- Fenton, Murray and Jackson
Fenton, Murray and Jackson was an engineering company at the
Round Foundry off Water Lane inHolbeck ,Leeds ,West Yorkshire ,England .Fenton, Murray and Wood
The firm began as Fenton, Murray and Wood, founded by
Matthew Murray and David Wood in1795 to build machine tools (mainly for thetextile industry) and stationary steam engines, competing effectively withBoulton and Watt and achieving a considerable reputation. They were joined in1797 by James Fenton and the financier, William Lister.In
1811 ,John Blenkinsop was interested in usingsteam locomotives on theMiddleton Railway and had patented arack and pinion system to overcome problems with adhesion. Fenton, Murray and Wood were asked to design a suitable locomotive. Built in1812 , it was successful and three more followed, plus another two for the Kenton and Coxlodge Colliery. No more were built before Murray died in1826 .Fenton, Murray and Jackson
After Wood's death in 1820, the company became Fenton, Murray and Jackson.
From
1831 , work began building engines toGeorge Stephenson 's designs, both2-2-0 "Planets" and2-2-2 "Patentees, " many of them under subcontract. Many were exported, and twenty ofDaniel Gooch 's "Firefly" class for theGreat Western Railway . By1840 , they were turning out up to twenty engines a year. However, by1843 , the boom was over and the company closed down.Fenton carried on building locomotives after
1846 , taking over the Railway Foundry ofShepherd and Todd , inHunslet , becoming Fenton, Craven and Company. Among the company's apprentices were some who went on to further success, David Joy,John Chester Craven ,Benjamin Hick andRichard Peacock .References
* Lowe, J.W., (1989) "British Steam Locomotive Builders," Guild Publishing
* G. Cookson, 'Early Textile Engineers in Leeds 1780-1850' "Publications of Thoresby Society" n.s. 4 (1994), 40-61.
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