Richard Peacock, MP

Richard Peacock (9 April 1820 - 3 March 1889) Magistrate and JP, was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer-Peacock.

Born in Swaledale, Richard Peacock was educated at Leeds Grammar School but at 14 left to be apprenticed at Fenton, Murray and Jackson in Leeds. The firm began as Fenton, Murray and Wood, founded by Matthew Murray and David Wood in 1795 to build machine tools (mainly for the textile industry) and stationary steam engines, competing effectively with Boulton and Watt and achieving a considerable reputation. They were joined in 1797 by James Fenton and the financier, William Lister.

In 1811, John Blenkinsop was interested in using steam locomotives on the Middleton Railway and had patented a rack and pinion system to overcome problems with adhesion. Fenton, Murray and Wood were asked to design a suitable locomotive. Built in 1812, it was successful and three more followed, plus another two for the Kenton and Coxlodge Colliery. No more were built before Murray died in 1826. After Wood's death in 1820, the company became Fenton, Murray and Jackson.

In 1824 the company supplied a 60hp beam engine to the commissioners of Deeping Fen as one of two erected at Pode Hole. The other engine was supplied by the Butterley Company as were the scoop wheels for both. Although the Butterley engine was purchased outright (for £3300), it appears that the Fenton and Murray engine was not. The accounts for 1825 showed a payment of only 127/6/- for the Fenton engine. It was not uncommon for beam engines to be leased, purchased 'on terms', or paid for in other novel ways such as a share of the earnings. The engine was named Kesteven and worked until 1925.

From 1831, work began building engines to George Stephenson's designs, both 2-2-0 "Planets" and 2-2-2 "Patentees", many of them under subcontract. Many were exported, and twenty of Daniel Gooch's Firefly class for the Great Western Railway. By 1840, they were turning out up to twenty engines a year. However, by 1843, the boom was over and the company closed down.

Fenton carried on building locomotives after 1846, taking over the Railway Foundry of Shepherd and Todd, in Hunslet, becoming Fenton, Craven and Company. Among the company's apprentices were some who went on to further success, David Joy, John Chester Craven, Benjamin Hick and Richard Peacock.

At 18 Peacock was a precocious locomotive superintendent on the Leeds and Selby Railway. When the line was acquired by the York and North Midland Railway in 1840 he worked under Daniel Gooch at Swindon, but reputedly fled to escape Gooch's wrath. In 1841, he became the locomotive superintendent of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway, subsequently the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway. In this role he was responsible for founding the Gorton locomotive works for this railway, although he had left the firm shortly before they were completed in 1848.

In 1847 Peacock was present with Charles Beyer at a meeting at Lickey Incline which it is generally acknowledged gave birth to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. George Stephenson was elected as first president and Charles Beyer as a vice president. Peacock became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849

In 1853, he joined Charles Beyer to found the celebrated locomotive company Beyer-Peacock. Peacock had originally met Beyer through the acquisition of locomotives from Sharp Brothers, and as mentioned earlier through both being among the founders of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847.

He was a strong supporter of the Manchester Ship Canal Project. With his close friend Daniel Adamson,also an engineer, they both chaired the committee to promote the building of the canal. Unfortunately he did not live to see the fruits of his labours when the canal was opened in 1894.

From the 1885 general election until his death in 1889, Peacock was Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Gorton division of Lancashire. Peacock was an Unitarian, and one of his contributions to the community in Gorton was the construction of Brookfield Church; a place of worship which still stands today, and whose bells are named after his children. Emily Faithfull the Victorian printer and women's rights activist dedicated her book "Three Visits To America" to her "Friend Richard Peacock Esq of Gorton Hall" in 1882. During his period in parliament Peacock was in favour of Home Rule, of the reform of the House of Lords, the disestablishment and disendowment of the church and the establishment of local self government.

Peacock was the son of Ralph Peacock a mines supervisor from Swaledale, Yorkshire and Dorothy Robinson. He was married twice, firstly to Hannah Crowther, and secondly to Francis Littlewood. At the time of his death his eldest son Colonel Ralph Peacock V.D (1838–1928) of the Manchester Volunteer Artillery succeeded him at Gorton Foundry. Of his daughters the eldest one, Jane Peacock, (1855–1928) married William Taylor Birchenough J.P., a silk manufacturer who was elder brother of Sir Henry Birchenough. Peacocks grandson Richard Peacock Birchenough married Dorothy Grace Godsal, daughter of Philip Thomas Godsal, the inventor of the Godsal anti tank rifle. Peacocks youngest daughter, Eugenie, married George P. Dawson, who succeeded Colonel Peacock as Managing Director on the formation of the new Beyer, Peacock and Company Limited in 1902. Colonel Ralph Peacock died without issue as did Richard Peacock's only other surviving son Frederick William Peacock (1858–1924).

He died in Manchester and is buried in the graveyard of Brookfield Unitarian Church, Hyde Road, Gorton which he built and where the remains of Ralph Peacock and an earlier deceased son Joseph Peacock also lie.