

 making works. The first iron foundry established at 

 Oldham was erected by Mr. John Mackie in 1805." 



Although the business of machine making had 

 made great progress in Manchester and other large 

 towns, yet in Oldham that branch of trade had not 

 attained to a tithe of its present [1847] magnitude as 

 late as 1820. In 1815 there were only four machine 

 makers in the town, Messrs. John Garnett, William 

 Jacbon, John Watson, and John Winterbottam, and 

 one ironfounder, Mr. John Mackie." 



Rochdale appears to have been a very early 

 ntre of the engineering trade, though the in- 



' J Description of Manchester, 177. 



* Manchester and Salford Direct. 1 794. 



' Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xlv. 



J° Butterworth, Historical Sketches of Oldham, 127. 

 It is not clear from Bntterworth to what date exactly 

 the passage refers. Probably the ' eighties ' of the 

 eighteenth century. 



"Ibid. 153. 



"Ibid. 184. 



centre 



368 



