I first met Edgar Brook about 1960, soon after I joined the Sheffield Trades Historical Society and he gave a 'Magic Lantern' lecture on stationary steam engines and pumps. He would have been about 57 years old. He was small to medium height and was very stockily built with a broad chest, in his younger days he must have been very strong. In the attic were the remains of athletic apparatus, weights etc. that he used to train with as a younger man. I would describe him as 'a most genial character'. I don't think that I ever saw him smoke cigarettes or drink beer, nor any other alcohol.
As he was the youngest son, Edgar remained at home to look after his mother (his father had died years before). People of that generation did so, daughters as well as sons, remaining unmarried in order to look after their parents. I think Edgar did admire the ladies, but only from afar. That said he was quite a charmer with the fair sex, but that was as far as it got.
Edgar's knowledge of steam engines was encyclopedic, on occasions we went looking at engines together. When he reached an engine that he had seen before, he would greet it like an old friend and loll against the cylinder with affection.
He would be seen at many society functions and gatherings. I think he was also a member of the Newcomen Society and the Cornish Engine Preservation Trust, as well as the Sheffield Trades Historical Society. He usually wore an old linen jacket, often over a necked shirt and carried an ex-army haversack over his back. He had a limping gait, probably due to his bad feet. Always he was excellent company being able to converse with high and low alike, never changing his good-natured enthusiastic attitude, one could always learn something from Edgar.
Edgar could look quite smart if the occasion demanded it. He once went to see his boss, Mr Baldwyn, the manager of Sheffield Corporation Water Works, who apparently Edgar was on good terms with at this time. Edgar was an ordinary electrician working for the S.C.W.W. His visit to the manager was to ask if Wortley Top Forge could acquire various pieces of old narrow gauge railway equipment - rail and an I.C. Locomotive. The locomotive proved to be too big for the Forge and is now at Leicester's Abbey Mills Museum where it can be seen working demonstration trains.
No matter how much Edgar got spruced up, he never changed his shoes because he had bad feet, unfortunately as he went into so many grotty, greasy engine houses, the shoe soles were filthy. On occasions my wife, Emily, would invite him to dinner, after which he would have a nap in the front room of our house. This room had a light yellow carpet and after Edgar had been, two 'tram lines' of grease were found in front of his chair, where he had rubbed his feet. They were cleaned off after each visit.
It was obvious that the man was not only enthusiastic on the subject but loved it. On any pretext he would visit the site of any emission of steam from a building. On one occasion during the war, he had made friends with an engineer at The Sheffield Forge and Rolling Mills Ltd, Millsands Works. This man got him into the works to see their rolling mill engines, one of which I think was a venerable Beam Engine. However, the works were on government contract work and outside visitors were not allowed in, as they might be foreign spies! A few days after the visit, Edgar received a letter from the Managing Director saying that he had contravened the official secrets act and he must 'submit a written account of how he had gained access, or else!' Edgar had no option but to reply that the chief maintenance engineer, a friend, had let him in. The M.D.s reply to this was that he thought the engineer was implicated but wanted written proof and now he would be severely dealt with.
Years late, I took Edgar on many trips to see interesting sites. Once I took Bill Bailey the society secretary, Bob Histon a retired engineer and Edgar to see the defunct Backbarrow Iron Works near Windermere, in the Lake District. After seeing the Blast Furnace (of the 18th century) and its Tangye blowing engine, we took lunch at the side of the lake. I idly asked if there was anything else my friends wanted to see in the area, 'Lets go off to Millom' piped up Edgar. I had no idea that this was another 40 miles or so, to see a derelict iron works, where there were Beam pumping engines (built by Harvey's of Hale, Cornwall). The return journey was another 200 mile (and in the days before motorways and fast cars), but with hindsight, it was worth it!
Edgar lived with his mother in a late Victorian family house in Brook Road, Meersbrook, Sheffield. I sometimes wonder whether the parents of Edgar chose that address in order to perpetuate the Brook name, as Edgar's brother, Edwin, also lived in Brook Road. They seemed to have some sort of residential rights there!
