The Mann Family of this article was started by William Mann and Elizabeth Mann (nee Stanniforth) and this was Williams’s second marriage.
His first marriage to Elizabeth Hutchinson on 4 January 1849 at St George’s Church, Leeds, but unfortunately Elizabeth died on 14 July 1856. William’s second marriage to Elizabeth Stanniforth took place at Norton Parish Church, Sheffield on 3 June 1858. Her parents were Thomas and Ann who farmed 170 acres at Herdings Farm, Norton and at the time of the wedding William was 50 years old and Elizabeth was 20 years old.
William also seems to have been a man of independent means. Their were four children from the marriage, William Hutchinson Mann born in 1859 in Leeds who took to engineering and became a partner in Pullan & Mann, Brick Machinery Maker, Cambrian Works, Holbeck; James Hutchinson Mann was born in Leeds on 2 May 1860 at No.3 St George’s Terrace – the one we are interested in; Annie Mann born in Leeds in 1862; George Hutchinson Mann was born in Montreal, Canada, he never knew his father who had died before he was born.
James Hutchinson Mann started his formal education at the age of 7 years at the Leeds Collegiate School from 1867 to 1875. His initial technical training was carried out as an apprentice at the Leeds Works of J&H McLaren a company formed in 1876 by John and Henry McLaren to manufacture traction engines and agricultural implements.
James Mann was one of their first apprentices starting in 1876 while living at No.2 Eva Villas, Potternewton. He became principal draughtsman at McLaren’s in 1881, a position he held for four years before becoming Works Manager in 1885. On 29 October 1885 James married Georgina Ball at St Nicholas Church, Pendoylan, Glamorgan, a small Welsh village between Bridgend and Cardiff. The couple had two sons Arthur Sidney born 28 July 1893 and Arthur born 12 January 1895.
In 1887 James left the Midland Engine Works of J&H McLaren to start work as a draughtsman at the Britannia Iron Works of William Marshall Sons & Company in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, later he was put in charge of the Traction Engine Department and during 1888 and 1889 he was living at Morton a little village about a mile north of Gainsborough. 1890 saw him leaving Marshall’s to start back at McLaren’s as the Chief Draughtsman, but after four years he left to start his own business in partnership with Sydney Charlesworth who was also an ex-apprentice of J&H McLaren.
Sydney Charlesworth was born in Thornhill Lees, Dewsbury; on 31 August 1862. His father was John Charlesworth, a farmer living at Headfield, who had married his cousin Judith Ann Charlesworth on 28 October 1858. The couple had two other children, an older son Matthew Henry born on 18 August 1860 and a younger son John born on 9 May 1865. Little is known of his early life other than he was employed at the Midland Engine Works of J&H McLaren and in 1891 the national Census records Sydney as an Engine Fitter Apprentice and one report stated that from January 1885 to April 1888 he worked at the Richard Garrett Works at Leiston in Suffolk. Aged 31 Sydney married Annie Horsfield at Isle Lane Chapel, Holbeck on 5 December 1893 and it was recorded that he was living at Lydgate House, Horbury, Wakefield – his brother John’s house. Annie was one of five children and her father was John Napoleon Horsfield, a chemist and druggist at 81 Sweet Street, Holbeck, although at the time of the wedding he was deceased. Annie’s mother Ellen Horsfield was originally from Halifax.
Forming a company of the type proposed and so late in the steam traction era was a bold and risky venture but after a few years it was able to establish itself as a respected producer of steam carts and wagons. When James Hutchinson Mann and his younger brother George Hutchinson Mann purchased the works in Canning Street, Dewsbury Road on 7 June 1893 they had previously been used as a Brass Foundry under the name of Chadwick, Smith & Company and in the few years before being purchased by the Mann Brothers, Walter Foster, a machine broker used it and this meant that the previous owners had left it complete with steam engine, boiler, shafting, going gear, piers and beams for a Goliath (crane) and other fixtures.
In 1894 the ownership of the Canning Street Works transferred from James Hutchinson Mann and George Hutchinson Mann to James Hutchinson Mann and Sydney Charlesworth when they went into partnership where they were to produce traction engines, stationary engines, and road rollers. One of their most notable inventions was the single eccentric reversing gear; this compact device allowed the sequence of valve opening of a steam engine to be changed both in terms of ‘cut-off’ and ‘direction’ without the need for link motion and all its associated levers.
In 1898 they produced an agricultural steam cart on behalf of Phillip Parmiter using the front end of a conventional traction engine and a roller at the rear. This was one of the first practical load-carrying road vehicles. Mann realised the potential for this machine and went on to develop this into his ‘Patent Steam Cart’ – to which the title of the successor company referred.
In 1898 Charlesworth left the Company after Mann became involved in a Patents case on the development of his steam cart. There seems to be some doubt on the date because on 5 June 1897 it appears that the entire property was transferred back to George Hutchinson Mann in the form of a mortgage presumably to raise additional capital for the benefit of the business.
1899 saw the Company reformed as Mann’s Patent Steam Cart and Wagon Company and by 1901 the success of the Patent Cart was so great that it was decided to leave Canning Street, now too small, and construct a new works in Pepper Road, Hunslet and the move to the new premises was completed by December 1901.
The large, modern, well-equipped works was an ambitious move and was initially very successful and the period up to and including the First World War was the heyday of the Company. The main products of the Company were their 3-ton and 5-ton wagons, however these were produced in a whole range of variations such as an articulated six-wheeler, gully cleaning wagons, brewers wagons, bus bodied wagon, municipal dustcart, street watering wagon, tar spraying wagon, tipping wagon, and many more. The company also produced a range of tractors for both road and agricultural use while another product for municipal use was their lightweight patching roller used for road repairs.
The company produced their superb Mann Express Wagon in 1924 with a shaft drive, high-speed engine and fully enclosed cab but unfortunately this wagon was not a commercial success because it was still steam powered. By 1926 the company was in trouble and in spite of trying to find extra finance it was not possible to save the company and in 1929 the works closed completely. In 1929 the Mann Company was purchased by Atkinson Walker Wagons who were also manufacturers of steam wagons and they renamed the company Mann’s Steam & Motor Wagon Company. However, Atkinson was in a poor financial position and as a result sold the Mann business in 1930 to Scammell and Nephew of Spitalfields, London E1. Scammell produced a few Mann wagons largely from the spares they had acquired and so ended all production of Mann vehicles.
James Hutchinson Mann provided leadership for the companies under his name and he remained Chairman until the business was sold in February 1929. James was a dedicated steam man with a total distrust of the internal combustion engine. He never owned a motor car and he always used the train to travel from Weeton where lived. James died at his home ‘Foscote’, Weeton, on 22 November 1956 and was buried alongside his wife, Georgina, in Weeton Churchyard. Georgina had died on 26 February 1940 and James saw out the lives of his two sons.
Main photo: 1898 Mann & Charlesworth Steam Wagon
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