Brown and May no. 8742 "General Buller" at Lincolnshire Steam Rally 2008
Brown and May of the 'North Wiltshire Foundry', were engineers and ironfounders also building Portable steam engines and Steam Tractors, based in Devizes, Wiltshire, England.
The firm mainly built Steam Portable engines (8000 approximately) and others including 10 No. Showman's road tractors from 1854 to 1912 when they went bust.
History[]
- 1854 The company was founded by Charles May formerly of Ransomes, Sims and Jeffries and built traction engines, road locomotives and portable and stationary steam engines.[1]
- 1876 Exhibitor at the Royal Agricultural Show at Birmingham. were they ehibited a steam blower for cleaning tubes (boiler) without a brush.
- Two locomotives were supplied to R. Brotherhood & sons.
- 1894 A trade Catalouge listed portable and semi-portable steam engines and much other machinery
- 1911 Smithfield Club Show. Exhibited steam tractor and an oil engine.
- 1912 Built last showman's road locomotive. reg No. AU4705 (photo above)
- 1912 The works closed
Showmans Engines[]
List of engines built.[2]
- Brown & May no. 7846 4 hp, single , 18/1/1907, to 'Mason Paris'
- Brown & May no. 8104 4 hp, single, 16/3/1909, to 'Gaucal'
- Brown & May no. 8199 5 hp, comp, 19/5/1910, to 'Jennings, Devizes, "Little Jim"
- Brown & May no. 8437 5 hp, comp, 7/4/1911, 'G. Chedwick, Lans.' "Rambler"
- Brown & May no. 8438 5 hp, comp, 15/3/1911, 'Birchall', "Laura"
- Brown & May no. 8469 5 hp, comp, 15/3/1911, 'J. Davis'
- Brown & May no. 8613 5 hp, comp, 27/11/1911, 'J. Ryan' "Pride of the North"
- Brown & May no. 8643 5 hp, comp, 26/4/1912, 'Mathews', "Medina"
- Brown & May no. 8682 6 hp, comp, 19/7/1912, 'John Gale', "Holly King"
- Brown & May no. 8685 5 hp, comp, 10/6/1912, 'W.E. Spurrett', "Little Wonder"
- Brown & May no. 8742 6 hp, comp, 6/9/1912, 'J. Cooke, Warrington,' "General Buller"
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Types of Machine Built[]
Preserved Machines[]
- The Lackenham museum has a Portable built by the firm. It is a 10NHP steam engine built in 1899. The engine is now one of only ten of its type recorded in the UK. [3]
Click Here to edit list.
| Engine No. | Name | Build Date | Type | Weight | Power nhp | Reg No. | Owner | Image | Other info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brown and May - Little Dragon (UP3) | Little Dragon | 1868 | Portable | 2 ton | 2 nhp | - | Owner ? | 
|
1st UK engine to steam in 3 centuries |
| Brown and May no. UP61 | Echuca | 1868 | Pe | ? ton | 4 nhp | - | Owner ?, Chiswick | 
|
Imported from Australia |
| Brown and May no. UP47 | Name | 1870 | PE | ? ton | ? hp | - | Owner ?, Salisbury | Photo to add | |
| Brown and May no. 868 | - | 1872 | Portable | ? ton | ? nhp | - | Owner ? |
|
Misc info |
| Brown and May no. 1709 | - | - | Portable | ? ton | ? nhp | - | see B&M no. 1761 |
|
Now identified as 1761 |
| Brown and May no. 1761 | - | 1878 | Portable | 5 ton | 7 nhp | - | Owner ?, Wallingford, Oxon |
|
Has been miss identified /listed as 1709, 1769 and 2700 in past TER lists |
| Brown & May no. 1769 | - | - | PE | - | - | na | see notes: |
|
Previously miss identified - see 1761 |
| Brown and May no. 2700 | - | - | Portable | - | - | - | See notes: |
|
TER 2016 edition now says it is 1761 ? |
| Brown and May no. 3456 | - | 1880 | Portable | ? ton | 3 nhp | - | Owner ? |
|
photo on Steam Scenes Misc info |
| Brown and May no. unidentified 2 | - | Date 1889 | Portable | ? ton | 8 nhp | - | Owner ? |
|
Located in Norway |
| Brown and May no. 4561 | Sam | 1890 | Portable | 5 ton | 6 nhp | - | Owner Russ Tate of Acle, Norfolk | 
|
Rallied very occasionally until 2003, when firebox crown failed. |
| Brown and May no. 5963 | - | 1897 | Portable | ? ton | ? nhp | - | Owner ? |
|
Located in Sweden |
| Brown and May no. 6226 | - | 1899 | Portable | 6 1/2 ton | 10 nhp | - | Lackham Agriculture & Rural Life Trust, Chippenham, Wilts |
|
Misc info |
| Brown and May no. 6671 | - | 1900 | Portable | ? ton | 3 nhp | - | Owner Rubens Museum, Gotene |
|
Located in Sweden |
| Brown and May no. 6691 | - | 1901 | Portable | 3 ton | 4 nhp | - | Owner Hollycombe Steam collection Museum | 
|
Powers Steam swings - Engine was away under repair in 2012 |
| Brown and May no. unidentified 3 | - | 1904 | Portable | ? ton | 5 nhp | - | Owner Komotini Museum |
|
Located in Greece (Plinthed) |
| Brown and May no. 7530 | Pippin | 1906 | Tractor | ? ton | ? nhp | 55 MHH (NZ reg?) | Owner ?, New Zealand |
|
Resident in New Zealand (Photos on Steam Scenes) |
| Brown and May no. 7770 | - | 1907 | Portable | ? ton | 5 nhp | - | Owner ?, Devizes |
|
Photo on Steam Scenes |
| Brown and May no. 8130 | - | 1909 | Tractor | 5 ton | 4 nhp | BP 9887 | A, Rundle, of Boston Lincs | 
|
At GDSF 07, Weeting 09, Carrington 2010 (unique in UK) |
| Brown and May no. 8262 | - | 1910 | Portable | 3 1/2 ton | 5 nhp | - | Steve Veal, Devon | 
|
On display at Dingles Fairground Heritage Museum |
| Brown and May no. 8320 | - | circa 1910 ? | PE | ? ton | 10 nhp | - | owner, Devizes |
|
misc notes |
| Brown and May no. 8629 | - | 1912 | Portable | ? ton | 8 nhp | - | Owner ?, Thatcham |
|
Imported from Australia. (Photo on Steam Scenes) |
| Brown and May no. 8677 | - | 1912 | Portable | 3 1/2 ton | 5 nhp | - | Owner ?, Boston |
|
Misc info |
| Brown and May no. 8742 | General Buller | 1912 | Showman's road locomotive | 14 ton | 6 nhp | AU 4705 | John H Rundle, New Bolingbroke, Lincs. |
|
At Lincolnshire Steam & Vintage Rally in 2008 (only survivor of 10 showmans believed built by B&M) |
|
| |||||||||
| Brown and May no. ? | Name | Year | Type | ? ton | ? hp | Reg. no. ? | Owner ? | Photo to add |
| Machine types Key: | References / sources |
|---|---|
| PE = Portable Engine, Plg = Ploughing Engine, RR = Road Roller, SM = Showman's engine, ST = Steam tractor, SW = Steam wagon, TE = Traction Engine, RL = Road Locomotive |
|
See also[]
- List of Steam Engine Manufacturers
- Steam engines
- Museums
- Collections
- Shows and Meets
- Clubs
References / Sources[]
External links[]