Mrs Brook was an invalid with a bed in the front room, this made her son quite defensive about anyone entering the house, however on one occasion he asked me in - what an eye opener! The stairs had books stacked a foot or more high on every tread, leaving 9 inches to walk on! A rear bedroom was racked out to the ceiling with books, the landing was 12 inches deep with engineering drawings of the Staveley Works gas engines (built by John Cockerill of Seraing, Belgum and said to be the largest gas engines in the world). The engine themselves had been lost to the scrap man, but Edgar got the drawings - hundreds of them, and two of the three name plates ('John' (possibly 'Joan') escaped his clutches, but 'Vera' & 'Enid' survived and are now on display at the Anson Engine Museum, High Poynton, nr Manchester).
When I was first introduced to attic of the Brook house, I followed Edgar up the stairs, each tread again full of books. When I finally arrived at the top, I was amazed at the model engines, pumps, early electrical apparatus and books by the thousand, but no Edgar was to be seen. I knew I was in the top room of the house because there was a skylight, so there was nowhere else to go. When I finally tracked him down, he was in his 'hidey hole' where he could escape from his mother! A slim recess gave access to a small area behind bookshelves, where he could read or snooze at leisure knowing that he could not be discovered and did not have to do the washing up just yet.
There were 6 foot high stacks of bound publications 'Engineering' and 'The Engineer'. Years later I helped to move the books back from Wales to Sheffield and a 3 ton truck was hired, the springs were flat down with the weight of the two collected publications! Early editions of 'Mechanics Magazine' 'English Mechanic's' etc. and most of Edgar's books were bought, after his death, by father and son Bill and William Bailey, an estimated 10,000 or more. I returned all the Sheffield ones which were sold through a dealer in Devonshire Street, by arrangement the William Bailey (his father Bill having passed on by this time).
Edgar kept engines everywhere - The attic; his bedroom; the drawing room; in 6 or 7 cellars; and of course, the back yard.
Some but not all the model engines were bought at different times by the writer, many were in poor condition, but most of them were restored beautifully by Bob Histon, by a retired engineer, who had at an age of about 70, wanted something to occupy his mind. As a completed engine was returned by him, another was taken until they were all put back into full working order, with some of the more delicate engines put in specially made polished oak showcases, to stop them getting damaged and starting to rust. All these are in working order. The collection is a credit to their (unknown) makers, Edgar and to Bob and I am extremely proud of them.
Bob Histon was a man with whom I had a great and wonderful friendship. He was probably the finest practical engineer that I am ever likely to meet and had a vast range of knowledge. He worked on experimental ballistics as a young man, followed by production work at Laycock Engineering during World War I when he was involved in the manufacture of Rhone rotary aero engines. This was followed by making railway carriage components, 'Buckeye' couplings, corridor connections, and valves of all descriptions. He became works director at A.G.Wild and did much experimental work on the first hydraulic pit props, derived from the 'Desford Chock', being largely responsible for the initial mass production techniques. There was little that Bob did not know about this type of engineering.
Edgar's cellars were accessed via a cellar head where on a high shelf, old pickle jars and milk bottles resided, all part full and without lids, gave an unforgettable aroma every time they were passed. The milk was every hue of green imaginable, whilst the pickle gave an added pungency to the experience!
It was in the cellars that we found a DeDion Bouton engine, (from a very early motorcar and thought to be one of only two to survive), while the gas engines seemed to be breeding down there as were the steam engines. Many of these full size engines are now on show at Wortley Top Forge. Numerous people have spent much of there free time lovingly restoring them to working order. I have a distinct impression that once Edgar had acquired an engine, he was happy to have it, working or not (and they were mostly not). However, it must never be forgotten that without Edgar's perseverance none of these, sometimes unique, engines would have survived to form the collection we now have.
