in 1909
Founding McEwan Pratt was founded in 1905, or shortly afterwards, as a private engineering company, by engineer Robert Henry McEwan, draughtsman Arthur Wellesley Pratt and Robert Davison - who provided financial backing. The company's headquarters was at Wick Lane in
Wickford,
Essex, and they maintained a London office at 13 South Place, London EC2.
Wickford In May 1907, they purchased the 6 acre former
Darby Digger factory in Wickford. and started production of small locomotives. The first known product was a for a rubber plantation in Java. and South America. McEwan Pratt was noted for its production of railcars, and by 1913 were supplying both finished cars and powered chassis to various government railways. In 1908, McEwan Pratt were producing the "Dando-Murray" paraffin locomotive, which was sold by London agents Duke & Ockenden. This arrangement was short-lived, though McEwan Pratt continued to use the "Murray" name for their products.
McEwan Pratt (1912) McEwan Pratt Ltd were wound up in March 1912, Baguley Cars Ltd approached the liquidator and purchased the Wickford works, stock, order book and patents. Baguley set up a new subsidiary called McEwan Pratt (1912) Ltd. which resumed production at the Wickford works to fulfil the remaining orders. Leonard Bentall, the McEwan Pratt draughtsman, became the chief draughtsman of Baguley and led the design of future Baguley and McEwan Pratt designs, which shared many common features.
First World War During the First World War, the
War Department (WD) was responsible for transport services to support the British troops. They made extensive use of railways to supply the trenches and used gauge railways to move munitions, food and other goods from supply depots to the front lines. In 1915, the WD put out a tender for the supply of lightweight "rail tractors" to operate these lines. Leonard Benhall designed a 10hp locomotive based on a 1914 design supplied to a mine in Japan. The new locomotive was water-cooled and had a large tank to carry the water. More than 50 locomotives of this new design were supplied to military railways during the conflict, though they were only a limited success, being too light for many duties. == Production ==