TitleR & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co Archive
ReferenceHL
CreatorR & W Hawthorn Ltd The firm was founded by Robert Hawthorn at Forth Banks Works, Newcastle, 1817. Roberts’s brother William became a partner and in 1820 the company became R & W Hawthorn Ltd. Initially the firm concentrated on the building of marine engines, it incorporated locomotives later reportedly after the partners were inspired by witnessing the 1829 Rainhill Trials.
In 1831 their first steam locomotive ‘Coronation’ was produced for the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The firm soon became successful as the British railway system expanded rapidly, supplying locomotives to a variety of British railway companies. R & W Hawthorn Ltd. began supplying locomotives to foreign railways in 1838, supplying locomotives to Europe, India, Australia, South America and South Africa. In 1846 a works at Leith was bought for the erection of locomotives that were intended for the Scottish railway; this was to prevent costly transportation by sea. By 1870 over 1,000 locomotives had been built by the company.
Robert Hawthorn died in 1867, and in 1870 William Hawthorn retired. The firm was sold for £60, 000 and was acquired by senior partner Benjamin Browne, his principle aide Francis Carr Marshall, William Hawthorn Junior and Joseph Scott.
The first intention of the new company was to confine themselves only to marine engines; however they found that their reputation meant that orders for locomotives were easy to secure and decided to continue with production. In 1870 the firm secured the shipyard of Messrs T and W Smith at St Peter’s, Newcastle and all marine engineering was moved away from Forth banks. It was subsequently decided to separate the business activities of the Forth Banks and St Peter’s sites.
R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co Ltd In 1886 R and W Hawthorn was amalgamated with the shipbuilding company of Andrew Leslie, thus becoming R and W Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd. In 1937 Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd purchased the locomotive department of R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd. They became Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd.
Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns Ltd In 1937 Robert Stephenson & Co. Ltd purchased the locomotive department of R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd. They became Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd. The policy was to concentrate the building of main line locomotives at Robert Stephenson’s Darlington works and industrial locomotives at Forth Banks.
In 1944 Vulcan Foundry acquired Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd, ending Hawthorns' 137 year connection with Forth Banks. In 1955 Vulcan Foundry became full members of the English Electric group of companies, which became part of the GEC group of companies in 1968.
Scope and ContentThe records of R W Hawthorn Leslie and Co Ltd consist mainly of records concerning locomotive production – order books, drawing registers, miscellaneous manufacturing records, also included is photographic material contained in photograph albums and in principle dimension books. There is also a variety of publicity material including brochures and publications. Volumes such as order books and drawing registers follow through uninterruptedly despite amalgamations with other companies, changes in ownership, etc. The archive consists of 13 volumes, nine booklets and 12 photograph albums.
Extent10 boxes
Physical descriptionThe archive consists of hard backed volumes that are in a fair condition. Some items in series HL 3/1 and HL 4/2 are not fully backed and held together with archival tape.
LanguageEnglish
Archival historyThe bulk of the archive originated from GEC Alsthom who inherited records of R & W Hawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd. The archive was split up and acquired by the NRM via separate routes from GEC Alsthom. The decision was made to reunite the material at the NRM.
List of Engines built by Robert Stephenson and Hawthorns Ltd - Records acquired from GEC Alsthom and Constituent companies by National Railway Museum. Transferred from Trafford Park, Manchester c.1983
Weight Book, Drawing Registers, spare boilers built, particulars of industrial locomotives built - Records acquired from the Industrial Railway Society. These had been loaned to the society for a short period by GEC Traction and were intended for the NRM collection. Transferred to the NRM October 1984.
Order Books 1-5, photograph album, principle dimension books - Records acquired from GEC Alsthom and Constituent companies by National Railway Museum. Transferred from Trafford Park, Manchester 1992.
Brochures and publications - Four brochures came from the British Transport Commission Historical Helics from Euston, Westminster and Clapham. Six are an untraced find.
Levelfonds
Repository nameNational Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
Stockton & Darlington Railway Co The Stockton & Darlington Railway (S&DR) was the first steam operated public railway in the world when it opened in 27 September 1825. The object of the railway was to reduce the cost of carriage of coal sent from the small coal mine in the Shildon area to Darlington & Stockton and at first it was not thought that there would be any need to provide facilities for passengers. For the first eight years the few passengers were carried in horse-drawn coaches operated by the contractors, it was not until 1833 that the company started to operate passenger trains hauled by locomotives.
Synonymous with the S&DR are the names Pease and Stephenson. The Pease family, led by Edward Pease strongly supported the railway and Edward's son, Joseph, prepared the original prospectus and became the company's first treasurer. George Stephenson was appointed engineer in January 1822 to see to the survey and the building of the line, he also supplied the first locomotives which were built be his son, Robert Stephenson.
In May 1825 Timothy Hackworth was appointed locomotive foreman and worked with the company for eight years and designed a type of locomotive more suitable for coal traffic, with six-coupled wheels.
Most of the branches and extensions to the Stockton and Darlington Railway were built by separate companies, although worked by the S&DR, however most of these companies were taken over by S&DR in 1858.