In the 21st century, we take having our own car for granted, many of us find them essential, but Edgar never had this facility, anything he acquired from afar had to be carried by rail - on a goods train or by a friendly lorry driver. Edgar was known throughout the length and breadth of the country. Anything less than half a hundredweight and not too bulky would be brought back in his haversack.
On one occasion, Edgar acquired a very unusual lubricator from a steam engine, which is now at Top Forge. It consists of a heavy rectangular cast iron box, complete with lid, inside which is a worm & wheel gear driven by a pulley on the outside. The gears drive a constantly rocking arm, on the ends of which are spoon shaped. As the pulley is driven round (by the engine running), the spoons dip into a reservoir of oil and then they rise with a measure of oil that then runs down a central delivery pipe and off to lubricate the engine mean while the second spoon is dipping into the other side of the reservoir. It reminds me of the song 'Just a spoon full of sugar…..! However this contraption weighing nearly ½cwt (25kg) was brought back in Edgar's good old haversack!
Before World War II, he went to Cornwall for his holidays at least 25 years on the trot. There he would visit working Tin and Clay mines looking at the whims (winding engines) and pumps, taking many hundreds of feet of cine film. Edgar did not make any notes of what was filmed, being Edgar, he knew what they all were, unfortunately now that the film is being transferred to video, it is most difficult for us to decide what is what - perhaps we never will identify it all - what a shame!
Perhaps I ought to try and describe the drawing room of the Brook residence, as when Edgar was in Hospital towards the end of his life, Bill Bailey suggested to me he would like back a cine film Edgar had taken of Bill's family holiday in Cornwall. I asked Edgar where it was - "in the far end of the drawing room on the settee" was the reply. I had been in the room previously, the door opened no more than 12 inches. On one occasion John Cooper followed me in and because he was a 'well built' lad, whichever way he faced, he could not turn around and any movement had to be crab like - sideways - as we progressed along a narrow passage amongst the 'stuff' of Edgar's collection here. To make matters worse, as you entered the room, there was a 12 inch step up as one balanced on top of a 3½" Drummond Lathe that had just managed to 'crawl through the door and lay there'. There was no step down after the lathe, you were elevated on 'stuff' that covered most of the room. In the centre of the room, rising to meet the glass light fitting were 2 or 3 glass and mahogany showcases from some Victorian shop clearout, clearly Edgar thought that someday they might house engines of some sort or other. Behind the door was a filing cabinet, this stood in front of a steam engine, which lay, against the wall, only visible to those who knew to look for it! Next to this engine was an Edwardian style upright piano with a pink satin background showing through the fretwork grill - on this were other steam engines. On one occasion, later, I asked John Cooper "do you remember that engine on the piano?" to which John replied "What piano!" - the front of was hidden behind more piles of magazines and books.
When searching for the cine film, I had struggled down this narrow passage amongst the 'gatherings', turned left at the end. My progress was quite gingerly for fear of finding the other side of the false floor! I had followed Edgar's instructions for locating the film on the settee, but I couldn't find the settee, until I realised I was standing on it! I don't remember ever finding the film; it was certainly not on the settee.
Edgar asked me one day if I could help him to bring an engine back, that a friend (Frank Woodall of Shipley) had restored. I said that I did business with a Bradford firm and we could collect the engine during my next trip see them. On the way back from Shipley, Edgar asked if I could 'do him a favour' and store the engine on his behalf because he had no room to keep it. At the time I didn't really believe him as the engine, a model of a Durham winder in its own 'dolls house', was only about 18" x 12" x 24" high. I didn't have room to keep it either, so it went to the office at my tool shop in Earl Street. After Edgar died, I bought the engine off Edgar's brother. Edgar had indeed reached the end of the road as far as accommodation was concerned.
