Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell was an engineering company in
Bolton
Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. Set up in 1822, the partners became interested in the production of steam locomotives after the
Rainhill Trials. The company's first engine was ''Union'', a vertical boiler, with horizontal cylinders for the
Bolton and Leigh Railway
The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire, it opened for goods on 1 August 1828 preceding the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) by two years. Passengers were carried from 1831. The railway operated inde ...
of which Hick and Rothwell were promoters and original shareholders, followed by three more locomotives the following year for American railways.
Rothwell and Company
In 1832,
Benjamin Hick
Benjamin Hick (1 August 1790 – 9 September 1842) was an English civil and mechanical engineer, art collector and patron; his improvements to the steam engine and invention of scientific tools were held in high esteem by the engineering pr ...
left to set up his own business,
B. Hick and Sons, to be replaced by
Benjamin Cubitt
Benjamin ( he, ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the last of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel (Jacob's thir ...
, (younger brother of
William Cubitt
Sir William Cubitt FRS (bapt. 9 October 1785 – 13 October 1861) was an eminent English civil engineer and millwright. Born in Norfolk, England, he was employed in many of the great engineering undertakings of his time. He invented a type of ...
) from
Fenton, Murray and Jackson
Fenton, Murray and Jackson was an engineering company at the Round Foundry off Water Lane in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
Fenton, Murray and Wood
Fenton Murray and Wood was founded in the 1790s by ironfounder Matthew Murray and ...
. The firm then became Rothwell and Company. A further order for America was fulfilled in 1833, then for a couple of years the firm was occupied with
pump
A pump is a device that moves fluids (liquids or gases), or sometimes slurries, by mechanical action, typically converted from electrical energy into hydraulic energy. Pumps can be classified into three major groups according to the method they u ...
s and
stationary engines
A stationary engine is an engine whose framework does not move. They are used to drive immobile equipment, such as pumps, generators, mills or factory machinery, or cable cars. The term usually refers to large immobile reciprocating engines, pr ...
.
Locomotives, steam engines and cranes
1820s
About 1827 the company supplied three steam engines to
André Koechlin
André Koechlin (1789–1875) was a French industrialist and the railroad equipment maker from the Koechlin family.
Life
André Koechlin was born in France to the Koechlin family, where he was the grandson of Samuel Koechlin, son-in-law of Dani ...
& Cie in France, one for the
Mulhouse
Mulhouse (; Alsatian language, Alsatian: or , ; ; meaning ''Mill (grinding), mill house'') is a city of the Haut-Rhin Departments of France, department, in the Grand Est Regions of France, region, eastern France, close to the France–Switzerl ...
cotton mill
A cotton mill is a building that houses spinning (textiles), spinning or weaving machinery for the production of yarn or cloth from cotton, an important product during the Industrial Revolution in the development of the factory system.
Althou ...
for which
Sharp, Roberts and Co.
Sharp, Stewart and Company was a steam locomotive manufacturer, initially located in Manchester, England. The company was formed in 1843 upon the demise of Sharp, Roberts & Co.. It moved to Glasgow, Scotland, in 1888, eventually amalgamating wi ...
supplied most of the equipment, one for
coal mine
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...
s at
Ronchamp
Ronchamp () is a commune in the Haute-Saône department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France.
It is located between the Vosges and the Jura mountains.
Mining Museum
Mining began in Ronchamp in the mid-18th century and had ...
, and one for the Bourcart factory.
Hick attended at least two of these installations in person during 1827.
A 1:10
scale model
A scale model is a physical model which is geometrically similar to an object (known as the prototype). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small prototypes ...
of a double
jib
A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its tack is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsail ...
crane designed by Benjamin Hick is displayed at the
Musee des Arts et Metiers.
1830s
From 1836 steam locomotives became their main business. Up to 1840 they produced 56, 28 of which went abroad. Of note is a for the
South Carolina Railroad
The South Carolina Rail Road Company was a railroad company that operated in South Carolina from 1843 to 1894, when it was succeeded by the Southern Railway (U.S.), Southern Railway. It was formed in 1844 by the merger of the South Carolina Canal a ...
to the design of
Horatio Allen
Horatio Allen (May 10, 1802 – December 31, 1889) was an American civil engineer and inventor, and President of Erie Railroad in the year 1843–1844.
Biography
Born in Schenectady, New York, he graduated from Columbia University in 1823, a ...
. This had drivers, with a swivelling front bogie, and reputed to have worked for 35 years. A deal of sub-contract work came from
Edward Bury and Company
Bury, Curtis and Kennedy was a steam locomotive manufacturer in Liverpool, England.
Edward Bury established the works in 1826, under the name Edward Bury and Company. He employed James Kennedy as foreman; Kennedy later became a partner. About ...
