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Midland Red Early Days

And here is a lovely Pathe newsreel clip from 25 June 1923 of A G Jenson of Copenhagen winning the "Poly" Marathon (between Windsor and Stamford Bridge). Surely not "our Alec", but a nice bit of history (I know, I know!). Look how fast the anonymous winner of the women's relay race ("A Novelty") was running!
 
Alexander George Jenson (14 Sept 1899 - 3rd q. 1982) was the son of Alexander Benjamin Jenson (1897-1934, b. Finchfield, Tettenhall, Wolverhampton), a Pharmasist Shopkeeper at 225 Great Colmore St, and Alice Maud Jenson nee Bradburn (1866-1923). They married in Solihull district in 1893 and retaining the Gt Colmore St shop, lived at 4 Park Hill, Moseley by 1922.
He had a brother Noel William Jenson (1902-1963)
AGJ Married Gertrude A Flower in the last q. of 1925
Alexander snr remarried to Clarice Teece (1899-1940) in 1926 and had two further children, Philip B Jenson (1928-1940) and Anne Clarissa Jenson (1931-1940).
Sadly these three were killed in the bombing of 165 Swanshurst Lane, Moseley on 11 December, 1940.
 
Interesting stuff, thanks Thylacine and Mike. And Harborne Strawberries - nice!

Not trying to take anything away from the redoubtable John Smith but it is interesting to weigh the available evidence of Church's alleged service:

PRO
* The 2 available prints (2nd attached here) are sourced from the Science and Science & Society Museum (not sure what criteria they use)
* There are two patents lodged in Birmingham Archives

CONS
* No evidence of the service running apart from an abortive trial in 1835
* The machine looks unlikely and the length of the journey seems less likely (even given Turnpikes)

That there was such a machine does not seem in dispute - whether it actually ran a service is. So the medal goes to John Smith then.
 
Émile Garcke the Young Radical 1878-1882.

2010-06-30 17:44:18

When Émile Oscar Garcke (EOG; 1856-1930) was in his twenties, he joined a small discussion group in London called the Zetetical Society (ZS) [zetetic - proceeding from inquiry - like the BHF! :rolleyes:], where he hob-nobbed with like-minded people, some of whom would later be renowned as members of the socialist Fabian Society. ZS was founded in 1878 as an offshoot of the earlier London Dialectical Society (LDS), which had been established in the late 1860s to discuss the works of philosopher John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). ZS used to meet on alternate Wednesdays at 9 Conduit Street, with the aim of discussing "all matters affecting the interests of the human race; hence no topic, theological or otherwise, discussed with decorum, is excluded from its programme". [A bit like the MRED thread really! ;)]

In addition to EOG, active members of the society included: Dr Charles Robert Drysdale (1829-1907), active in the birth control movement; John Manger Fells (1858-1925), co-author with EOG of Factory Accounts; John G Goddard (dates unknown), a solicitor who for many years looked after the affairs of Webb and Shaw; Reverend Stewart Duckworth Headlam (1847-1924), an eccentric curate of Radical views; George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), who had been a member of LDS; Helen Taylor (1831-1907), the step-daughter of John Stuart Mill, who was active in many advanced causes including feminism; and Sidney James Webb (1859-1947), future municipal reformer and Labour cabinet minister. Shaw and Webb met for the first time at a ZS meeting in October 1880, and both were committee members in 1880-1881. Fells served ZS as honorary secretary and EOG as honorary treasurer.

ZS lasted until about 1882, by which time EOG was beginning to have opinions quite different from those of his socialist friends. Shaw and Webb were amongst the earliest members of the Fabian Society, and became champions of "Municipal Trading", whereas EOG became equally active on the opposite side of the debate. But EOG maintained an interest in sociology and philosophy all his life, and published a philosophical memoir (Individual Understanding) in the year before his death (see post #609).

[Sources:
Wikipedia articles linked to in the text.
Mark Bevir. "The Marxism of George Bernard Shaw 1883-1889". History of Political Thought (13, 299 – 318). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992. Retrieved from University of California eScholarship.
Norman Ian Mackenzie. The Letters of Sidney Webb: Volume 1, Apprenticeships 1873-1892. Cambridge: CUP, 1978. ISBN 0521216814. Retrieved from Google Books.]
 
