George Forrester and Company
The company was noted in Liverpool directories from 1827 as "Iron founders",[4] the works established in the former "Union Mill" cotton factory, known locally as the "Welsh Factory", built by Messrs. Kirkman & Co. on the east side of Vauxhall Road in the late eighteenth century, but closed after a few years, remaining empty for some time thereafter.
Forrester's engines were extremely successful for their time, but the outside cylinders and cranks caused the locomotives to sway so much that they were referred to as "Boxers".
[13] John Urpeth Rastrick inspected the locomotives, which were designed for freight, at the factory and confirmed the workmanship was good but required his own modifications and alterations.
[14] On 6 October 1844, the South Eastern Railway (SER) ordered six Stephenson "long boiler" pattern goods 2-4-0 from a "Robert Browne of Liverpool" though this seemed to be way disguising the manufacturer as Forrester's which whom a director had a familial connection.
[20] The Liverpool was the first steamship built and fitted up for the transatlantic service and the first transatlantic vessel with two funnels;[19] after making several return journeys to New York she was sold to the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company; it was on this vessel that Samuel Cunard came to Liverpool from Halifax, Nova Scotia to commence business as a ship owner.
[24] In 1846 the firm built 180 hp engines for the Princess Clementine used in 1849 for superintendent of telegraphs for the South Eastern Railway Company, Charles Vincent Walker's successful experiment off Folkestone to pass messages by submarine cable.
[26] The works manager was Scottish mechanical engineer Alexander Allan (1809–1891) until 1840, when he left to take charge of the workshops of the Grand Junction Railway at Edge Hill, using his experience with Forrester to design the outside-cylinder Crewe-type locomotives.
[31][32][33][34][35] One of the vessel's notable passengers during June 1847 was the young artist James Abbott McNeill Whistler; the Helen MacGregor was the first Hull steamer in the St Petersburg trade.
They noted visits to Forresters game them little cause for concern whereas at Sharps the mechanics were at times found to be partaking of "too ardent feasting at craft clubs" with related absenteeism and irregularities.
On her first voyage to New York October 1838. Lieutenant R. J. Fayrer, RN Commander . [ 18 ] Engines by George Forrester & Co. An east-bound vessel of the Black Ball Line on the horizon. [ 19 ]
"In some of the roughest seas, so well known between Hull and Hamburg, the engines of the Helen Mac Gregor do not seem to suffer the slightest strain in working". [ 30 ]