John Wallis Titt

John Wallis Titt (14 April 1841 – 5 May 1910) was a nineteenth-century English agricultural engineer, millwright, iron founder, and builder of large wind engines.

Early life

Titt was born in 1841 at Chitterne, Wiltshire, the son of John Titt and his wife Eliza Wallis. He was baptized into the Church of England at Chitterne St Mary on 24 October 1841. In the 1851 census, his father was a farmer of 220 acres employing ten labourers. Elm Farm, Chitterne, had a post mill, which as a young man Titt worked for his father. From 1870, Titt was an agent for Brown and May. From 1872, he was an agricultural engineer with that firm and also an agent for Fowler's of Leeds, Yorkshire. In March 1874, he went into business on his own account, announcing that he had succeeded to the Warminster branch of Brown & May's business and henceforward would repair Portable Steam Engines and machines and act as agent for all kinds of engineering.

In 1876, Titt established the Woodcock Ironworks at Warminster and at first was mostly manufacturing elevators. He continued in business as an agricultural engineer and iron founder, and in 1884 made his first wind engine, for the Boyton estate. Titt continued to run the firm until he retired through ill health in 1903, the year in which he exhibited three wind engines at the Royal Agricultural Societys show, at Park Royal, Acton, London. The firm was continued by those sons.

Personal life On 23 November 1868, at Warminster, Titt married Emily Eliza Sainsbury, the daughter of Thomas Sainsbury, of Warminster, an innkeeper. At the April 1871 census, they were living at Portway, Chitterne, with their eight-month old son Alec and one young housemaid. Another son, John Wallis Sainsbury Titt, baptized in 1879, died young. At the time of the 1901 census, Titt and his wife were living at Woodcock House, Warminster, with sons called Herbert W., aged 27, engineer, and Wallis G., aged 19, bank clerk. Two unmarried daughters were also living with them, Edith and Ethel. Herbert Wallis Titt, born in 1873, migrated to Australia in the 1930s but later returned to Warminster. Emily Eliza Titt died in Warminster on 10 March 1939, aged 93.

Titt wind engines Titt made three main types of wind engine: the Woodcock, the Simplex direct, and the Simplex geared. After the firm was taken over by his sons, another standard type of windpump, the Imperial, was produced.

Wind engine locations

Two remaining wind engines made by John Wallis Titt are on show at the Wind Energy Museum in Repps with Bastwick, Norfolk.

Titt wind engines are known to have been built at the following locations: Barrowby, Lincolnshire Erected by 1899 for the Duke of Devonshire. Basingstoke, Hampshire Erected in 1898 at Pitt Hall Farm, Upper Wooton. Bentworth, Hampshire Simplex A wind engine was erected in 1901 at Bentworth and Lasham station on the Basingstoke and Alton Light Railway. Erected at Manor Farm in 1905, standing 1936. The wind engine can be seen briefly in the film Oh, Mr Porter! hexagonal steel tower 140px Erected in 1891, last worked in the 1920s, sails removed in the 1960s and restoration completed in 2002. Dover, Kent Erected at the Infectious Diseases Hospital by 1893 for Dover Corporation. Dunwich, Suffolk Erected by 1895 for the Grey Friars. Dursley, Gloucestershire Erected by 1901 at Cam Mills. Dursley, Gloucestershire Simplex on a steel tower. Erected in 1898. Supplied over thirty properties in Dursley with water. Reservoir was from the wind engine. Elsenham, Essex Simplex Drove an oat crusher in addition to pumping water. Erected for Walter Gilbey. Faringdon, Berkshire Erected by 1900 at Royal Prize Farm, Wadley House. Foxhill, Wanborough, Wiltshire Erected by 1896. Gillingham, Dorset Simplex wind engine on a brick water tower. Erected at The Kendalls by 1895. Gilmorton, Leicestershire Erected in a field adjacent to the M1; probably used for a nearby farming estate. Glastonbury, Somerset Supplied water to The Elms. Erected by 1892. Great Brington, Northamptonshire diameter Simplex geared wind engine. Supplied Great Brington and Little Brington with water from a well deep. Capacity per day. Erected for Earl Spencer by 1894. Tytherington, Wiltshire Erected by 1893 on the Tytherington Estate. Supplied water to a reservoir away. Water raised a total of in height. The original wind-pump blew down in a storm around 1935-1940. The site is still used to pump water for the village, not using a wind-pump. Heytesbury, Wiltshire Erected in 1895 at Bolesbro' Knoll for Lord Heytesbury. Highworth, Wiltshire Erected by 1898 at Hannington Hall. Supplied water to the house, farm and stables. Hinton Charterhouse, Somerset Wind engine erected in 1895 for Bath Union Rural District Council. Auxiliary power supplied by a horse. The engine was from the reservoir and lower than it was. Hundon, Suffolk Simplex on hexagonal steel tower