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Aidan, thanks for that interesting post on William Church and his steam bus. It's a strange but impressive machine isn't it? There's no dispute that he designed, built and trialled the vehicle, but there was never a regular London - Birmingham service travelling at 14 mph. And there's some doubt as to how faithfully the contemporary prints represent the machine actually built. But I'm open to persuasion! ;)
 
Aidan said:
Comparison with this pic of the first London Steam Bus (boo Hiss) shows a certain resemblance although it does have an extra wheel
Click to expand...

Lovely picture of Hancock's "Automaton", Aidan. The driver appears to have no controls except for the steering wheel. The "auxiliary driver" at the back is holding the emergency brake lever, and the boy's there presumably to shovel the coke or coal.
 
No Midland Red on this page yet!

By golly, "Life the Universe and Everything" is all very well, but will someone please post something about Midland Red :grinsmile:. Motorman-Mike, hurry back from Czech and show us some more of your "weird and wonderful" MR bus pictures (and one or two of your trip of course!).
 
OK, but before we leave behind the world of pioneer steam buses give thought to what might have happened if there hadn't been such opposition to them - this depiction of a race along the Whitechapel Road between "The Infernal Defiance" from Yarmouth and "The Dreadful Vengeance" from Colchester is an example.

A replica of Walter Hancock's "Enterprise" has been constructed, and regularly (legally) demonstrates on the road at bus and steam rallies.
About a minute's film of it appears 2m14s into this youtube clip.
 
Thanks for those Lloyd! I love the 1830s "cartoon", great social commentary! And the video was great too. Yes we'll all go to Bromsgrove in the modern Enterprise! ;) I noticed that the driver has a brake lever which comes down from above.
 
Re- post #688 here is a proof of one of the Hora-bodied Tilling-Stevens TTA2 30 hp buses climbing Mucklows Hill, Halesowen. This picture must have been taken early in the vehicle's life, as the rear lights are still acetylene burners (they were later converted to electric lighting). Some of these bodies later went onto 40hp TS3 chassis.
Once again, the same spot today.(or just to one side-trees obscure the cottages from the same photograper's viewpoint now.:()
 
Lloyd, that must be one of A14-19 (registered OA343-348) new in 1913, the only vehicles in the Midland Red fleet bodied by E and H Hora Ltd (of Camberwell and Stockwell, London), who made all kinds of bodywork in 1878-1918. The chassis of OA343 was sold to Colne Corporation Transport in about 1921 (registered in the range TB2524-2526, fitted with an unknown B25F body, and only lasting for another year or two). The chassis of OA344 was scrapped in 1922, but the bus was recommissioned with a rebuilt TS3 chassis (chassis number unknown) and lasted until 1924. OA347 was rebuilt as a TS3 in 1919 and lasted until 1928. The other three were broken up in 1920. [I'm still wearing my anorak - it's COLD down here!]

Lovely picture, Lloyd! Who said backs of buses weren't interesting? I don't suppose you can blow up the rear window and give us a look at the registration? :rolleyes:
 
The Remarkable Career of Steam Bus Pioneer Walter Hancock.

2010-07-01 10:31:44
[Aidan's picture of "Automaton" (post #708) and Lloyd's video of the modern "Enterprise" in operation (post #730) prompt me to post a chronology of the remarkable career of steam bus pioneer Walter Hancock (WH; 16 June 1799 – 14 May 1852), especially as Birmingham features in the story. I'll keep it fairly brief as information is readily available (though the chronology is not always accurate). As usual corrections, additions and comments are welcome. :)]