In 1863 the Stockton & Darlington Railway ceased to exist as a separate concern, but until 1876 it was run as the Darlington section of the North Eastern Railway.
English Electric Company Limited The English Electric Company was formed on 14th December 1918 and over the following year acquired Dick, Kerr & Company of Preston, Willans & Robinson of Rugby, the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company of Bradford, and Coventry Ordnance Works. After the First World War the various German owned Siemens works were distributed to different UK companies and in November 1919 English Electric acquired the Siemens Brothers Dynamo Works at Stafford, which became the company headquarters in 1931.
Coventry Ordnance, primary output naval guns, did not feature in the gradual product rationalisation which took place between the First World and Second world Wars. Willans & Robinson’s Rugby works specialised in prime movers, steam, hydro and internal combustion, and their Stafford works on power station and distribution electrics, including transformers and large electric machines for applications such as mining and steel works. Dick Kerr & Company continued building equipment and vehicles for bus, tram and railway applications with the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing Company concentrating on medium and small electrical machines. Involvement with aircraft continued a small scale. By 1929 the company was in financial trouble and an American syndicate fronted by Lazard Bros. put in new capital. In 1930 Westinghouse of Pittsburgh entered into an agreement with the company for the exchange of technical information relating to steam turbines and electrical apparatus. This cooperation continued into the 1950s.
1930 saw the closure of Preston West works and the transfer of traction electrical design and manufacture to the Phoenix Dynamo Manufacturing works. The Westinghouse influence included top management changes with Sir H Mensforth becoming chairman and George Nelson managing director. Both had been with British Westinghouse at Trafford Park. The early 1930s saw a remarkable improvement in the company’s finances and domestic appliance manufacture was started at Bradford and Stafford. In 1936 they began production of diesel locomotives at Preston and were later involved in the production of the Deltic locomotive for British Rail, presaging the end of steam traction in the UK.
Extensive shadow factory building for war production commenced in the late 1930’s, including at Preston East works and Salmesbury for aircraft production and at East Lancashire Road, Liverpool for D. Napier aero engines. A large variety of military equipment built during the war included thousands of Cromwell tanks from Stafford and over 3000 Handley Page Hampden and Halifax bombers from Preston and Salmesbury. After the war manufacture of smaller products from Bradford and Stafford moved to the large Liverpool works. This included electrical distribution transformers, switchgear, fuse gear, fractional horsepower motors and domestic appliances. Napier’s continued engine manufacture with the development of the ’Deltic’ diesel engine, mainly for marine applications. The nearby Netherton works took over the manufacture of large hydro-electric turbines and generators from Willans and Stafford.
In 1942 English Electric acquired D. Napier & Son Ltd and Marconi in 1946. The company went on to extend their railway interests with the acquisition of the Vulcan Foundry and Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn Ltd in 1955. The company tried to take over The General Electric Company (GEC) in 1960 but failed.
Traction manufacture, but not the offices, moved back to Preston East works and ‘K’, ‘RK’ and ‘V’ engine design and manufacture moved from Willans to Preston West works which was now also used for locomotive building. Kidsgrove works in Stafford made industrial controls and for a while was a major player in the UK computer industry, merging with Leo Computers and then into ICL. Train performance calculations were an early user of the mid-fifties ‘Deuce’ computer. Preston also became a major player in the aircraft industry taking over the wartime RAF/USAF base at Warton aerodrome - major design and manufacture contracts included Canberra bombers and Lightning fighters. Rationalisation in the 1960s resulted in English Electric Aviation becoming 40% of the new British Aircraft Corporation.
In 1961 English Electric took over Dorman Diesels Ltd which in turn had acquired W. G. Bagnall Ltd. In 1966 English Electric Diesels merged with Ruston and Hornsby which already included Paxmans. This company eventually became GEC Diesels. Elliott Automation was acquired in 1967. The following year GEC took over English Electric, ending its independent existence.
Conditions governing accessAccess is given in accordance with the NRM access policy. Material from this archive is available to researchers through Search Engine
Conditions governing ReproductionCopies may be supplied of items from this archive provided that the copying process used does not damage the item or is not detrimental to its preservation. Copies will be supplied in accordance with the NRM’s terms and conditions for the supply and reproduction of copies, and the provisions of any relevant copyright legislation.
Related Archives2002-8356, 2002-8360 Weight Books1Archive1893-174 Three photographs of locomotive by FC Winby, 1893 made by R. & W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Co.1Archive1976-8129, 1976-8133, 1977-5225, 1978-8134, 1978-8143, 1978-8165, 1979-7389, 1994-8841, 1997-7765, 1997-7765 Works Plates2Object1924-610, 1924-611 Model Locomotives2Object1896-111 Model Crane2Object1989-7174, 1989-7173 Model Ships2Object
AppraisalThe archive has been appraised. Secondary material has been removed. NRM Correspondence, transcripts of private researchers and NRM library material has been placed in the NRM registry files and the library collections respectively.
System of arrangementThe original order of the archive has been difficult to ascertain. The archive has therefore been arranged into five series reflecting either the activities to which the records relate or the nature of the record.
Order books
Drawing Registers
Manufacturing Material
Photographic Material
Publications
