Rowland Brotherhood

"My name is Rowland Brotherhood, and I am a railway engineer working for Mr Brunel on the Great Western Railway. My father and I have had great experience with engineering projects between Reading and Swindon where I first came into contact with Mr Brunel.

He gave me further work, and as my business built up, I decided in 1842 to build and run my own railway engineering works in Chippenham. I built this to the north of the railway line along the old road, and erected smiths shops, machine shops, and an engine house, where I fixed many machines that I would need to fulfil my contracts.

Mr Brunel called upon me again in the year 1862 for me to make the Great Eastern steamship new paddle wheels, after the storm she had encountered; they were 52ft in diameter. I also made a new rudder post, a piece of riveted ironwork 8 tons weight, my son Peter took some men down and fixed all onto the ship at Milford.

As my business expanded and prospered, I moved into Orwell House on the side of Mr Brunel's impressive viaduct. I entertained, on many a night, Mr Brunel in my imposing dining room, where we talked over port and cigars about all the exciting projects that he had got me involved in.

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I am now an old man and have written down my memoirs which record, I hope, an accurate account detailing the momentous engineering projects that I was involved with.

I will use these to help me guide you around the now prosperous railway engineering town of Chippenham."

Rowland Brotherhood

1812 - Rowland Brotherhood was born in Middlesex.
1821 - Rowland Brotherhood began working for his father on road building and other ground engineering contracts.

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1835 - Rowland married Priscilla Penton. Along with his father, he obtained a contract for work on part of the construction of the Great Western Railway, building the foundations of Wharncliffe Viaduct at Hanwell.

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1838 - Now resident in Reading, Rowland Brotherhood took up a vacant contract to build further parts of the GWR from Twyford to Reading and from Bristol to Bath.
1841 - The railway to Chippenham opened.
1842 - The Brotherhoods moved to Chippenham, buying Orwell House and establishing a blacksmithing business for tool repair. Rowland also took another contract with the GWR to repair landslips in the Vale of the White Horse.
1843-54 - Rowland undertook much more work for the GWR, repairing landslips and renewing rails and sleepers. Many of the components for this were made by the Brotherhood Engineering works. At this time Rowland Brotherhood also began extracting gravel for use under the railway lines as well as running the railway sidings as useful farmland where he reared award winning sheep and cattle.
1854-61 - Rowland continued to take contracts with the GWR.
1861 - Despite the desire of the GWR chief engineer to continue offering contracts to Rowland Brotherhood, he took no further work with the GWR. A dispute over the cost and necessity of replacing a section the line resulted in Brotherhood selling the necessary tool to the GWR for them to undertake the work themselves.
1861- 69 - Brotherhood's railway company continued to build components for railways and bridges which were distributed and constructed across the British empire.
- 1860 - which was the family home of the Brotherhoods.
- 1869 - Brotherhood left Chippenham after the railway works closed. He was appointed as the General Manager of the Bute Ironworks in Cardiff.
- 1875 - Brotherhood took the contract to build a goods shed for the GWR having moved to Bristol the previous year.
- 1877-79 - While no longer working for GWR directly, Brotherhood assisted his son, also called Rowland, in sinking shafts for the Severn Tunnel.
- 1883 - Rowland Brotherhood died on 4th March at home in Bristol, after being ill for some time.
Rowland Brotherhood
Born into a rural labouring family in Middlesex in the early nineteenth century, Rowland Brotherhood rose to be a significant figure in the development of the railway in Wiltshire and played a role in the development of Chippenham as an engineering centre.
While Brotherhood is best remembered for his work for the Great Western Railway, he also ran a large engineering works at Chippenham, producing railway components and tools, wagons and carriages, and iron bridges. The parts for these were built at the Chippenham works but shipped to locations across the globe, such as India, Sri Lanka, Brazil, and Natal.

At Landsend in Chippenham, the inscription 'RB 1854' can still be seen in the wall of houses built by Brotherhood for his workers.

While still at the Railway Works in Chippenham, Brotherhood joined with others to form the Westbury Iron Company. Construction of the ironworks began in 1858, and Brotherhood built the sidings, boilers, hoists, furnace bands and other fittings. Brotherhood also build a third furnace and items at the iron ore works at Seend when they re-opened in 1861 under the Wiltshire Iron Company.