1824. WH began working on steam carriages. In his career he designed, built and sometimes operated nine steam vehicles: [1] an experimental three-wheeler; [2] trunnion-engine "Infant"; [3] fixed-engine "Infant"; [4] "Era" also known as "Erin"; [5] "Enterprise"; [6] "Autopsy"; [7] a drag (locomotive for towing a carriage or carriages) which was exported to Vienna; [8] a carriage converted to a drag and then re-converted to a carriage named "Automaton"; [9] a phaeton used as his personal automobile.
1827. WH patented a steam boiler which would split rather than explode if the pressure became too high.
February 1831. WH launched his steam carriage "Infant" on a regular London – Stratford service (that's Stratford near London, WH's headquarters, not Stratford-upon-Avon!).
1832. WH built "Era" for the London and Brighton Steam Carriage Co to operate on a London – Greenwich service.
31 October 1832. WH took "Infant" on a Stratford – London – Brighton trip, carrying eleven passengers at speeds of 6-17 mph.
22 April 1833. WH's "Enterprise" steam bus began the first regular service in London. Operated by the London and Paddington Steam Carriage Co (68 Charles Street, City Road) on a London Wall – Paddington route, it was the "first mechanically propelled vehicle specially designed for omnibus work to be operated". A dispute between WH and the company soon curtailed the service.
Summer 1833. WH demonstrated "Autopsy". This was a month or so before the Heatons' Birmingham – Bromsgrove trial.
September 1833. WH's "Infant" made a London – Brighton – London trip, averaging 12 mph. "Autopsy" operated for about a month on a Finsbury Square – Pentonville service.
August 1834. WH placed "Era" and "Autopsy" on a regular London – Moorgate – Paddington service. Later in the year, "Era" was cleverly renamed to "Erin" and shipped to Dublin, where it was exhibited and demonstrated for eight days. This was about the same time as Dr Church's Coventry Road trial.
28 August 1835. "Erin" travelled from London to Birmingham at an average speed of 10 mph. It must have caused the Birmingham steam bus pioneers some chagrin to see "Erin" puffing along Birmingham streets: both Birmingham companies had folded by this time.
1835. WH built and tested the 18- or 22-seat "Automaton".
1836. WH placed "Automaton" in service in London on London – Paddington, London – Islington and Moorgate – Stratford routes. It ran over 700 journeys and carried over 12,000 passengers, travelling at speeds as high as 20 mph.

[There is a more detailed but quite readable account of WH and his steam vehicles in: Horace Lyman Weeks. Automobile Biographies. New York: The Monograph Press, 1905. Accessible via this e-book version.]
 
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We are fortunate :) that Walter Hancock published an account of his work on steam vehicles:

Walter Hancock. Narrative of Twelve Years' Experiments (1824-1836) etc. London: John Weale and John Mann, 1838.

We are even more fortunate :grin2: that this work is accessible as an e-book (from archive.org). It is a meticulously detailed and beautifully illustrated account.
 
Thylacine - that is a great account and thanks for researching and sharing it. I think you are too modest that the information is readily available - but it is now to us on the thread.

The book is a rare find too (wonderful archive.org again). I have a renewed respect for frontispieces and thought I'd upload it to illustrate Era which may pique the interest of those that are merely browsing.
 
Thanks Aidan. It seems that these early steam buses had a crew of three: steersman, engineer and fireman (or fireboy). No conductors (or "cads" as they were known then) though! Perhaps the fireboy doubled as a cad ("Move right down the centre of the bus, please!") :rolleyes:

Despite my glib pronouncements, I'm a bit worried that the steam topic is hijacking our thread, even though we all seem to be quite interested. This happened earlier, until we got it "out of our system" and returned to the calmer waters of Midland Red early history.

Alec Jenson's Birmingham Transport has a very detailed chapter on the Heaton and Church steam experiments, which I've just re-read carefully. He names all the names and quotes many of the comtemporary Birmingham press reports. The trouble is, his account is over-long, a bit disorganised and too full of detail (if that's possible, from the anorakian point of view ;)). What I'm tempted to do is to write a full, annotated and illustrated account of the Birmingham steam bus experiments and post it (in digestible mouthfuls) on a new "Birmingham Steam Buses" thread. Then those who are interested can devote their energies to fleshing out the details of dates, places and people, without fear of the "off topic" police. It is a fascinating chapter of Birmingham history. It will take me a while, but I certainly have enough raw materials. What do other members think?
 