Knighton, Leicestershire Erected at Narborough Wood Farm by 1896. Leiston, Suffolk Erected by 1892. Leiston, Suffolk Simplex Margherita di Savoia, Italy Geared Simplex A wind engine was erected for the Italian Government. Micheldever, Hampshire Erected by 1898 on the Stratton Estate for the Earl of Northbrook. Narborough, Leicestershire Odstock, Wiltshire Erected by 1886 for the Earl of Radnor. Par, Cornwall Two Simplex engines Erected at Trenython, Par Station for the Bishop of Truro by 1894. Radyr, Glamorganshire Erected by 1894. Repps, Norfolk A Titt wind engine is preserved at Morse's Wind Engine Park, Repps. Photographs show it to be a small Simplex on a tower. Repps, Norfolk A second Titt wind engine is preserved at Morse's Wind Engine Park, Repps. Savernake Forest, Wiltshire Erected at Chisbury Farm by 1888 for the Marquess of Ailesbury. Shute, Devon Erected in 1900 for Sir Edmund de la Pole of Shute House. Supplied to Shute House with water. Southport, Lancashire Simplex mounted on a water tower Erected by 1894 for Southport Corporation. Stockbridge, Hampshire Erected by 1900 at Marshcourt for Herbert Johnson. Southwold, Suffolk Simplex Erected c1886 for Southwold Corporation. Standing in 1893. Tisbury, Wiltshire Erected in 1888 for V F Bennett-Stanfore, Pyt House. Supplied Pyt House and Home Farm with water. West Ardsley, Yorkshire Simplex on a hexagonal steel tower, itself built on a stone base. Erected in February 1899 at Boyle Hall for Luther Colbeck. Generated electricity. A dynamo powered 110 lights, mostly rated at 16 candlepower, with some rated at 8 candlepower. Westbury, Wiltshire engine on a steel tower Erected by 1892, supplied water to Courtleigh. West Dean, West Sussex wind engine Erected in 1898. Supplied water from a well deep. West Dean, West Sussex wind engine Erected in 1898. Supplied water from a well deep. West Stow, Suffolk Erected at the sewage works c1898. Westwick, Norfolk wind engine on a steel tower Erected in November 1893 at Westwick Hall. Supplied a tank at a total height to . Winterbourne Stoke, Wiltshire Erected in 1899 at Hill Farm. Wold Newton, Lincolnshire Two wind pumps In 1910 a borehole was sunk in the middle of the village, which is situated in a valley. One pump was erected to move water up the hill to a reservoir which then supplied the village by gravity. This pump was later converted to electricity before being removed when mains water arrived in the 1970s. A second pump moved water further up the hill to a second reservoir which then fed water troughs for livestock.

The name "Simplex" was independently used by an Australian windmill manufacturer (the Intercolonial Boring Company) for its windmills, with the name used to describe greatness in simplicity. The windmill and its design had no association with Titt's machines. A restored IBC Direct Acting Simplex windmill is part of the National Museum of Australia collection. It is 13 metres high with a six-metre sail diameter. The windmill drew water from the Great Artesian Basin at Kenya Station in central Queensland from the 1920s until 1988, when it was decommissioned. It was subsequently donated to the museum in 2008 and installed in 2011.

Later history of the J. W. Titt business At the end of 1908, the partnership between Alec and Herbert Titt, carrying on business under the name of John Wallis Titt, was dissolved, and the firm came into the hands of Alec Titt. In October 1915, he was commissioned into the Royal Army Service Corps. In December 1919, he relinquished his commission, but kept the rank of Captain.

Apart from the agricultural side of the engineering business, it also handled bicycles and motor cars. In the aftermath of his death, a limited company, John Wallis Titt & Co. Limited, was formed on 23 January 1929.

In 1929, after the death of Alec Titt, only 25 people were employed. In the 1940s, under the management of G. T. Frost, the firm expanded again, and in 1952 it was employing 60 people. but the firm continued in business in Frome until 2009.

On 26 August 2009, a general meeting of the limited company held in Bath resolved to wind the company up voluntarily and to appoint a liquidator. The company was wound up on 9 September 2011, when the secured and preferential creditors were paid in full; ninety unsecured creditors, who were owed £308,999, received 32.6 pence in the pound. There were 40,000 shares in the company, and the shareholders received nothing.