![Shearing -](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Shearing_-_%22Old_Woolshed%22_112215236.jpg)
Frederick York Wolseley (16 March 1837 – 8 January 1899) was an Irish-born
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
inventor and woolgrower who invented and developed the first commercially successful sheep shearing machinery after extensive experimentation. It revolutionised the wool industry.
The former
Murray Shire Council erected a monument to him where he lived at the time, referring to his invention: "It has become part of the rich history of the wool industry and is now perpetuated in poem and song."
Family
Born in
Kingstown
Kingstown is the capital, chief port, and main commercial centre of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. With a population of 12,909 (2012), Kingstown is the most populous settlement in the country. It is the island's agricultural industry centr ...
(now Dún Laoghaire) in
County Dublin
"Action to match our speech"
, image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg
, map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...
Ireland, Frederick was the third son of the seven surviving children of Major Garnet Joseph Wolseley (1780–1840) of The King's Own Scottish Borderers (
25th Foot
The King's Own Scottish Borderers (KOSBs) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. On 28 March 2006 the regiment was amalgamated with the Royal Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (Princess Margaret's Ow ...
) and of the family of
Mount Wolseley, co. Carlow, and Frances Anne (1801–1883) daughter of William Smith of Dublin. His eldest brother became
Field Marshal Wolseley and a hero of the Victorian era, another brother became
General Sir George Wolseley.
[Joseph Jackson Howard, ''Visitation of England and Wales (Volume 19)'', p.10] Their father died in 1840 leaving their mother little more than his army pension and the brothers were educated at the local day school instead of being sent to England. The seven children remained close-knit throughout their lives.
[Ian J. Itter, compiler, ''Wolseley, Letters concerning Fred'', Swan Hill Victoria, Australia, 2007 ]
He married his nurse, Ellen Elizabeth Clarke (1850–1922), in Melbourne in 1892. She looked after him through his long final illness. They had no children.
[
]
Pastoralist and inventor
Frederick Wolseley, unassisted, went to Melbourne from Ireland, arriving in July 1854, aged 17, to be a jackaroo on his future brother-in-law's sheep station
A sheep station is a large property ( station, the equivalent of a ranch) in Australia or New Zealand, whose main activity is the raising of sheep for their wool and/or meat. In Australia, sheep stations are usually in the south-east or sout ...
. His sister Fanny's husband, Gavin Ralston Caldwell, they married in Dublin in 1857, held Thule, on the Murray River
The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest ...
, and later added nearby Cobran near Deniliquin
Deniliquin () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, close to the border with Victoria. It is the largest town in the Edward River Council local government area.
Deniliquin is located at the intersection of the Riverina ...
; both stations were in New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.[Walsh, G. P., 'Wolseley, Frederick York (1837–1899)', ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', Volume 6, (MUP), 1976]
Caldwell died in 1868.[ About that time, Wolseley set to work developing his ideas for a sheep shearing machine. By 1872, he had created a working model. He returned from a visit to England and Ireland in 1874 and continued development in Melbourne with Richard Park & Co, an engineering business][ where a few years later ]Herbert Austin
Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin (8 November 186623 May 1941) was an English automobile designer and builder who founded the Austin Motor Company. For the majority of his career he was known as Sir Herbert Austin, and the Northfield bypass ...
, a new immigrant from England, was to serve an apprenticeship. Austin's uncle was works manager.[Roy Church, 'Austin, Herbert, Baron Austin (1866–1941)', ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004]
Having acquired an interest in them, Wolseley lived on Cobran and Thule until 1876, 22 years in the same district. In 1871 he acquired Toolong in the Murrumbidgee district, five years later another property, Euroka near Walgett
Walgett is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of Walgett Shire. It is near the junctions of the Barwon and Namoi Rivers and the Kamilaroi and Castlereagh Highways. In 2016, Walgett had a population of 2,145.
In the 2 ...
. Now living at Euroka, he continued testing and on 28 March 1877 he and Robert Savage (1818–1888), the inventor of various items of mining and agricultural machinery, were granted a patent. Another patent was granted in December;[ however their machine was not a success and Wolseley continued to work on it but without Savage. He made further developments with Richard Pickup Park and they patented an 'Improved Shearing Apparatus' on 13 December 1884.][
The following year, Wolseley bought John Howard's rights to his horse clipper and hired him to work as a mechanic on his Euroka station. There Howard made improvements that were so effective that Wolseley began public demonstrations in Sydney and at Euroka. A William Ryley made suggestions for improving the handpiece. In 1887–1888, demonstrations were arranged throughout eastern Australia and New Zealand. The culmination was the first complete shearing by machinery which took place at Sir Samuel McCaughey's woolshed at Dunlop, Louth, N.S.W. and that year, 1888, eighteen more woolsheds were equipped with Wolseley machinery.][
During 1887, Herbert Austin joined, as chief engineer, Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited, incorporated in Sydney, a new business linked to R G Parks & Co, to make Wolseley's machinery in his workshops at ]Goldsbrough Mort & Co
Goldsbrough Mort & Co was an Australian agricultural business.
History
In 1843 Thomas Sutcliffe Mort established a business which operated as auctioneers and brokers in the wool trade. The business took on partners and become known as Mort & Co ...