I think it would make a useful and interesting new thread but only if you have the bandwidth to do so. Don't want Thylacine stretching himself too thin!
 
Having returned safely from Karosaland, courtesey of a certain Irish airline with a harp on the tailfin, I have to say the thread has progressed onwards at an amazing pace in the space of a week - indeed steaming along through topics near, far and over my head. To return to the more mundane, somewhat, here is another odd Midland Red image - in the form of a Plaxton Panorama rebodied C3 coach (redesignated the CL3). As seen from the photo included, the artist has mirrored the very unpopular offwhite livery that these "new" coaches returned with for the 1962 Midland Red Coach Cruise season.
 
Whilst talking of coaches and before moving on from the early steam coaches, as an expat Bathonian, I feel I must mention the Gurney 2 Tonner running between Bath and London in 1829 and seen here with a stylish payload en route to the "Great Smoke".
 
Oh man! I gave up smoking but this is (almost) better :peace: A steam bus, windmill, contemporary fashion/dress (inc uniform) and pub in one pic! Not many pics like that - Thylacine, I think your bandwidth is being stretched already!
 
Welcome Back Mike!

Yes Aidan, it hurts so good!

Mike, welcome back from Karosaland aka Czech. I hope you had a good holiday - you're allowed to post one or two pictures of Czech buses! Thanks for the CL3 pictures, and the wonderful print of the 1829 Gurney London - Bath steam coach (I guess London - Bath is a coach service rather than a bus service!). I agree with Aidan: it's a wonderful period picture and full of interest (in colour too!). I believe the Gurney coaches came to grief due to local interference that almost amounted to deliberate sabotage.

I used to really like the C3 coaches and their later incarnations as CL3s. I remember the off white livery (also known as "broken ivory", "bone", "biscuit" and "beige": I think I used to call it "cream"), a bus spotter's delight because it didn't last long (not popular with the punters apparently). The older C2 batch was also very popular in my young anorak days: there were only twelve of them, so it was relatively easy to "collect the set". Three C2s were also rebodied by Plaxton and reclassified as CL2, appearing in the off white livery for a short period. I never travelled on either coach, but I loved them dearly (bit of a charabanc / coach enthusiast). Did you ever drive the C(L)2 or C(L)3 Mike?

[Does anyone know of a colour picture of a CL2 or CL3 in "off white" livery, so we can decide what the colour should be called?]
 
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Re the Gurney pic (which also has the virtue of being nice and big!): there doesn't seem to be anyone actually driving (I mean the engineer not the steersman). Perhaps he's horizontal somewhere in the bowels of the beast! Or in the pub!
 
That's a good point, well made - thanks for the grounding Thylacine :explode:. I fear they would have taken a good bit of stoking if not tendering (I feel like that in the morning - [cleared by censor - Ed]) and having no obvious place for him seems a bit remiss and perhaps points to being another tool of the marketing boys? Most disappointing if so - just look at the suspension! Speed the Steam Bus Thread and don't spare the Marketing boys (hurts so good! - I know ya love it).

As an aside - I wonder how the class system was supposed to work. 1st class seems obvious inside the carriage. But was second class near the steerer (and literally get a heads-up for low branches, bridges & brigands :skull: [how's that for alliteration - Ed]) or was it near the nice warm but sooty stacks :036: ?
 
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Yes there was obviously a three-class passenger system (like on the early railways). I reckon third class was on top at the front: full blast of the icy weather, and the steersman (much lower down) would be much too busy keeping the beast on the straight and narrow to keep a lookout for "branches, bridges and brigands" (nice one!). So it's second class at the back in the warm, where the Scots Guard (or whatever - the bloke in the bearskin hat with the nice knees) is clearly using his army-issue second-class travel warrant. And I think I've found the engineer! He's the chap in blue (with cap at rakish angle!) chatting up the second-class ladies! The steersman looks stunned because the beast isn't actually moving and nothing happens when he pulls the communicating string. It's the fireboy who's in the pub. :D
 
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