Of Traction Engines, Steam Power and the Agricultural Slump.

 

When we see traction engines in 2023 they are usually on their way to a vintage rally, painted and polished, the pride of their owners - a hobby vehicle.  In the 1860s, however, they were part of the great expansion of steam power, mobile sources of energy to work hay-cutting and threshing machines on farms - a technological advance. 

A notable character living in East Street in 1871, according to the census, was Jonathan Leatherdale, machine proprietor and farmer, father of nine children.  Contemporary newspaper articles reveal a great deal about his professional life as an owner and operator of traction engines.  In 1869, for example, a Coggeshall man by the name of Lawrence was operating a hay-cutting machine powered by one of Jonathan Leatherdale's engines when his left hand got caught in the rollers and was severely lacerated.  He survived, but his arm was amputated just below the elbow.  

 Jonathan Leatherdale was fined £1.9s. in 1885 for "allowing a locomotive to travel at Margaretting without a man walking in front".  Margaretting is just off the A12 where no one expects to see a man walking in front of the speeding traffic today..

In 1871, Leatherdale was also a farmer, having taken on the lease of the Abbey Farm. This came to an end in  when a farm sale was reported, detailing the stock and equipment at that point.

A move to Brighton followed.  Jonathan Leatherdale bought a steam threshing business - his old trade -  and attempted to make a go of it. That he found himself in the bankruptcy courts in 1886 was not entirely his fault.  He explained his financial position to the Official Receiver.  He had begun his traction engine business with £100 in capital and things had gone well to begin with, so that he had £700 when he began farming.  During the 1870s he lost £600 so when he sold up and moved to Brighton he borrowed £300 in order to start again.  Fashion, he said, had moved on so there was not enough money to be made from steam threshing to cover his debts.

What had changed in farming in the 1870s?  Several things came together.  The American prairies were producing wheat in vast quantities, which could now be moved to the ports and across the Atlantic by steam-powered ships.  Cheap grain imports brought down the price of corn in England, thus triggering an agricultural depression which was to last for many years.  Farm labourers, thrown out of work, moved in large numbers to the industrial towns to look for work in the factories.  This was the global change which had led to Jonathan Leatherdale's bankruptcy.  Steam power which had at first made his fortune also contributed to his financial ruin.