Support new work on Early Engines

A crucial aim of the International Early Engines Conference is to provide a platform for the significant amount of research into the early development of heat engines which powered us into the modern industrial era. Les Turnbull’s new work on William Brown is a perfect example of this rich seam of new material.

The World of William Brown: Steam Engines – Coal Mines – Railways

The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers intends to publish the results of Les Turnbull’s research into the life, work and impact of  William Brown (d.1782) a largely forgotten but eminent mining engineer in the Great Northern Coalfield, and invited subscribers – the original crowdfunding model – to support this important work.

About the author

Les Turnbull graduated in history at Durham University and worked as a schoolmaster, university lecturer and senior education adviser. Upon retirement he became a volunteer at NEIMME where now serves as a member of Council. Les has written several books on the history of mining and his particular interest, the early railways of the Great Northern Coalfield. He is frequently called upon to lecture both within the region and beyond.

Updates from 2016 and 2017

Les presented aspects of his research in a lecture at Neville Hall Newcastle at 11am, on Wednesday 2nd March 2016:

Success!

The subscription led to publication of Les Turnbull, The World of William Brown: Railways – Steam engines – coal mines, NEIMME 2016, Softback, 124 A4 pages in full colour, 78 illustrations. ISBN 978-0-9931151-1-0.

The title is available for £15.00 from the bookshop of the Mining Institute, Newcastle and was published by the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME) with the support of Alan Auld Group Ltd and the Stephenson Locomotive Society (Newcastle Centre).

Additional works by Les working with the NEIMME are to be published as part of a series of publications known as the The Early Railways Collection.

This is the story of William Brown of Throckley, the forgotten mining engineer. Contemporary of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown, and undoubtedly known to one another, they often worked for the same landed clients; one developing the estate above ground, the other exploiting the riches below.

William was known as ‘the father of the coal trade’, and recognised as an authority on railways and steam engines. He played a major part in the development of the Great Northern Coalfield in the mid eighteenth century, an event of enormous economic significance not only to the North East aristocracy he served, but also to the country at large. That the gardener is remembered but the engineer is forgotten – the creator of the wealth that financed many of Lancelot Brown’s projects – is a reflection upon the values of our society and something which this book seeks to remedy.

IEEC1, Elsecar 2017

The following year, in 2017, Les also presented a paper to the 1st International Early Engines Conference held at Elsecar, and the paper, William Brown’s Giant Tyneside Engines, was published in Volume 88, Issue 1 (2018) of the International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology.