Author: Peter Lee
Company: Access Design

NUNEATON'S ENGINEERING CONNECTIONS

By Peter Lee (c)

John Bright once said in the House of Commons:” Who are your great men, not your warriors, nor your statesmen; they are your engineers". 

This is equally true today as it was in the reign of Queen Victoria. The greatest economic nations, Japan, Germany and the United States have achieved their pre-eminence through making things that people throughout the world want to buy.

One hundred years ago England was the workshop of the world. Nuneaton was at the centre of this great country producing coal to power the mills and factories, to generate the steam for countless industrial processes, and to power the railway network. Similarly Nuneaton bricks were some of the finest in our land. They went into constructing those factories and other buildings which were the source of such wealth.

We are confident of the history of our extractive industry but know less about those great men who had connections with Nuneaton in other ways. Particularly engineering.

On June 7th, 1844, William Silver Hall was born at the Manor House, Isley Walton; the son of William Hall of Atherstone. He was articled to the famous locomotive building firm of Sharp, Stewart & Co, Manchester in 1863. He worked there until June 1866 when he became a draughtsman to another engineering company, based in St. Helens - James Cross & Co. James Cross had been the engineer to the St.Helens Railway until it was taken over by the London & North Western Railway in 1864. Mr. Cross then built locomotives at his own works in St. Helens. Mr. Hall moved on to become assistant manager to the engineering firm of Thornehill and Wareham of Burton on Trent in February 1868. He then took up an appointment with the Worcester Engine Co. Ltd in October 1869. In 1870 he became mechanical engineer with the Babington Coal Co. In January 1874 he started business in Nuneaton.

The premises he occupied are still there in Bottrill Street. They had originally been a ribbon weaving factory owned by Hood and Ward. The purpose of the new business was to manufacture engineering products for Britain's heavy industries. The product range was enormous. Everything from sparging and hop washing equipment for Messrs. Worthington & Co. in Burton on Trent, and other breweries in that area. Hauling engines for collieries. Railway sidings, switches, and trackwork equipment for railway installations. Screens, pit cages, shaft fittings, etc. etc.

In January 1877 Mr.Hall took a partner, Charles D. West. Shortly, thereafter, a new foundry was erected on Tuttle Hill.
It is tempting to consider the difficulty that must have been created locally when one of the larger pieces of Mr. Hall's equipment had to be hauled through the streets of Nuneaton to the railway station. One can imagine teams of horses being required to pull enormous iron contraptions loaded onto carts through Abbey Street up to the station where it would be loaded onto railway wagons. In view of Mr. Hall's locomotive building background it is also tempting to consider that he made the odd steam locomotive at his Abbey engineering works. He was more than capable of doing so.

In June 1880, Mr. West was forced to retire from business due to ill health. The company of Hall, West & Co. was sold to Messrs. Stanley Brothers. It is often thought that Reginald Stanley was the inventor of all the patent engineering equipment for which the Nuneaton Engineering Co. was later famous. This is not strictly true since the initial design work had been carried out under Hall & West's proprietorship. Mr. Stanley, did, of course, work out requirements for new equipment, but you can bet that the detail drawings and design was carried out by the highly skilled engineers employed at the Abbey Works.

Following the sale of the Abbey Works to Stanley's, William Hall moved on, and became partner of Mr. J.H.Clarke at the Canal Street Iron Foundry, Derby. He died on July 26th, 1906 at Karuizawa, Japan. He had spent the last years of his life devoting his considerable engineering interests to the patent laws of Japan. He had five children, one of whom survived him long enough to be married in Tokyo. Her husband was Reverend John Thomas Ingram Bryan who was a lecturer at the Imperial University, Tokyo. Their descendents now live in Canada.

Whilst delving in Nuneaton Library on another matter I came across a most exciting (for me at any rate) discovery. On August 22nd. 1885 a marriage was solemnised at the Nuneaton parish church between Annie Smith, daughter of William Smith, builder and undertaker in Stratford Street; and Charles John Bowen Cooke. This was a fantastic engineering connection. Charles John Bowen Cooke was the Chief Mechanical Engineer of England's greatest railway company-the London & North Western Railway. The largest joint-stock company in the world. To some a lion amongst engineers.
Mr. Bowen Cooke was born at Orton Longueville, near Peterborough on 11th January, 1859. His father was rector of the parish. His early education was at Cheltenham College, and at Kings College, London. Then he was sent, as was the fashion at the time, to finishing school in Germany. He left school at the age of sixteen and it is perhaps appropriate that it was said that "Sons were often sent to Crewe because fathers sometime felt it was the last hope for boys whose school results were too depressing for any of the traditional professions. If not the Church, then Crewe would have to do!" Mr. Bowen Cooke's brother went into the church, whilst he went to the citadel of railway establishments to become an engineer in the service of the railway company. In 1880 when his training under the chief mechanical engineer of the time, the immortal Francis W. Webb, was finished he was posted to Rugby as assistant to A.L.Mumford, Running Superintendent of the Southern Division of the L.N.W.R. He was to remain at Rugby for twenty three years. In 1885 he married a Nuneaton Girl, Annie Smith (1862-1945) his devoted and beloved wife until his death in 1920. They had several children.

This raises the question as to how, and in what circumstances did he meet his wife. He was based at Rugby, she lived in Nuneaton. How did their paths cross? A question I cannot yet answer. Nevertheless the distance to Rugby from Nuneaton was not great, and he would have had a free pass on the railway.

Mr. Bowen Cooke was appointed as the Chief Mechanical Engineer to The London & North Western Railway on 19th. February 1909. He was one of the six senior executives of that great company reporting to the board of directors; he was responsible for locomotive design. As chief mechanical engineer he commanded a staff of 20,000 men!
Having worked with, and been taught by, the master of Crewe, Webb, and his successor George Wale he had a massive amount of experience. His duties included the day to day running of the line and tackling the pressing need for larger and more powerful engines. His crowning glory was the No.1 express passenger engine of the L.N.W.R. - The Claughtons.

Mr. Bowen Cooke died prematurely at the age of 61 whilst on holiday in Cornwall. He had a summer residence at St. Mawes. The date of his death was 18th October 1920. His gravestone is situated in the pretty churchyard of St.Just-in-Roseland, reputed to be one of the most beautiful churchyards in England. The stone bears the legend- "His life was gentle and the elements so mix'd in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world. This was a man."

Buried with him, of course, is his wife, Annie. Annie Smith of Nuneaton.  Beloved wife of C.J.Bowen Cooke and Devoted mother of their loving and grateful children. 1862-1945.