Thomas Green & Son

Thomas Green & Son, Ltd. were engineers who manufactured a wide range of products at the Smithfield Foundry, Leeds, United Kingdom.

Thomas Green came to Leeds from Carlton-on-Trent near Newark and founded the company in 1835. The company was originally located at 34 Lower Head Row (now Eastgate), Leeds, and specialised in all types of wirework, including wire weaving and galvanising. The Smithfield Foundry site in North Street was purchased in 1848 and the first buildings were erected in 1850. In 1863 a London office was opened, principally to serve the overseas trade. This was followed in 1881 by the opening of the "Surrey Works" in Blackfriars, London. Improvements in trade led to the opening of the "New Surrey Works" in 1902.

One of the products that Greens are most known for, the lawnmower, was first constructed in 1855. The earliest lawn mower was patented by E. B. Budding of Stroud, Gloucestershire in 1830. Green improved the Budding design by adding a rake to lift the grass and reducing its weight. In 1858 Greens machine won first prize at the first lawn mower trial conducted at the London Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick. A short-lived product, introduced in 1902, was the steam-powered lawnmower, targeted at groundsmen. Greens produced mowers in a wide range of sizes from 8in to 42in and these were given grand names, such as Silens Messor (Britain’s first chain driven mower) and Multum in Parvo (with little, much), and along with Ransomes of Ipswich and Shanks of Arbroath, dominated the market until the First World War.

One of the products that Greens became well known for was steam tram engines. The use of steam tramways in Britain was effectively prohibited by the draconian rules contained in the so-called Red Flag Act or more correctly the Locomotive Acts of 1861 and 1865. The introduction of new regulations, The Highways & Locomotives (Amendments) Act 1879 set out a more workable arrangement as follows:-

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