Benjamin Hick and Sons
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benjamin Hicks was an engineering company at the Soho Ironworks in Bolton, England.
He had originally been a partner in Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell and set up his company in partnership with this sons, John and Benjamin in 1832. Benjamin however very soon left the firm.
The first locomotive was built in 1833, followed by several more over the remainder of the decade, including an unconventional gear driven steam rail carriage. A number were built for export to America.
Between 1837 and 1840 the company became a subcontractor for Edward Bury and Company, supplying engines to the Midland Counties Railway, the London and Birmingham Railway, the North Union Railway and the Manchester and Leeds Railway. Engines were also built for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Paris and Versailles Railway.
In 1841 the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway had found some American Norris 4-2-0 locomotives very successful, especially on the notorious Lickey Incline, and Hick built three similar ones for the line.
Benjamin the elder died in 1842 and his son carried on, taking William Hargreaves into partnership.
Between 1844 and 1846 the firm built a number of "long boiler" locomotives with haystack fireboxes, plus four 2-4-0s in 1848 for the North Staffordshire Railway.
In all some ninety to a hundred locomotives were produced, but they were a sideline for the company, which concentrated on stationary engines and mill machinery, and no more were built after 1850. John Hick retired in 1868. William Hargreaves died in 1889 and, under a new directorship, the firm, which had been known as Hick, Hargreaves and Company for some time, acquired limited liability in 1889.
[edit] References
- Lowe, J.W., (1989) British Steam Locomotive Builders, Guild Publishing
