Daniel Adamson

Daniel Adamson, 1880

Daniel Adamson (30 April 1820 – 13 January 1890) was a notable English engineer who became a successful manufacturer of boilers and was the driving force behind the inception of the Manchester Ship Canal project during the 1880s.

Early life

Adamson was born in Shildon, County Durham, on 30 April 1820. He was the thirteenth of fifteen children – seven boys and eight girls – born to Daniel Adamson, landlord of the Grey Horse public house in Shildon, and his wife, Ann. Adamson was educated at Edward Walton Quaker school, Old Shildon, until the age of thirteen, when he left to become an apprentice to Timothy Hackworth, engineer to the Stockton and Darlington Railway, with whom he went on to serve as a draughtsman and engineer. By 1850, he had risen to become general manager of the Stockton engine works, and moved to become manager of Heaton Foundry in Stockport.^[1]

Business

Boiler for an engine made at Daniel Adamson & Co., Dukinfield c. 1900

In 1851 he established a small iron works in Newton, Cheshire, expanding it a year later by building a new foundry called the Newton Moor Iron Works on Muslin Street (now Talbot Road), between Hyde and Dukinfield. He specialised in engine and boiler making, initially following designs created by Hackworth, making and exporting the renowned "Manchester Boilers". Adamson was able to experiment with the new found wealth from the worldwide export of these boilers and due to his remarkable capability in engineering was able to design the collapsible valve known as the Adamson Flange Seal. He was also one of the pioneers of explosive forming used in the foundry process.^[2]

In 1872 he designed and built the Daniel Adamson and Co factory, a new premises in Dukinfield next to Dewsnap Farm (off Dewsnap Lane), with its entrance on Johnsonbrook Road. This new works was approximately 1,000 yards (910 m) from the old foundry but the site was large and had enough spare land around it for any planned expansion.

He improved the design and manufacturing process (pioneering the use of steel and taking out 19 patents in the process) over the 36 years he was involved with boiler and other foundry manufacturing. When he died in 1890 the business employed some 600 people.

Adamson's other business interests included a mill building company in Hyde ('The Newton Moor Spinning Company'), the Yorkshire Steel and Iron Works at Penistone, the Northern Lincolnshire Iron Company at Frodingham, and large share-holdings in iron works in Cumberland and south Wales.

The Ship Canal project

Adamson was a champion of the Manchester Ship Canal project. He arranged a meeting in Didsbury at his home, The Towers, on 27 June 1882, attended by 68 people including the mayors of Manchester and surrounding towns, leaders of commerce and industry, banker and financiers. Also present at the meeting was the canal's eventual designer Edward Leader Williams.^[3] Adamson was elected chairman of the provisional committee promoting the Ship Canal, and was at the forefront in pushing the scheme through Parliament in the face of intense opposition from railway companies and port interests in Liverpool. The requisite Act of Parliament enabling the canal was finally passed on 6 August 1885, after which Adamson became the first chairman of the board of directors of the Manchester Ship Canal Company – a post he held until February 1887. As a result of his resignation, the first sod was cut by his successor, Lord Egerton of Tatton, the following November.^[4]

Adamson remained a strong supporter of the project but did not live to see its completion in 1894. He died at home in Didsbury on 13 January 1890. Daniel Adamson and Co remained a family business until 1964, when it was sold to Acrow Engineers Ltd.

Memorials

There are blue plaques at The Towers (today the Shirley Institute), Wilmslow Road in Didsbury, and in Adamson Street, Dukinfield. Also in Dukinfield, St Luke's Church has a stained glass window in his memory. The Adamson Military Band was also named after him.^[5]

The Daniel Adamson Coach House has been preserved in Shildon.^{[citation needed]}

A former Manchester Ship Canal Company steam-powered tug-tender, Daniel Adamson (originally named Ralph Brocklebank but renamed in 1936) is being restored by The Daniel Adamson Preservation Society.^[6]

Adamson is buried at Southern Cemetery, Manchester in grave space "A-Church of England-40". He was buried three days after his death, on 16 January 1890.^{[citation needed]}

References

Notes

1. ^ Read, J. Gordon (2004). "Adamson, Daniel (1820–1890)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/45638. Retrieved 2008-04-29. 
2. ^ Goodwin, J: Technology and culture Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 268–300 (1964), Johns Hopkins University Press, 1966. ISSN 0040-165X
3. ^ Owen (1983), p. 26
4. ^ Farnie (1980), p. 4.
5. ^ "History". The Adamson Military Band. http://www.adamsonband.co.uk/History.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-26. 
6. ^ "The Daniel Adamson Preservation Society". http://www.danieladamson.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-04-18. 

Bibliography

• Farnie, D. A. (1980). The Manchester Ship Canal and the rise of the Port of Manchester. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0795-X. 
• Owen, David (1983). The Manchester Ship Canal. Manchester University Press. ISBN 0-7190-0864-6. 

External links

• The Daniel Adamson Preservation Society
• Tameside Blue Plaque information
• Image of Daniel Adamson at The Transport Archive

Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Richard William Allen	President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 1929	Succeeded by Loughnan St Lawrence Pendred

Persondata
Name	Adamson, Daniel
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	30 April 1820
Place of birth
Date of death	13 January 1890
Place of death