William Foster & Co

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Foster Plate

A Foster threshing machine at the Harewood House Steam Rally in 2008

Foster engine "Sir William" FW 1917 at Shugborough Hall Rally 2008

William Foster & Co Ltd was an agricultural machinery company based at Lincoln, Lincolnshire, UK and usually just called "Fosters of Lincoln".

The company was known for producing threshing machines, regarded as among the best available. They also made traction engines, steam tractors such as the Foster Wellington and Showman's road locomotives, as well as Steam Wagons.

The last showmans engine built by fosters were No. 14632 Success in and No, 14634 Princess Marina a 7 nhp design.^[1] During the First World War they built the first tanks for the British Army.

[edit] The Tank

The Tank logo on a cast bracket on a thresher

Fosters as builders of agricultural machinery were involved in the production and design of the prototype tanks, which were in effect agricultural tractors with armoured bodies.

After the First World War, The Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors decided that the inventors of the Tank were Sir William Tritton, managing director of Fosters together with Major W G Wilson.

[edit] Steam Engines

Fosters MERL entry:

Products Traction engines, portable engines, grinding mills, thrashing machines, chaff cutters, tanks. History William Foster began his business career as a flour miller, but in 1856 he took the decision to convert his premises into a foundry and engineering shop. Foster began by producing grinding mills, but he soon expanded his product range to include thrashing machines, chaff cutters and portable steam engines. William Foster died of typhoid in 1876, but the company which he founded continued to prosper and by the outbreak of the First World War the Wellington Foundry employed 350 people. During the war the company made a vital contribution to the Allied cause by developing and manufacturing the world's first tank. In 1927 Foster & Co. took over the Hammersmith-based pump manufacturer Gwynnes Engineering and three years later pump production was transferred to Lincoln. Over the next few decades the company moved away from the production of agricultural machinery and concentrated on pumps. In 1960 Foster & Co. was acquired by W H Allen & Co. Ltd and the company began trading as Allen Gwynnes Pumps Ltd. Sadly, the new company did not prosper and the Wellington Foundry closed in 1968.

[edit] Steam Wagons

They also manufactured steam lorries (wagons).

[edit] Preserved Machinery

Preserved machines built by William Foster & Co. Ltd

view • talk • edit Engine No.	Name	Build Date	Type	Weight	Power nhp	Reg No.	Owner	Image	Other info
Foster no. 2821	Beryl	1903	Traction	? ton	? hp	BE 7228	Bressingham Steam Museum		In the collection of Bressingham Steam Museum
Foster no. 3002	Dragon	2006 (Original 1904)	TE - Wellington pattern	? ton	? nhp	NK56 NRE	M. Young		New build recreation of a Scrapped engine.
Foster no. 3643	-	1908	Light Engine	-	-	-	Preston collection		Mounted in a road trailer with small Organ
Foster no. 3710	Phoenix	1908	TE	? ton	7 nhp	CJ 4222	Owner ?		At Holcot Steam Rally 2008
Foster no. 12539	Winnie	1910	TE	10 ton	6 nhp	MA 5730	P. & F. Moston		Seen at Riverside 2009 & Lincoln in 2008
Foster no. 12545	"....."	1911	PE	8 ton	? hp	-	The Netherlands	Photo will be added asap
Foster no. 13031	Mighty Atom	1913	TE	5 ton	4 hp	FE 1456	P. Parker	Photo to add	Lincoln 2008
Foster no. 14066	Endeavour	1915	SM		? hp	FE 1589	G.R. Dawson & Sons	Photo to add	Lincoln 2008
Foster no. 14205	Obsession	1915	SM	? ton	? hp	FE 1874	Dawson & Sheldon	Photo to add	Lincoln 2008
Foster no. 14410	Sprig	1920	TE	-	7 hp	UP 6481	J. Bosworth		at Cromford & Lincoln 2008 + Belvoir Castle show 2009
Foster no. 14427	-	1924	TE Agricultural	-	? hp	?	Mrs R. Groom	To add	At Holcot Steam Rally 2008
Foster no. 14431	Robin Hood	1921	SM	8 ton	4 nhp	FE 3217	F&L Dockray	Photo to add	at Driffield Steam Rally 2008
Foster no. 14438	No. 105	1921	Tractor	? ton	? hp	NR 7262	Belfast Transport Museum		In the collection of the Belfast Transport Museum, NI
Foster no. 14501	Victorious	1920	SM	16 ton	7 hp	MD 983	I. Holgrave		Lincoln 2008 & Strumpshaw Steam Rally 2009
Foster no. 14589	Lord of the Isles	1927	SM	5 ton	4 nhp	UT 2109	A. Waling	Photo to add	Shrugbrough Hall Steam Rally 2008
Foster no. 14608	Ikanopit	1930	ST	5 ton	4 nhp	PN 5629	?		At Elvaston Steam Rally & Klondyke Mill 2009
Foster no. 14622	Sir William	1931	TE	? ton	8 nhp	FW 1917	?		Shrughborough Hall Steam Rally 2008
Foster no. 14632	Success	1934	SM	? ton	10 nhp	AAU 370	D. Byass		at Driffield 2008 Last Showmans built by Fosters
Foster no. 14637	Saint	1933	TE	10 ton	7 nhp	VL 8371	H. Smith	photo to add	Lincoln 2008
Foster no. 14657	-	1940	PE	-	10 nhp	NA	Summerlee Industrial Museum, Coatbridge, Scotland		Photo in gallery -Here
Foster No. 14739 (NEW Build)	Johnboy	2007 (1904 design)	TE	5 ton	3 nhp	GN07 UZE	I Gilbert		At Driffield & Lincoln 2008 & Strumpshaw Steam rally 2009
Foster no. ?
Foster No.	"Name"	Date	Type	? ton	? hp	Reg no. ?	Owner ?		(Location of photo) 2008 Misc notes

Foster 7 hp tractor of 1920 "Sprig" s/n 14410

Several examples of there engines are in UK preservation and can be seen at shows during the summer.

They are not as common as some of the other makes.

• Photos of a foster wagon as well as all other makes at steam rallies in the UK

serial number - 12545 PE yr 1911 is in Dutch preservation

[edit] See also

• History of the tank on wikipedia

[edit] References / sources

Wikipedia for original summary

• MERL Database for more detail
• Old Glory Magazine for features on Foster engines.

[edit] External links

• Merl entry
• Steam scene web site http://www.steamscenes.org.uk/resources/genlinks.html

This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at William Foster & Co. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Tractor & Construction Plant Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.