Smith and Yardley (also known as E.S. Yardley & Co.) were a firm of railway signalling and signal box contractors based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

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 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Emily Sophia Yardley

Emily Sophia Yardley (1836-1905) was born Emily Sophia Buckley at Talk o' th' Hill,

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

in 1836, the daughter of Thomas Buckley, a butcher and Emily, his wife. Her father died in 1838 and on 1 November of that year her mother married Humphrey Smith, a widower. Emily and her mother moved in with her step-father and his children at Duke Street, Manchester. She married Robert Pearce Yardley an ironmonger of

Chorlton-on-Medlock Chorlton-on-Medlock or Chorlton-upon-Medlock is an inner city area of Manchester, England. Historically in Lancashire, Chorlton-on-Medlock is bordered to the north by the River Medlock, which runs immediately south of Manchester city centre ...

on 2 May 1857 and they lived at 19 Darlington Street,

Cheetham Hill Cheetham is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England, which in 2011 had a population of 22,562. It lies on the west bank of the River Irk, north of Manchester city centre, close to the boundary with Salford, bounded by Broug ...

, Manchester. However, Robert died, aged 37, on 16 November 1860 leaving his wife as sole executor of the business. The 1861 Census returns for Duke Street shows Emily Sophia living there once again with her (by then twice widowed) mother. She was then described as "ironmonger". Emily Sophia married Robert Cox, a "manufacturer's agent" in 1872. By 1881, she had moved to

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batt ...

with her husband and in 1891 she was in

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

. She died in 1905.

William Smith

William Smith was the half-brother by her mother's second marriage. He was born 26 August 1839, and the 1861 census described him as an engineer, and "deaf and dumb from birth". The 1871 census shows William Smith as "engineer on railway". After 1881, he returned to live with his mother.

E.S. Yardley & Co.

Slater's 1863 ''Directory of Manchester and Salford'' shows E.S. Yardley & Co. as a firm of ironmongers at 56 Market Street. About 1871, the firm became involved in the installation of signalling equipment, point connections and the construction of signal boxes for the

Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway (L&YR) was a major British railway company before the 1923 Grouping. It was incorporated in 1847 from an amalgamation of several existing railways. It was the third-largest railway system based in northern ...

(L&YR) from their Castlefield Signal Works in

. William Smith took over the firm about 1876. Slater's 1877-8 ''Directory of Manchester and Salford'' describes Smith as "a railway plant manufacturer (signal)" at 1 Canal Street, and in 1881 as a "Patent Railway Signal Manufacturer". After 1881, the L&YR entered into an exclusive contract with the Railway Signal Co. and orders to Smith and Yardley dried up. They ceased work on signalling equipment in 1882. The company held several patents under the names of Smith and Yardley, but William Smith held the patents for the lever frames used by the company.

Smith and Yardley signal boxes

Between 1872 and 1882 the firm provided numerous signal boxes for the L&YR, including three that are still standing. The Type 2 box at Milner Royd Junction (near

Sowerby Bridge Sowerby Bridge ( ) is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703. History The town was originally a fording point over the once mu ...

) in 1874, closed in Autumn 2018, and two remaining Type 1 boxes, at

Bromley Cross Bromley Cross is a residential area of South Turton in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It gives its name to a larger electoral ward, which includes Eagley, Egerton, and Cox Green. Historically part of Lancash ...

, opened in December 1875, still in use and now Grade II listed by English Heritage, and Type 1 Hensall (also 1875 and listed), closed in May 2014.

References

External links