Steve Thanks for this.
The Trafford Park factory was extended in both 1916 and 1918, supposedly to allow for the manufacture of tractors. However, most sources seemt o agree that the war ended before tractor production got underway.
1916 seems too early for the prospect of tractor assembly in Manchester, unless there was some prospect of puting the Farkas design into production ?
To quote 'Tempestuous Journey : Lloyd George : His Life and Times', by Frank Owen, Hutchinson & Co, 1954 : “Within the first few days of the New Year, 1917 (R E) Prothero (Minister of Agriculture) had provided Lloyd George with a compendious memorandum on food and farmpolicy, man-power, women land-workers, rent restrictions, putting down pheasants and foxes, fertilizers and the offer of Henry Ford to make tractors. Of Ford’s plan to set up his own works at Cork, Prothero wrote that he believed Ford could turn out tractors at £50 apiece,’… it will revolutionize agriculture. It will also knock the English machine-makers out of trade. If that had to be, well, it would have to be."
So, this suggests that Ford's offer was in January 1917.'Politicians, the Press, & Propaganda : Lord Northcliffe & The Great War, 1914-1919', by J Lee Thompson, Kent State University Press, 1999 goes some way to explain the delay in taking up Ford's offer : Lord Northcliffe was chairman of the 1917 British War Mission to the United States.One of his first tasks was to appease an angry Henry Ford. The American industrialist felt insulted by the British handling of an offer to supply, at cost, 6,000 of his new and inexpensive agricultural tractors for the food production ministry. Geoffrey Robinson (later Dawson), editor of The Times, explained to his chief that SF Edge, a former representative of Britain’s Ford competitors (and presently attached to the ministry of munitions), had done everything in his power, including the staging of unfair tests, to attack the American machines. As a result, Ford refused to allow any Englishmen in to this factories. Northcliffe told Churchill, who had became munitions minister in July, that Ford had twice put him off, but that he would gladly go to Detroit and “eat humble pie”. Thomas Edison, an acquaintance of both men, finally arranged a mid-October meeting at which the misunderstanding was laid to rest. Northcliffe toured Ford’s plant and even took a turn behind the wheel of one of the tractors in a ploughing demonstration.” It is known that Henry Ford's preference was to build a new factory in Cork to build tractors, instead of using Trafford Park. Presumably the reasons for this were 1) the tractors were developed by Fordson and nor Ford and 2) the Ford family had connections with Cork. However, the building of a new factory in Cork ran into difficulties as in 1917 the munitions emphasis became aeroplanes and aero-engines, with extra capacity being achieved by the increased use of the automotive industry, governemnt subsidized new factories and training centres for semi-skilled workers. Yet, the workforce issue was not so prominent in Ireland as conscription in to the British armed forces did not extend to that country. Nevertheless, there would have been a shortage of available skilled and semi-skilled workers due to the lack of Irish industry and the premium wages available for Irishmen prepared to work in mainland factories. Limited availability of raw materials may have been more of an issue. Given these obstacles, it may have proved easier to extend the Trafford Park Ford factory to assemblt tractors rather than build a new factory. It is easier to dilute existing workforce with semi-skilled workers, rather than recruit a new one. In addition, the North west had been identified as a area with a ready supply of semi-skilled women out of work due to the wartime depression in the cotton trade. This reason was a major factor in the decision to base Governemnt National Aircraft Factories on the outskirts of Liverpool (Aintree) and Manchester (Heaton Chapel). Your point about the problem of producing 6,000 tractors in such a short time is valid also. TI gather that the first Fordson F was completed at Dearborn on 8 October 1917, and only 253 more were completed by the end of the year. Nevertheless. 31.167 were made in 1918. The cost of shipment is something to be factored in as well. The Fordson F was priced originally at £250, £80 of which was the cost of freight from Dearborn. Presumably, the freight cost of parts would have been less than this ?
Nick
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