Markham and Co
C. Markham and Co of Chesterfield.
The company had an interest in a number of quarries and collieries and the Staveley Coal and Iron Co.
Maker of stationary engines. [1]
1860 A Mr. Oliver founded the business on a small site in the centre of the town
1870 Oliver bought land on which new works were built.
1889 Mr. C. P. Markham purchased the Broad Oaks Works, Chesterfield, business from Oliver; the works were increased in size, new buildings erected, and the number of workmen increased.
1890 An 0-4-0 locomotive was supplied to a logging railway in Tasmania. It was abandoned in the late 1940s, and recovered about 40 years later for restoration by the Tasmanian Transport Museum Soc Inc.[2]
1894 Supplied air compressor for the Greathead shield used in the construction of the Waterloo and City Railway
1890s Built an engine for Park Gate Iron and Steel Co.
1899-1914 Built nineteen locomotives (0-4-0ST) for all but one on a three metre gauge.
Built a number of steam engines to drive large generators, e.g. for Newport Power Station. A 1921 advert for the sale by John Rawding of surplus plant in Sheffield included: '1 300 K.W. GENERATING SET; Engines 18in. and 36in. x 42in. stroke, by Markham and Co., Ltd.; Generator 300 K.W, 230 volts, by British Thomson-Houston Co. Ltd., carried on engine shaft. Speed 95 r.p.m. Steam pressure 100 lb. per square inch. 1 500 K.W. GENERATING SET; Engines 26in. and 46in. x 42in. stroke by Markham and. Co.. Ltd.; Generator 500 K.W 230 volts, by the General Electric Co., Ltd., carried on engine shaft. Speed 95 r.p.m. Steam pressure 100 lb. per square inch. 1 CONDENSING SET for 300 and 500 K.W.'[3]
1903 Two Horizontal Rotative Engines for The South Essex Water Board (Linford Station).
1904 Horizontal two cylinder 1000 HP winding engine for Frickley Main Colliery, Nr Barnsley. Photographed by George Watkins in 1954. [4]
1910 Illustrated article about machinery and production methods at the works here [5]
1912 Made rolling mill engine(s) for Partington Steel and Iron Co[6].
WWI Orders for six rolling mill engines in 1916-7 and four blast furnaces in 1918 all for the war effort. One result of the war was the development of the Pony, Mule and Stallion engines. These were semi-mass-produced haulage engines for the mines.
1921 Installed engine at Park Gate Iron and Steel Co for the roughing mill.
Post-WWI Manufactured water turbines for Bovings, a company with which Markhams had a long association. The turbine work became a main base load for the works up to the 1960s.
1925 Private company.
Shortly before Mr. Markham's death, the Company was made over formally to the Staveley Coal and Iron Co., Ltd., which operated the business until 1937.
1926 Name changed.
1937 Structural engineers. [7]
1937 John Brown and Co acquired the very well equipped engineers Markham and Co to support its shipbuilding.
WWII Under Admiralty control at Markhams, production of landing craft, midget submarines, torpedo tubes and gun mountings. Large presses were produced for making extruded aluminium for the aircraft industry.
1946 Participated in a consortium of engineering companies led by John Brown which would use surplus factory space at Yeovil belonging to Westland[8]
Tunnelling machines continued to be made. Major contracts were for the London Underground and the Mersey and Dartford tunnels. Tunnelling machines continued to be built until the closure of the works.
Large turbines were made for export and there was the enormous project of turbines for Dinorwig power station in Wales. Other large constructions included tunnelling machines for Mexico, the second Dartford Tunnel and the Channel Tunnel. New products were stowing machines for the National Coal Board, die casting and plastic extrusion machines, and also wind turbines.
1961 Brass and iron founders (casting up to 40 tons) and mining, mechanical and structural engineers. [9]
1998 Production at Chesterfield was ended
An illustrated account of the history and products of the company is available in a recent book 'Markham and Company of Chesterfield'. The Appendices list brief details of individual machines made by Markham in the following categories: water turbines, tunnelling equipment; mine winding hoists (including many steam winding engines)[10]
Water Turbines
In 1928 signed an agreement with Boving and Co to produce water turbines, large valves, and propellers to Boving's design. 275 turbines were made, with a total installed capacity of 10,445 MW.[11]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain by George Watkins. Vol 10
- ↑ Letter and photo in the Model Engineer, 15 June 1990
- ↑ Sheffield Daily Telegraph, 9 April 1921
- ↑ ‘Stationary Steam Engines of Great Britain: Volume 1: Yorkshire'. Landmark Publishing Ltd., 2000
- ↑ [1] Heavy English Equipment Tools by I. W. Chubb, American Machinist, 23 June 1910
- ↑ Sheffield Daily Telegraph - Thursday 25 April 1912
- ↑ 1937 The Aeroplane Directory of the Aviation and Allied Industries
- ↑ The Times, Dec 28, 1946
- ↑ 1961 Dun and Bradstreet KBE
- ↑ 'Markham and Company of Chesterfield' by K G Wort and M G Bennett: Merton Priory Press Ltd, 2005. ISBN 1-898937-64-8
- ↑ 'Markham and Company of Chesterfield' by K G Wort and M G Bennett: Merton Priory Press Ltd, 2005. ISBN 1-898937-64-8, pp.69-73, 111-4
- British Steam Locomotive Builders by James W. Lowe. Published in 1975. ISBN 0-905100-816
- The Steam Engine in Industry by George Watkins in two volumes. Moorland Publishing. 1978. ISBN 0-903485-65-6
- [2] NEDIAS Newsletter #15