Butterworth

1876.

1876.

1884.

1934.

Headstock of Butterworth long bed lathe at Blists Hill, Ironbridge Gorge Museums

Long-bed lathe at Blists Hill

Drilling machine at Wortley Top Forge

Nameplate on drilling machine at Wortley Top Forge

Butterworth and Co of Albert Works, King St West, Manchester

1840 Company established

1850 Listed as James Butterworth, Machine Agent at 2 Joynson Street, Bury New Road

1853 Listed as 'Butterworth, James, machine broker and general agent. 1 Albert Street. Ho: 22 Stocks St., Cheetham'

1860 Announcement of the opening of a new police station on the site of the former gas-works in Albert Street and Lower King Street with a frontage of two hundred feet toward Albert Street, is three-storeys high and to accommodate 130 policemen.

1863 Slater’s Directory identifies James Butterworth, Engineer & Machinist, Albert Works, Albert Street, Bridge Street.

1870 Advertisement 'Steam engines, Steam engines. Horizontal and Vertical high-pressure Steam Engines. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 25, 30, 35 and 40 horses power respectively, all made in a very good and substantial manner and warranted to work well. JAMES BUTTERWORTH, Albert Street Iron Works, Lower King Street, Manchester. Established 1840 '

1871 James Butterworth, engineer & machinist, living at 73 Elizabeth Street, Cheetham, employing 15 hands

1872 Advertisement 'Horizontal and Vertical high-pressure Steam Engines. Vertical portable engines and boilers combined, or separate, mounted on Cast-Iron base plates. Vertical fixed engines from 2 to 10 horse power; Horizontal engines from 3 to 40 horse power; Improved colliery winding engines up to 40 horse-power; Steam Donkey Pumps from from 3-in to 12-in ram properly tested in actual work, before delivery; upwards of forty steam engines from 3 to 20 horse power in stock to select from. All warranted. Prices low and ready for immediate delivery. Inspection invited. James Butterworth. Albert Street Ironworks, Lower King Street, Manchester'

1872 Advertisement 'Steam engines, Steam engines. Horizontal and Vertical high-pressure Steam Engines. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 25, 30, 35 and 40 horses power respectively, all made in a very good and substantial manner and warranted to work well. JAMES BUTTERWORTH, Albert Street Iron Works, Lower King Street, Manchester'

1876 Advertising as James Butterworth, Engineer & Boiler Maker, Albert Iron Works, Lower King Street, Manchester.

1876 Slater's Directory of Manchester & Salford, 1876, Part 1, lists James Butterworth as an engineer, lathe & tool and machinists’ tool maker, Albert Street Iron Works. Home address: 73 Elizabeth Street, Cheetham. In the 'Streets' section of the directory there is some confusion between Albert Street and Lower King Street, and the location of James Butterworth, Engineer, is given as No. 13. The address is identified as being between Gas Street and the Vine Tavern (which fronted onto Albert Street). Available detailed maps (1849 and 1922) show a triangular complex of buildings bounded by Albert Street, Lower King Street and Gas Street, with a group at the northern apex which were probably industrial buildings. If these industrial(?) buildings were the Albert Iron Works, then the ground area of the works is estimated to have been no more than approx 75 ft by 35 ft.

1870s Supplied a 30 HP horizontal steam engine to Winterbottoms Oxspring Wire Mill, Thurgoland, South Yorkshire . George Watkins commented that 'The engine was the simplest possible, but the cylinder was a superb piece of foundry art'.

1881 James Butterworth, Machine Tool and Steam Engine Maker and Master employing 10 men and two boys

1883 and 1886. Slater's Directory lists James Butterworth as an engineer at 17 King Street West. The Classified section lists the company as Lathe & Tool Makers, Machine Makers, Pump Makers, Boiler Makers, Steam Hammer Manufacturers, Millwrights at Albert Iron Works, King Street West. King Street West was formerly known as Lower King Street. Maps show that the premises, No. 17, between Bancroft Place and Gas Street, were shared with John Pollard, Glass Dealers. The range and type of products is most impressive in relation to the number of employees and to the postulated size of the factory. This raises questions about both the scale of production and the extent to which work was done in-house, as opposed to being contracted out.

1890 The 'Albert Gas Engine' was made by William Butterworth

At least one Albert Gas Engine has survived in preservation

1894 Forced into liquidation by patent dispute with Gardner and Sons

1895 Under Engineers & Machinists, Slater's Directory separately lists James Butterworth, at 19 King Street West, and William Butterworth & Son, Albert Works, King Street West. However, under the 'Streets' section of the directory, William Butterworth & Son's address is also given as 19 King Street West. . This appears to be a narrow office-type building at the south-eastern corner of the 'triangle', and it is no longer clear whether Butterworths' occupy the northern corner.

1903 Listed as William Butterworth & Son, Albert Works, King Street West and Ann Street, Engineering Works, Lloyd Street, Hulme, Listed as Engineers & Machinists, Toolmakers and Gas Engine Makers. Reference to the 1896 O.S. map suggests that the Ann Street Works, close to the junction with Lloyd Street, would have been of very small size. . Separate listings provide additional information: 'William Butterworth & Son (Butterworths, established 1840), mechanical and electrical engineers, toolmakers and contractors, Albert Works, King Street West, and Ann Street Engineering Works, Lloyd Street, Hulme'. Herbert George Butterworth is listed as 'engineer' at Albert Works

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