Wallis & Steevens
Encyclopedia
Basingstoke
Basingstoke is a town in northeast Hampshire, in south central England. It lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon. It is southwest of London, northeast of Southampton, southwest of Reading and northeast of the county town, Winchester. In 2008 it had an estimated population of...
, Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
produced agricultural equipment, traction engine
Traction engine
A traction engine is a self-propelled steam engine used to move heavy loads on roads, plough ground or to provide power at a chosen location. The name derives from the Latin tractus, meaning 'drawn', since the prime function of any traction engine is to draw a load behind it...
s and steam
Steamroller
A steamroller is a form of road roller – a type of heavy construction machinery used for levelling surfaces, such as roads or airfields – that is powered by a steam engine...
and diesel
Diesel engine
A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber...
road roller
Road roller
A road roller is a compactor type engineering vehicle used to compact soil, gravel, concrete, or asphalt in the construction of roads and foundations, similar rollers are used also at landfills or in agriculture.In some parts of the world, road rollers are still known colloquially as steam...
s.
History
The company was founded in 1856 by Arthur Wallis and Charles Haslam in newly-built premises that they named The North Hants Ironworks. The works were sited on Station Hill in Basingstoke and the company began trading as Wallis & Haslam. Shortly afterwards the company were highly commended for their hand worked bench drilling machine at the 1857 Royal Agricultural showAgricultural show
An agricultural show is a public event showcasing the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show , a trade fair, competitions, and entertainment...
in Salisbury. Even at this early stage, the company were producing a wide variety of agricultural equipment, and alongside the bench drill were corn drills
Seed drill
A seed drill is a sowing device that precisely positions seeds in the soil and then covers them. Before the introduction of the seed drill, the common practice was to plant seeds by hand. Besides being wasteful, planting was very imprecise and led to a poor distribution of seeds, leading to low...
, turnip drills, four types of horse hoe, drag harrow
Drag harrow
A drag harrow, a type of spring-tooth harrow, is a largely outdated type of soil cultivation implement that is used to smooth the ground as well as loosen it after it has been plowed and packed. It uses many flexible iron teeth usually arranged into three rows. It has no hydraulic functionality...
s, a 3hp threshing machine
Threshing machine
The thrashing machine, or, in modern spelling, threshing machine , was a machine first invented by Scottish mechanical engineer Andrew Meikle for use in agriculture. It was invented for the separation of grain from stalks and husks. For thousands of years, grain was separated by hand with flails,...
, a barley hummeller and sundry other devices. In 1862, a third partner, Charles James Steevens joined the company and when Charles Haslam retired in 1869, the company became Wallis & Steevens.
The date of production for the companies first Portable steam engine is not known although the earliest surviving drawing is dated 1866. The first traction engine, an 8hp single was built in 1877 from drawings by Arthur Herbert Wallis (son of the company founder) and this vehicle made its trial run on the 21st of June that year. The vehicle was named "Success" on the strength of its performance during the test and given the works number T250.
Manufacture of steam vehicles gradually gave way to petrol from the 1930s and production continued at the Station Hill premises until its enforced closure with the redevelopment of Basingstoke town centre during 1966 and 1967. Production then transferred to a site at Daneshill where the company enjoyed a brief resurgence before the general trading recession of 1980-81. In May 1981, agreement was reached with B.S.P International Foundations Ltd of Ipswich
Ipswich
Ipswich is a large town and a non-metropolitan district. It is the county town of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell...
to "take over the designs and copyrights of the current production models, together with spares, components and goodwill and for the business to be transferred to the BSP works at Claydon." The transfer was completed by July 1981 and at that point Wallis & Steevens ceased to trade.
Preservation
Several Wallis & Steevens vehicles can be seen at the Milestones MuseumMilestones Museum
Milestones Museum is a museum located in Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK. It is made up of a network of streets that have been recreated on those found in Victorian and 1930s Hampshire....
in Basingstoke