.
1840s
From 1841, the company began a batch of engines for the
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
Great Western Railway
The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...
. The largest order came in 1847 for 28 engines for the
London and South Western Railway
The London and South Western Railway (LSWR, sometimes written L&SWR) was a railway company in England from 1838 to 1922. Originating as the London and Southampton Railway, its network extended to Dorchester and Weymouth, to Salisbury, Exeter ...
.
1850s
Possibly the most remarkable were some
4-2-4 engines for the
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...
built in 1853/4 with unflanged driving wheels, and two ball-and-socket swivelled bogies. They weighed 42 tons and achieved speeds of , the fastest engines of the time.
The quality of the company's products brought in repeat orders. Many of the engines were still in service twenty years later. From 1857 the engines were to
Alexander Allan's design and were similar to the ''Old Crewe'' type. These were sold to the
Lancaster and Carlisle Railway and the
Eastern Counties Railway
The Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) was an English Rail transport, railway company incorporated in 1836 intended to link London with Ipswich via Colchester, and then extend to Norwich and Great Yarmouth, Yarmouth.
Construction began in 1837 on t ...
.
The last to be built were four
broad gauge
A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways.
Broad gauge of , commonly known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union (CIS ...
engines for the
Bristol and Exeter Railway
The Bristol & Exeter Railway (B&ER) was an English railway company formed to connect Bristol and Exeter. It was built on the broad gauge and its engineer was Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It opened in stages between 1841 and 1844. It was allied with ...
and two
saddle tanks for the
Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a broad gauge railway line in Wales that was intended to connect Carmarthen on the South Wales Railway with Cardigan. In fact, it was unable to raise the necessary capital and was loss-making from the time ...
.
Closure
In the face of reduced business and increasing competition, the company closed in 1864. Part of the works was taken over by the
Bolton Iron and Steel Company, which was later absorbed by
Henry Bessemer
Sir Henry Bessemer (19 January 1813 – 15 March 1898) was an English inventor, whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years from 1856 to 1950. He ...
and Company in 1906.
See also
*
Samuel Crompton
Samuel Crompton (3 December 1753 – 26 June 1827) was an English inventor and pioneer of the spinning industry. Building on the work of James Hargreaves and Richard Arkwright he invented the spinning mule, a machine that revolutionised the ...
*
Robert Daglish Jr. - trained with Hick and Rothwell
*
''Perseverance'' (1829) - similar in layout to ''Union'' by Rothwell, Hick & Co.
*
Pontchartrain Railroad
Pontchartrain Rail-Road was the first railway in New Orleans, Louisiana. Chartered in 1830, the railroad began carrying people and goods between the Mississippi River front and Lake Pontchartrain on 23 April 1831. It closed more than 100 years late ...
*
List of Saxon locomotives and railcars
This list contains the locomotives and railbuses of the Royal Saxon State Railways (''Königlich Saxon Staatseisenbahnen'') and the locomotives of the Leipzig–Dresden Railway Company.
Leipzig-Dresden Railway
The Leipzig–Dresden Railway C ...
*
List of Liverpool and Manchester Railway locomotives
This is a list of locomotives that were used or trialled on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) during its construction, at the Rainhill Trials, and until absorption by the Grand Junction Railway in 1845.
The rate of progress led to q ...
*
GWR Leo Class
The Great Western Railway Leo Class was a class of broad gauge steam locomotives for goods train work. This class was introduced into service between January 1841 and July 1842, and withdrawn between September 1864 and June 1874.
These locomo ...
*
Abbey Mills Pumping Station
Abbey Mills Pumping Station is a sewage pumping station in Mill Meads, East London, operated by Thames Water. The pumping station lifts sewage from the London sewerage system into the Northern Outfall Sewer and the Lee Tunnel, which both run to B ...
*
W & J Galloway & Sons
W & J Galloway and Sons was a British manufacturer of steam engines and boilers based in Manchester, England. The firm was established in 1835 as a partnership of two brothers, William and John Galloway. The partnership expanded to encompass th ...
References
* Lowe, J.W., (1989) ''British Steam Locomotive Builders,'' Guild Publishing
* {{cite book
, last=Marshall , first=John
, chapter=John and William Hargreaves, Benjamin and John Hick
, title=
A Biographical Dictionary of Railway Engineers
, year=1978
, pages=104, 112–3
External links
Internet ArchiveRothwell, Hick and Rothwell Low Pressure engine, p.741-743
Locomotive manufacturers of the United Kingdom
Manufacturing companies established in 1822
1864 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
History of Bolton
Companies disestablished in the 1860s
Companies based in Bolton
1822 establishments in England
British companies established in 1822