The back yard was home to Edgar's larger acquisitions. It wasn't a very large garden, perhaps 30 or 40 feet long although with all its contents it was difficult to judge. It was obvious, that in the early days Edgar had envisaged his own private engine museum. What he used to call it was 'A mechanical El Dorado' or 'An engineers Aladdin's Cave'. He had collected masses of old metal framed sky light windows, white glazed bricks (I dare not ask which Gents urinal they came from), timber in vast (rotting) quantities and, I think, an old garden shed. Poor old Edgar was good on acquisitions but he lacked somewhat on using the stuff to finish the job. To tell the truth, I don't think he ever started on that job.
Amongst the machines and materials in the garden were two motorbikes, a 1920's top tube tank, possibly a Royal Enfield and a Brough Superior considered by many to be the Rolls Royce of motorbikes. The tank of the Royal Enfield was rusted through but a collector from Nottingham had sniffed out the Brough and bought the remains. A Valient portable steam pump, ex. R.N., was there complete with vertical boiler, the 4 foot diameter iron wheels had corroded at the bottom where they had been covered in generations of nettles and grass. This machine, that must weigh ¼ of a ton, was single handedly bought through to the back garden by Edgar without any lifting tackle. I know Edgar was extremely strong but this must have taxed him.
Perhaps the most unusual machine in the garden was a unique portable engine. This had a horizontal boiler on wheels mounted on which was a single cylinder steam engine with a large, but not heavy, flywheel. The engine looked like a model of the portable engines used on some farms. It had, in fact, been a working engine used in a fairground to power a shooting gallery, where mechanical ducks moving along a channel were shot at, also ping pong balls going up and down on water jets. The engine provided the animation, it is about 4 foot long and weighing about 2 hundred weight. The wrought iron boiler with blacksmith welded firebox (not riveted) made an exhibit in itself. The engine was moved to Wortley Top Forge just before Edgar's death. The story of the engines restoration and second career from then until the present day is worthy of a separate write up.
Possibly the (now) most valuable engines were three vertical gas engines, all c.1890. The first, made at Keighley, was given to the Bradford Industrial Museum in exchange for machining the corroded flywheel of the second, a Crossley flame slide engine, which is in working order and currently on loan to the Anson Engine Museum. The third engine was bought by myself, but is now sadly lost following a robbery at Anson. This was also a Crossley gas engine but with a rotary valve. These engines have been valued higher than Edgar could have ever imagined possible! There were many other small petrol and diesel engines in addition to these as well as various pumps of all makes, types and sizes.
All this was in strict contrast to Edgar's brother, Edwin, who as related before, lived in the same road, only a few doors away. Only after Edgar's funeral was I invited to Edwin's house. When the front door opened and I stepped in, for the first time I walked on Drugget - a white linen cloth stretched over the carpet so that people's feet did not bring dirt in off the road. The house was spotless, in fact too clean for comfort, and they would not let Edgar in, not even at Christmas. Unfortunately there was no love lost between them!
It was there that Edwin kept one of Edgar's engines, a horizontal oscillating steam engine with Stephenson link reversing valve gear. It was a masterpiece of mechanical design, probably based on an early steam ship engine. It would be interesting to know what happened to this engine as it had a cylinder that tilted to align with the crank and the valve gear and linkages all moved in sympathy with the cylinder and piston rod.
In Edgar's kitchen were the old servants bells, with the names of each of the rooms in the house on them, so that the servants could be summoned at will.
In the front room (I can't remember its correct name) was a bed for Mrs Brook, 3 or 4 long case clocks and an old heavy mahogany sideboard, extremely large, full of more 'stuff'. The gas fire gave warmth to the room, lit every day by Edgar with a match that was then carefully piled alongside until the pile was 5 or 6 inches high. Lord knows where it might have ended up if he had carried on or what he was going to do with them. Edgar's bedroom was only to be seen by the light of a dim light, but it was enough to show the crude wooden rack some 6 foot high, with various small steam engines on each of several shelves.
