Gilkes Wilson and Company
Gilkes Wilson and Company was a British locomotive manufacturer at Teesside Engine Works in Middlesbrough which opened in 1843. Initially repairing locomotives, the company built its first engines in 1847.
History
Gilkes and Wilson was formed as a partnership between Quakers Isaac Wilson and Edgar Gilkes.Edgar Gilkes was a Middlesbrough councillor, mayor and alderman. He died in Grange-over-Sands in 1894.
In 1865 the company merged with Hopkins and Company to become Hopkins Gilkes and Company.
The firm undertook design, construction and manufacture of the ironwork for the Deepdale and Belah viaducts on the South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway to a design of Thomas Bouch and Robert Henry Bow.
In 1875, the name changed again to the Tees-side Iron and Engine Works Company Limited, having built 351 locomotives in total.
Subsequently the firm worked with Bouch on the Tay Bridge, and had their reputation very badly damaged as a result of the Tay Bridge Disaster. The 1870s Long Depression forced several Cleveland iron firms out of business including Hopkins Gilkes.
The company closed in 1880.