After the closure of the Railway Works in Chippenham, Brotherhood moved to Cardiff, entering into a ten year agreement with Messrs Herbert and Charles Maudslay to be manager of the Bute Ironworks. However, his employment in Cardiff ended in 1874. He was paid some compensation, and moved to Bristol where he bought equipment and obtained a contract with the GWR to construct a new good shed in Bristol. This work was completed in 1876 and was the last he did for the GWR.

Between 1877 and 1879, Brotherhood helped his son, Rowland, sinking the Marsh and Hill shafts for the Severn Tunnel on the Monmouthshire bank. All work on the tunnel was stopped in 1879 when work on one of the other shafts hit the Great Spring and the workings flooded. All subsequent work on the tunnel was given to one single contractor.

Soon after this, Brotherhood was taken ill. He died at his home in Bristol on 4th March 1883, aged 70. He is buried in Arnos Vale Cemetery in Bristol.

Chippenham railway works

Rowland Brotherhood started out in Chippenham by building a small smithy and a forge in order to repair tools, but an additional forge followed soon after as business was good.

In 1841, Brotherhood took over the firm of Eyres & Silcock who were ironfounders in Chippenham. He also bought land near to the railway station to build an engine house with a 12 horsepower engine, a larger smith shop, and a machine shop, in order to produce railway fittings. This was the famous Railway Works.

Brotherhood accepted an order from Brunel to make points for the junctions of the first mainline mixed-gauge railway line - Cheltenham to Barnwood Junction, Gloucester - which opened in October 1847. The success of this work led to further contacts for Brunel.

The Railway Works was so busy that it was fulfilling orders day and night, and some orders were sent out to other contractors.

To cope with the volume of work, the Railway Works were extended with a larger engine house and machine shop, a foundry, forges, a gas works, offices and stores. When a Liverpool wheelwrights firm (Messrs Smith & Wilby) closed, all the wheel-making equipment, including a new 40 horsepower beam engine, were purchased at auction. In addition, the foreman of the company, and 20 smiths, joined the Chippenham Railway Works.

In 1849, wagons were made at the Railway Works for the Bristol & Exeter Railway, and later for the GWR.

In 1851 at the Great Exhibition, Brotherhood showed the first span of an iron, lattice bridge for which he had recently bought the patent rights, as well as his patented broad-gauge iron tilt wagon.

Railway fittings, wagons and carriages, and bridges formed the majority of work carried out at the factory from this time onwards.

As work increased still further, and orders were received for larger bridges, Brotherhood bought more land to accommodate working on larger objects.

In 1855, a bridge to span the River Dee at Balmoral was constructed at the Railway Works for Prince Albert. In 1856, Brotherhood built the Putney Aqueduct which was carried on 8 piers, made of iron screw piles which were driven 14ft into the river bed.

Chippenham railway works cont

In September 1857, Brotherhood lent Brunel 500 tons of new rails in order to launch the Great Eastern, then the world's largest ship. He also made many other items for the launch. When the Great Eastern needed urgent repairs in 1861, Brotherhood built new paddle wheels, 52ft in diameter, and a new rudder post, at the Railway Works.

In 1858, Brotherhood bought land at the side of the Railway Works to build a workshop for Peter, his son, to make his small locomotive engines in; Peter having built one engine in the existing small workshop.

In 1865, Brotherhood approached the North Wilts Bank for a further overdraft. Some of the bank's directors, however, wanted repayment which Brotherhood could ill afford. Brotherhood was advised to convert his business to a limited company, and accordingly, the Railway Works was valued at £103,812 in that year.

In 1866, while other firms were failing, Brotherhood managed to continue at the Railway Works with 2 large contracts. To satisfy the bank, the Railway Works was kept going under inspection.

Brotherhood made a deal with Gabriel Goldney, one of the bank's directors, that if Brotherhood helped to get Goldney re-elected in the upcoming elections, Goldney would convince the bank to lend Brotherhood the finance he required.

Goldney was duly re-elected. He advised the bank that no further inspection was required. However, soon after this, in March 1869, the bank told Brotherhood that it would not lend him further finance. Brotherhood was forced to halt all works, and nearly everything he had was handed over to the bank and his creditors.

In 1869 the contents of the Railway Works were auctioned. The machinery was not sold until 1872.