On one occasion when in there, Edgar said "see that engine up there". At first I couldn't see, but 'up there' was on top of a Victorian dressing table, about 8 foot high. To get to it, I had to stand precariously perched with one foot on top of a bedpost and the other on the dressing table. I found the engine covered entirely in 'bedroom fluff', so it was almost impossible to see. It was on a heavy wooden base, about 2 feet long.
When it was finally 'de-fluffed', I could see the engine was a model of a horizontal steam-winding engine with Dodds patent valve gear. I bought this engine off Edgar and Bob Histon restored it to working order. It is certainly 19th century, probably about 1850. I suspected that Edgar used to lie in bed, viewing the engines, which were all around the room.
After Edgar retired he would come to Wortley Top Forge to help with the restoration. He would arrive mid afternoon on the Sunday, having visited his mother in the Winter Street Hospital. He continued to go everywhere by public transport, so I took him back to Sheffield when we left at the end of the day. One Sunday, Edgar did not come to the Forge and that evening I went to his house to see him. I had great difficulty in getting him to open the door; it took about 2 hours of cajoling him to get him out of his chair in the front room. It turned out he had had a stroke and was admitted into the Royal Hospital in West Street, Sheffield. It was at this time that I found out he had a brother and how his brother, and his wife, did not get on with Edgar.
In Hospital, Edgar handed me his building society passbook for safe keeping, which I eventually forwarded to his brother, together with a few other items after Edgar's death. I treasure the trust he put in me.
John Cooper (another Top Forge worker) and myself were largely responsible for removing the engines and other mechanical devices from Brook Road and taking them to Top Forge. Some of these were taken during Edgar's lifetime, as he was getting older, he must have realised that time was running out and he wanted them to go to a good home. After his demise, an arrangement was made with Edgar's brother that we could have the rest if we cleared the site - house, cellars attic and garden. It was a formidable job, but it secured the engines and equipment.
The Clearing out of the kitchen was quite a problem. Behind the door was a wall, which was racked out with shelves carrying books, and novels that Edgar's mother read. It was probably 8 foot wide by the same high. At some time in the past, a burst pipe in the bathroom above had cascaded water through these books for some considerable time turning them into mush and there they remained.
Under the kitchen window was a 'chaise longue' - a couch, which as usual had 2 foot of 'stuff' (papers, books, cardboard, etc) covering it. Edgar's sister-in-law, wearing rubber gloves, found the couch. Its stuffing had been made into a nest and when she picked up what she thought was part of it, found the rodent that had latterly owned the nest, the half decomposed rat was of considerable proportions. On realising what she had, the screams of fear rent the air - she didn't go foraging any more in that kitchen!
A few of the tinplate engines and those that were somewhat incomplete were taken to Top Forge but afterwards sold at auction, the proceeds going to Edwin Brook. The engines, which have been restored and are on show at Top Forge, are now the property of the South Yorkshire Industrial History Society.
I managed to find a photograph of Edgar and have it as a keepsake (reproduced at the top of this page). It is currently on loan to Top Forge and is displayed with his engines, overlooking those that are now run on compressed air. When visitors are around and admire this wonderful display of engines, I always point out the man in the photograph and say, "Without him, all these wonderful machines would not be here".
Thirty years on, after his death, Edgar's memory still shines bright and he is remembered with affection at Wortley Top Forge as a marvellous inspiration.
At Top Forge we now hope to maintain a display that will, at least here, keep the name 'Edgar Brook' both alive and in the company of the machines he spent a lifetime recording and collecting.
Post Script - In late April 2002, whilst this document was being prepared, a visitor arrived at Top Forge. He was retired and had lived at Deepcar all his life, but had only visited the Forge once before. Whilst in conversation with the author, he said 'Did you know Edgar Brook?'. You can imagine how the conversation continued, during which the visitor recalled the day Edgar asked if he could store a 'small' machine in a waterworks building until he had arranged transport. The machine was a hydraulic organ blowing engine. The blower, that used a supply of mains water to power a church organ is at Top Forge awaiting restoration.
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