THE MARSHALL CLUB
William Marshall had been an apprentice at leading industrialist William Fairburn’s Manchester factory and was later appointed Fairburn’s representative in St. Petersburg, then the capital of Russia. In 1848 William returned to his hometown of Gainsborough and bought a small engineering works in Back Street.
Marshalls of Gainsborough
By 1855, the business had outgrown the Back Street works and he acquired the initial 1 ½ acres of freehold land on the site of Britannia Works. With the death of William in 1861 his two sons, James and Henry, took over the running of the business and by the end of the 19th century, they had established Marshall Sons & Co Ltd as one of the leading steam manufacturers in the country.
In 1908, the first oil tractor was produced by Marshalls and production ran up to the start of the First World War, when Marshalls devoted much of their facilities and workforce to the war effort. After hostilities ended though, times were bleak, and
