Forces Service Records
Photocopy of Edward Melia’s service record (left). It would appear he never saw service in France and was probably limited to motor vehicle training and support activity. He was medically discharged in 1915 with ankylosia of the knee, probably due to an injury during training or working with equipment.
Information on mills and the engines that ran them is sporadic. Even the records of mill owners can be incomplete. The table below is the best I have been able to come up with.
| Location | Mill | Engine | Manufacturer | Mill Owner |
| Farnworth | Foggs Colliery | Single vertical cylinder winding engine | Unknown | Andrew Knowles and Sons Limited |
| Hindley | Castle Hill Mill | Unknown | Unknown | Robert C. Haworth |
| Stockport | Beehive Mill ( a collection of 7 mills) | Unknown | Unknown | T & J Leigh |
| Littleborough | Sladen Wood Mill Greenvale Mill | See ephemera below | See ephemera below | Fothergill & Harvey (Harvey family) |
| Middleton | Townley Mill Moston Mill (Newton Heath) | Unknown 1600hp RH Tandem Compound Engine | Unknown Carel Freres of Ghent | Townley Mill Co (Benjamin Simpson?) Barlows (formerly Samuel Barlow & Co Ltd) |
| Bolton | Dart Mill Alexandra Mill | Triple Vertical Expansion Engine Unknown | J&W McNaught Unknown | Nelson family of Nelson, Lancashire. |
Foggs colliery in Farnworth and Castle Hill Mill in Hindley are speculative as there are no specific records of where Austin Melia was employed in the 1890s. There are records linking him with specific mills after 1900. For further research on mill owners consult Grace’s Guide, and for information on types of steam engines Bolton Steam Museum is a good place to start.
The three schematics above are of Fothergill & Harvey’s Sladen Wood mill engine and the one on the left is the Greenvale Mill installation. Both would have been installed while Austin Melia was still an employee.
The two schematics above are of static Triple Expansion Engines, the type used in mills. Similar engines were used in marine applications to power ships of the era.
Media mentions
John Melia
