Machinists at Whitmore and Binyon
The British Engineering Works of Mr William Whitmore
Milling journals of the past at The Mills Archive by Mildred Cookson, The Mills Archive, UK This well-established British Engineering Works featured in ‘The Miller’ of November 2, 1885. Continuing their series of visits to the firms principally involved in the manufacture of flour milling machinery, they reported on the ironworks at Wickham Market. The site benefitted from its closeness to the then Great Eastern Railway, with a telegraph office close by. It was also then, among the oldest established engineering and millwrighting workshops of England. The Wickham Market Ironworks were already more than 100 years old, having been founded in 1780 by the Grandfather of the senior partner running
Whitmore and Binyon’s 6-reel bolting chest
16 | March 2017 - Milling and Grain
the firm in 1885, William Whitmore. William, after serving an apprenticeship in mechanical engineering with a firm in Lincolnshire, was taken into partnership by his father. At that time the firm had started to manufacture steam engines and boilers and had installed them in the Chelmsford and Barking steam mill of Messrs Ridley as well as in the Isle of Thanet steam flourmills. In 1862, Mr John Whitmore senior retired and William succeeded him along with John Whitmore Junior. Mr George Binyon became a member of the firm around 1868, and after working in Wickham Market for ten years, took up offices at 28 Mark Lane, London. This proved a good move as it placed the firm at the centre of the milling trade, enabling them to deal with foreign expansion of the firm, in which they supplied
The Wickham Market workshops