The story
The firm was originally started by Henry Stothert in 1837 as Henry Stothert and Company. Henry was the son of George Stothert (senior), founder of the nearby Bath engineering firm of Stothert & Pitt. Henry's brother, also named George, was manager of the same firm.
The company was given an order for two broad gauge (7 ft (2,134 mm)) 2-2-2 Firefly class express passenger engines Arrow and Dart, with 7 ft (2.1 m) driving wheels, delivered for the opening of the Great Western Railway (GWR) from Bristol to Bath on 31 August 1840. This was soon followed by an order for eight smaller 2-2-2 Sun class engines with 6 ft (1.8 m) driving wheels.
Stothert, Slaughter and Company
Edward Slaughter joined the company in 1840, when it became known as Stothert, Slaughter and Company. By 1844 their works were named "Avonside Ironworks". In 1846 built Avalanche the first of five six-coupled saddle tank banking engines for the GWR. The year 1846 also saw the delivery of six 2-2-2 tender locomotives for the opening of the Waterford and Limerick Railway in Ireland. Another large order came for ten broad gauge passenger 4-2-2s with 7 ft 6 in drivers and eight goods engines from the Bristol and Exeter Railway for the independent operation of that line from 1 May 1849.
During 1843, the company built and launched its first ship, the screw driven iron hulled steam packet Avon. This was followed by three more vessels (Severn, Mitau and Crete) across 1844 and 1845. In 1851 the company leased a shipbuilding yard, of which Henry Stothert took charge as a separate undertaking; by 1854 this was being run as a separate company by his nephew George Kelson Stothert in partnership with E.T. Fripp (1855–1856), F.J. Dickinson (briefly during 1856) and then G.P. Marten (1859–1862). By 1862 Stothert had sole control and the company was operating as G.K. Stothert & Co.
Slaughter, Grüning and Company
In 1856 Henry Grüning became a partner of Edward Slaughter at the locomotive works, which then became Slaughter, Grüning and Company.
From Wikipedia’s article on Avonside Engine Company, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3