Wessex Museums

Brown and May five horsepower steam portable engine

From: Wiltshire Museum

1/10th scale model of Brown annd May five horsepower steam portable engine, made and donated by Llew Bedder. 

The model was built using dimensions taken from a full size Brown and May engine, works number 7838 of 1907, which was subsequently scrapped. 

Engines of this type were used on farms, for threshing grain, pumping water and sawing wood. They are known as ‘portable’ because they could be moved from place to place using horses. Considerably cheaper to run than more complex self-propelled traction engines, they were popular on smaller farms and used in developing countries. 

Brown and May were agricultural engineers with a large works in Estcourt Street, Devizes, on the site now occupied by Morrisons supermarket. Founded in 1854 they went out of business in 1913. They were particularly well known for engines of this type, of which they made nearly 9,000. Most were exported and the largest markets were in South Africa and Australasia, where a number survive today. 

Brown and May Steam engine - Wiltshire Museum
Brown and May Steam engine - Wiltshire Museum

Curators’ Insights

This scale model of the Brown and May five horsepower steam portable engine was selected by a visitor to the Museum during their participation in a creating writing course, where the theme of ‘place’ was explored. They felt this steam engine was a pivotal moment for Devizes and further afield and wondered what mechanisation of previously manual labour jobs (particularly agriculture) meant for the town, and the effect this would have had, both negatively and positively for the town and its labour force. This object inspired a series of ideas for creative writing practices. 

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