Ephemera

Forces Service Records

Austin Melia’s service record (right) and a view of Wellington Barracks, Bury (below). The Lancs Fusiliers were based out of here.

Photocopy of Edward Melia’s service record (left). It would appear he never saw service in France and was probably limited to motor vehicle training and support activity. He was medically discharged in 1915 with ankylosia of the knee, probably due to an injury during training or working with equipment.

Thomas Melia’s naval service record. He joined in July 1917 and was demobilised in February 1919.

Mills and Steam Engines

Information on mills and the engines that ran them is sporadic. Even the records of mill owners can be incomplete. The table below is the best I have been able to come up with.

*Location*	*Mill*	*Engine*	*Manufacturer*	*Mill owner*
Farnworth	Foggs Colliery	Single vertical cylinder winding engine	Unknown	Andrew Knowles and Sons Limited
Hindley	Castle Hill Mill	Unknown	Unknown	Robert C. Haworth
Stockport	Beehive Mill ( a collection of 7 mills)	Unknown	Unknown	T & J Leigh
Littleborough	Sladen Wood Mill Greenvale Mill	See ephemera below	See ephemera below	Fothergill & Harvey (Harvey family)
Middleton	Townley Mill Moston Mill (Newton Heath)	Unknown 1600hp RH Tandem Compound Engine	Unkown Carel Freres of Ghent	Townley Mill Co (Benjamin Simpson?) Barlows (formerly Samuel Barlow & Co Ltd)
Bolton	Dart Mill Alexandra Mill	Triple Vertical Expansion Engine Unknown	J&W McNaught Unknown	Nelson family of Nelson, Lancashire.

Foggs colliery in Farnworth and Castle Hill Mill in Hindley are speculative as there are no specific records of where Austin Melia was employed in the 1890s. There are records linking him with specific mills after 1900. For further research on mill owners consult Grace’s Guide, and for information on types of steam engines Bolton Steam Museum is a good place to start.

Littleborough - Sladen Wood Steam Engine

Littleborough - Sladen Wood Steam Engine 2

Littleborough - Sladen Wood Steam Engine 3

The three schematics above are of Fothergill & Harvey’s Sladen Wood mill engine and the one on the right is the Greenvale Mill installation. Both would have been installed while Austin Melia was still an employee.

Triple Expansion Engine - John Musgrave, Bolton

The two schematics below are of static Triple Expansion Engines, the type used in mills. Similar engines were used in marine applications to power ships of the era.

Media mentions

Cotton Factory Times Oct 9th 1909

Cotton Factory Times Sept 16th 1910

Cotton Factory Times Dec 16th 1910

Cotton Factory Times Nov 11th 1911

Austin Melia

John Melia

Farnworth & Walkden Journal June 28th 1917

Farnworth & Walkden Journal December 1918

Family archives

Author archives

Postcard?