Aveling & Porter
| Private company | |
| Industry | Engine and steam roller manufacturer |
| Founded | 1862 England, U.K. |
| Founders | Thomas Aveling Richard Thomas Porter |
Aveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steam roller manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, developed a steam engine three years later in 1865. The company became the largest manufacturer of steam rollers in the world.
Thomas Aveling was born 11 September 1824 at Elm, Cambridgeshire. His mother was widowed while Thomas was still young and the family settled in Hoo St Werburgh (Rochester, Kent). His mother remarried to the Rev. John D'Urban of Hoo St Werburgh. Thomas' stepfather brought him up with "a Bible in one hand and a birch rod in the other". Thomas was apprenticed to Edward Lake, a farmer, of Hoo. Thomas married Edward's niece, Sarah Lake (daughter of Robert Lake of Milton-Chapel near Canterbury) and in 1850 took a farm at Ruckinge on Romney Marsh. In 1851 he was recorded as a farmer and grazier employing 16 men and 6 boys. The business also included a drainage tile works.
Aveling had a reputation as something of a martinet in business, only keeping on the best men. However he did provide his staff with recreational facilities with a lecture room and mess room. Lectures were delivered on educational, social and political topics with Aveling himself in the chair and participation from the floor encouraged.
Following the success of the Aveling and Porter business, Thomas rose to local prominence, first on the council and then between 1869 and 1870 as Mayor of Rochester. Politically he held rather radical views within the Liberal Party. Not surprisingly (given the location of the Invicta Works) he was a strong advocate of improving the river bank at Strood, which was at that time marsh. As mayor he took an interest in the significant local charity Watts' Charity and was appointed to the board of trustees in 1871. He helped lay out the public gardens in Rochester Castle, sat on the Rochester School Board and was a governor of the Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School.
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