Fenton, Murray and Jackson

1843 winch for operating lock gates at Victoria Lock, Meelick, on the Shannon Navigation. Photo by Brian J. Goggin

An important engineering company, of Round Foundry, Water Lane, Holbeck, Leeds.

1826 The company became Fenton, Murray and Jackson with the addition of Matthew Murray's son-in-law Richard Jackson.

Joseph Cubitt was apprenticed to the firm, where his uncle Benjamin Cubitt was managing engineer ^[1].

1831 Work began building engines to George Stephenson's designs, both 2-2-0 "Planets" and 2-2-2 "Patentees" many of them under subcontract. Some were exported, and they also made twenty of Daniel Gooch's Firefly class for the Great Western Railway.

1834 Listed as machine makers ^[2]

c.1834 Richard Peacock was apprenticed at Fenton, Murray and Jackson in Leeds.

1834 December: James Fenton died

1838 Beam engine for Castleton Mills, Armley Road, Leeds. It ran until c.1920, when it was replaced by a larger engine ^[3]

By 1840, they were turning out up to twenty engines a year.

1843 The boom was over and the company closed down. Nearly eighty locomotives had been built. Some of those who had been apprentices with the company went on to make their names in other businesses, such as David Joy, John Chester Craven, and Richard Peacock.

1844 Richard Jackson and Richard Yale, of Leeds, Engineers, Machine Makers, Iron and Brass Founders, Dealers and Chapmen, and Copartners in Trade, carrying on business at Leeds under the style or firm of Fenton, Murray, and Jackson^[4]

1844 Richard Yale (b.1820) died and was buried in Leeds^[5]

1844 MARTIN JOHN WEST, Esq. one of Her Majesty's Commissioners authorized to act under a Fiat in Bankruptcy, bearing date the 29th day of July 1844, awarded and issued forth against Richard Jackson, of Leeds, in the county of York, Engineer, Machine Maker, Iron and Brass Founder, Dealer and Chapman, together with Richard Yale, his Copartner in Trade, carrying on business at Leeds aforesaid, under the style or firm of Fenton, Murray, and Jackson, has, on the application of the said Richard Jackson, appointed a public sitting under such Fiat to be held before the District Court of Bankruptcy, in the Commercial-buildings, in Leeds, on the 30th of October instant, at eleven of the clock in the forenoon precisely, for the allowance or otherwise of the Certificate of conformity to the said bankrupt, and when the same will be allowed unless sufficient cause be shewn against the allowance thereof^[6]

1845 'FENTON, MURRAY, AND JACKSON'S FOUNDRY, MARSHALL STREET AND WATER LANE, LEEDS. MESSRS. T. & W. HARDWICK beg to announce that they have received Instructions from the Assignees of Richard Jackson and Richard Yale, lately in Business under the Firm of Fenton, Murray and Jackson, to SELL BY AUCTION, EARLY in the MONTH of MAY, upon the Premises in Water Lane and Marshall Street, Leeds, ALL THE EXTENSIVE and TRULY VALUABLE SMITH'S, FOUNDER'S, BOILER MAKER'S, and LOCOMOTIVE ENGINE MAKER'S TOOLS, MACHINES, and other EFFECTS, comprising 27 SLIDE LATHES various Dimensions ; FACE LATHES, 7 UPRIGHT DRILLING MACHINES, LARGE and SMALL PLANING MACHINES, LARGE BORING MILL with CHANGE WHEELS and BORING BARS, LARGE DITTO for BORING LOCOMOTIVE CYLINDERS, 2 SMALL BORING MACHINES, LARGE SLOTTING MACHINE, and DITTO SELF-ACTING; SCREWING MACHINES, NUT SCREWING MACHINE, SMALL DRILLING MACHINES, TILT HAMMER, and LARGE SHEARS, 2 LARGE SHEARS, with PUNCHING MACHINES, 4 PUDDLING FURNACES, PAIR ROLL FRAMES, and Iron Plates and Foundations; BENDINO MACHINE. PUNCHING ENGINE, FORCE PUMPS, FANS and SPEED PULLIES, LARGE HYDRAULIC PRESS, 8 Inch Ram and Pump; Large Weighing Machine, Large Cranes, Blocks, and Ropes, Beams and Scales, Smith's Hearth's and Slake Troughs, numerous Pairs of Vice, and Vice Benches, Joiner's Benches and Tools, Grindstones and Troughs, and other numerous and exceedingly valuable Working Tools, Machines, and other Effects. Further Particulars this extensive and valuable Machinery will appear in descriptive Catalogues now in preparation, and in future Advertisements. The Property will be on View 14 Days previous to the Sale, and any further Information may be had in the meantime by making Application to the Auctioneers; George Young, Esquire, Official Assignee; or to Mr. JOHN BLACKBURN, Albion Street, Leeds. Solicitor to the Fiat.^[7]

1843 or a later date: The Round Foundry was taken over by Smith, Beacock and Tannett, renaming it the Victoria Foundry and they continued as machine tool manufacturers until 1894.

1846 A different James Fenton took over the Railway Foundry of Shepherd and Todd, and carried on building locomotives, then becoming Fenton, Craven and Co.