Hathorn, Davey of Leeds

Manufacturers of Steam Pumping Machinery 1872 to 2016

Robert Vernon

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English

R Vernon
31 January 2021

History of engineering & technology; Steam engines

Hathorn, Davey was a successful Leeds (West Yorkshire, United Kingdom) engineering company in the 19th and 20th centuries that rapidly gained a reputation for the manufacture of reliable and efficient steam pumping engines.

The company started in 1872 as a means for a retired Scottish Army Captain, John Fletcher Hathorn, to give his half-brother a worthwhile career. A year later, a young engineer Henry Davey, joined the Partnership. Davey was to become probably one of the most innovative engineers in pumping technology of the period, and it was his patent of a new type of steam engine governor, the differential gear, together with its application to the two-cylinder Compound Engine, that gave the Company worldwide fame. Other innovations followed including a low-steam pressure domestic or safety motor that Davey used at his house at Headingley, Leeds.

The Compound Engine was the Company's bestseller in the 19th century, and a number of those engines survive in the United Kingdom at Ebbw Vale, South Wales, Cheddars Lane Technology Museum, Cambridge and the Mill Meece Pumping Station, Staffordshire.

In the 20th century, the Triple Expansion Engine superseded the Compound, and was exported to Uruguay and Australia. There are examples in both countries. In the United Kingdom working Triple Expansion Engines can be found at Twyford, Hampshire and the London Museum of Water and Steam.

By 1900 the Company had come under the Directorship of the influential Lupton family of Leeds, and in 1901 the partnership converted to a private company. However, like many companies in the 1930s, Hathorn Davey fell on hard times and it was taken over by Sulzer Brothers of Switzerland in 1936. They retained the name Hathorn Davey as a dormant company until 2016.

'Hathorn, Davey of Leeds' is a detailed history of a engineering company, located in the Hunslet area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom.

The first few chapters describe the establishment of the Sun Foundry where the Company was based. From 1872, the foundry was operated by a number of partnerships, led by John Fletcher Hathorn, a Scottish Landowner. Henry Davey was made a partner 1874 and Hathorn, Davey eventually appeared as the Company's title. Davey was responsible for a number of original innovations that contributed to the firm's excellent reputation for reliability and efficiency. Eventually their steam pumping engines were exported all over the world.

The 366 page book is amply illustrated with examples of the engines and pumps that the Company produced, together with minimal explanations of the technology taken from a variety of patents, and technical journals. The Hathorn, Davey Orders Books provide a common thread throughout the book. The book concludes with two appendices that provide details of the Order Books and the many patents taken out by Henry Davey.

By: Robert Vernon
Imprint: R Vernon
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 246mm, Width: 189mm,
ISBN: 9781838362102
ISBN 10: 183836210X
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 31 January 2021
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert (Rob) Vernon grew up in Liverpool. He studied geology at London University and for most of his career was an Area Geologist for the National Coal Board (Deep Mines) based in Yorkshire. With the demise of the coal industry Rob went and studied at Bradford University and gained a Doctorate. Rob has previously co-authored a series of books about the lead mining industry of northwest Wales (Gwydyr and the Lleyn Peninsula), and edited three editions of the National Association of Mining History Organisation's handbook. Later his interest turned to British mining companies that worked in Spain, particularly in the Linares area, where he is an honorary member of the local mining heritage group. He has written three books about the area. One, 'Don Regino' about the English mechanical engineer Reginald Bonham-Carter, was co-authored with his wife Margaret. His interest in Hathorn Davey started in 1975, when he purchased an old Pumping Engine Catalogue at the Queens Hall Flea Market, Leeds. This linked in with Rob's interest in mining history. Since then he has visited the sites of Hathorn, Davey engines in Australia (Queensland, Tasmania and Victoria), Japan (Kyushu), and Spain. He has also visited many sites in the United Kingdom. Much of the research material used for the book has come from a collection of Hathorn, Davey Order Books held in the Leeds Archives, as well as contemporary engineering publications.