. Ltd Melbourne. This company was wound up in 1889 and ownership transferred to a new British company, The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited was a London-incorporated public listed company created to capitalize on a sheep-shearing machinery business established by Frederick Wolseley in Australia which was managed by Herbert Austin ...
incorporated in London with a capital of £200,000. Operations remained in Australia, Austin studied the machinery while it was in use on sheep stations and made further patented improvements.[ Meanwhile Wolseley again visited England leaving Austin in charge.][
By 1893 they were facing a crisis when it was discovered they had sold a large amount of defective machinery, brought about by the failure of local suppliers to meet the required specifications. It was decided to leave John Howard in charge in Australia and send Austin to open up an operation in England. In November 1893, Wolseley and Austin arrived there, Austin to manage the business from a small workshop in ]Broad Street, Birmingham
Broad Street is a major thoroughfare and popular nightspot centre in Central Birmingham, England. Traditionally, Broad Street was considered to be outside Birmingham City Centre, but as the city centre expanded with the removal of the Inner R ...
.[
Handsome, likeable and well built, Wolseley was obliged to buy the engineering knowledge and experience to bring his ideas to fruition. His perseverance led to his machinery revolutionising the wool industry.][ Handicapped throughout his final ten years by his battle with cancer, he resigned as managing director of his company in 1894 and made what proved to be a brief return to Australia. Going back to England that same year for specialised treatment, he remained there, where he died aged 61 on 8 January 1899 at The Red House, Belvedere Road, Norwood, Surrey,][ and was buried at Beckenham cemetery.][
]
Cars
In the second half of the 1890s, Austin turned his attention to car manufacture as a way of stabilising the Wolseley business's inherent seasonal fluctuations. His first attempts were among the pioneer motorcars of Britain but they were not produced commercially until the Wolseley directors lost interest in the venture and shortly after Wolseley's death Vickers, Sons and Maxim took over the embryo business, Austin and the Wolseley name. This new business was incorporated with the name The Wolseley Tool & Motor Car Company Limited. After less than five years there, Austin set out on his own and built himself The Austin Motor Company Limited at Longbridge, Birmingham.[
]
Wolseley's machine
The machine clips the wool at its full length which often doubles or triples its value, it also removes the wool in a fleece instead of chopping it into small pieces like the shears.
The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited of London
Prospectus. London, 12 October 1889
Capital —£200,000 in 40,000 shares of £5 each; 13,332 fully paid deferred shares will be allotted to the vendors leaving 26,668 shares of £5 each which are now offered for subscription.
The vendors (The Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Limited of Sydney) who are the promoters of this company have fixed the price to be paid for all the patent rights and trade mark obtained and applied for at £75,000 cash and 13,332 fully paid deferred shares of the Company.
::Directors
:James Alexander, (Redfern, Alexander & Co) director of the Bank of Australasia
The Bank of Australasia was an Australian bank in operation from 1835 to 1951.
Headquartered in London, the bank was incorporated by Royal Charter in March 1834. It had initially been planned to additionally include first South Africa and then ...
F H Dangar, director of Commercial Banking Co of Sydney (London board)
:John Muirhead, ( Latimer Clark Muirhead & Co Limited)
:Abraham Scott, (chairman of Goldsbrough Mort
''Mort'' is a fantasy novel by British writer Terry Pratchett. Published in 1987, it is the fourth ''Discworld'' novel and the first to focus on the character Death, who only appeared as a side character in the previous novels. The title is the ...
& Co Limited) (London board)
:F Y Wolseley, Managing director
::Secretary and offices —Hugh E Mcleod, Crown Court, Old Broad Street, London
::Agents
:Victoria NSW and Queensland —Goldsbrough Mort
:South Australia —Hon. Henry Scott MLC
:New Zealand, Tasmania and S, Africa —Redfern Alexander & Co
:South America – O.G. Oliver-Jones
The company is formed for the purpose of acquiring and working the patent rights in Great Britain . . . and other countries for the Sheep-Shearing Machine and accessories invented and patented by Mr Frederic (sic) York Wolseley
It is estimated that the number of sheep in the countries for which patents have been obtained and applied for amounts to 400,000,000. This forms a magnificent field for operations . . .
National Museum of Australia
There is a Wolseley brand two-stand portable shearing plant in the collection of the National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
in Canberra. Manufactured in Birmingham, England, around 1930, the shearing plant is powered by a 32-volt, three horse-power single-cylinder petrol engine, mounted on a wooden trolley base with four cast iron wheels. The plant incorporated a revolutionary mechanised shearing handpiece, one of which is also in the museum's collection. The engine is painted green and inscribed with the brand name Wolseley, and has a metal manufacturer's plate which reads: Wolseley Sheep Shearing Machine Company Ltd Birmingham England. The plant, weighing 550 kg, was used on a sheep property named 'Emoh Ruo' in the Rockley-Black Springs area of New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
. It was used by Roy and George Keogh between 1948 and 1976.
Monument
A memorial to Wolseley has been placed on the site of Cobran homestead by Wakool Road near Wakool, New South Wales
Wakool is a town in the western Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Wakool is in the Murray River Council local government area, south west of the state capital, Sydney and north-west of Melbourne. At the , Wakool had a population ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wolseley, Frederick
1837 births
1899 deaths
Businesspeople from County Dublin
People from the Riverina
Australian sheep industry
19th-century Irish businesspeople
19th-century Australian inventors
Irish inventors
Burials in England