William Thompson Question

[Andy873]

I have recently been asking for opinions on who built a certain bridge (still ongoing) which led me to look again at four main people involved with a certain line you'll all know I'm researching.

The four people are:

1. Thomas Stone - Contractor 1 from 1870.
2. Jonas Gregson - Contractor 2 from 1871.
3. William Yates (Canal foundry, Blackburn) - Iron bridges for Mr. Stone's section, 1870.
4. William Thompson - Iron bridges for Mr. Gregson's section, 1871.

With a combination of help from yourselves and my own research I know quite a lot about the first three people, but square root of nothing about William Thompson. John Marshall says in one book that William Thompson & Co made the bridges for Gregson's section, but he doesn't state where Thompson was based.

Now it's logical to assume Thompson would have been local to either Burnley or Padiham. Burnley was in 1871 a long established town much larger than Padiham, however by 1871 Padiham had two reasonably large foundries, Green Lane foundry (opened in 1850 by Mr. Dewhirst) and Victoria foundry (opened in 1867, unknown owner).

Thompson is a fairly common name, and I can find references to a J. Thompson but not W, Wm, or William.

There is one newspaper article which reports a man was found late at night in a foundry yard belonging to Mr. Thompson (no first name) at Padiham but that's as close as I can get. I've tried all the usual combinations of spelling Thompson with and without the P, but nothing conclusive.

Do you think we can find which foundry he owned / worked out of in 1871?

The other three people involved with the line have interesting and fascinating backgrounds attached to them, it would be a shame to settle for 3 out of 4 ain't bad.

Help anyone?

 

[Rescars]

With a combination of help from yourselves and my own research I know quite a lot about the first three people, but square root of nothing about William Thompson. John Marshall says in one book that William Thompson & Co made the bridges for Gregson's section, but he doesn't state where Thompson was based.

Now it's logical to assume Thompson would have been local to either Burnley or Padiham. Burnley was in 1871 a long established town much larger than Padiham, however by 1871 Padiham had two reasonably large foundries, Green Lane foundry (opened in 1850 by Mr. Dewhirst) and Victoria foundry (opened in 1867, unknown owner).

Frustrating for you, Andy! I am sure you will prove to be right that Thompson will have been pretty local. But how local? A couple of thoughts.

Are you aware of any special features associated with the bridges on Gregson's section? If there were any which required specialist skills, is it possible that Gregson would have gone further afield to find a foundry offering the necessary competencies? Alternatively, might Gregson have worked with Thompson on a previous contract elsewhere? If so, might an established business relationship have been maintained for this contract even if Thompson's location was not quite as convenient?

 

[Andy873]

Are you aware of any special features associated with the bridges on Gregson's section? If there were any which required specialist skills, is it possible that Gregson would have gone further afield to find a foundry offering the necessary competencies? Alternatively, might Gregson have worked with Thompson on a previous contract elsewhere? If so, might an established business relationship have been maintained for this contract even if Thompson's location was not quite as convenient?

Some great points there, thanks for trying!

No, there were no special features regarding the iron work for the bridges. The tie up between Gregson and Thompson would of course have been too easy, instead the iron bridge work was actually a separate tender put out by the L&Y. and Tom Wray's account of events for the L&Y doesn't mention Thompson anywhere.

Frustrating for you, Andy! I am sure you will prove to be right that Thompson will have been pretty local. But how local? A couple of thoughts.

It really is frustrating, the Thompson article probably is the same person but just can't prove it 100 percent, and if I have to leave it there then so be it.

Mind you, the misspelling of names I've come across doesn't help, Its already been proved that Gregson's first name for example was Jonas not James. One more example I found this morning was that of Mr. Bower the resident L&Y engineer, his name was written as Bowers which might sound picky but once I dropped the S off I found quite a few articles about him. Another interesting character.

 

[ThirteenArches]

Have you got a picture of the bridge? The images from the Padiham loop I can find online seem to be wrought iron or steel bridges (when not stone), not cast iron - so a foundry might be the wrong kind of ironworks to look for.

 

[Rescars]

Some great points there, thanks for trying!

No, there were no special features regarding the iron work for the bridges. The tie up between Gregson and Thompson would of course have been too easy, instead the iron bridge work was actually a separate tender put out by the L&Y. and Tom Wray's account of events for the L&Y doesn't mention Thompson anywhere.


It really is frustrating, the Thompson article probably is the same person but just can't prove it 100 percent, and if I have to leave it there then so be it.

Mind you, the misspelling of names I've come across doesn't help, Its already been proved that Gregson's first name for example was Jonas not James. One more example I found this morning was that of Mr. Bower the resident L&Y engineer, his name was written as Bowers which might sound picky but once I dropped the S off I found quite a few articles about him. Another interesting character.

Your Bower(s) experience sparks another thought. Unlikely, but is it possible that your J. Thompson was a partner in a firm called Williams, Thompson & Co?

 

[Andy873]

Have you got a picture of the bridge? The images from the Padiham loop I can find online seem to be wrought iron or steel bridges (when not stone), not cast iron - so a foundry might be the wrong kind of ironworks to look for.

All the metal bridges of the loop line were wrought iron ones originally.

Your Bower(s) experience sparks another thought. Unlikely, but is it possible that your J. Thompson was a partner in a firm called Williams, Thompson & Co?

That's a good thought, but once more no one fits the bill.

I decided to look at the Thompson's working out of Green Lane foundry and it seems it was run by a combination of Thompson's, Charles, John and James so perhaps there is room for a William?

They try and sell the foundry by auction Jan / Feb 1871, again Oct / Nov 1871 and in 1873 which looks to have gone through, again no mention of a William.

I'm wondering if John (Marshall) got Thompson's first name wrong? he did with Gregson, Mr. Yates of the Canal foundry, Blackburn was also called William, and he mentions all four people I listed at the start in one short paragraph, and it's easy to get people's first names wrong like that, done it myself...

Really all I can say for now is I don't know but I suspect the bridges on the Padiham section were made at Green Lane foundry, which makes them very local indeed!