Wyn's Wickham Story

Laura Bateman 870 days ago

During my [Wyn] working life I have always been involved with Wickham pump spares. We have been selling the four lug diaphragms for over 45 years! One of our customers, John Hayes the owner of JFH Plant in Bristol would buy 20 diaphragms at a time as he had a large fleet of these four lug Wickham pumps.

I recall him telling me about a steel processing company, and how he hired this type of pump/ machine (Wickham 3-4” Lift and Force) on a permanent basis. The liquids that the machines pumped would attack the main castings after a couple of months, making them porous and unsuitable for use. As a joint venture the steel company and John Hayes had some of these main castings made from a phosphor bronze material - solving the problem!

This leads us onto D Wickham (the founder of Wickham Engineering Co Ltd) they originally made bottle equipment for the brewing industry. They then went onto making hoists and pumps for the construction industry and other contractor plants. Wickham were also known for cranes and trains ‘the Wickham Trolley’ on the British Railway.

Wickham was then brought by Benford - the dumper and mixer manufacturer, located in Warwick.

Images found on Graces Guide (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Main_Page)

We were looking through our archive when we came across this Wickham Lift & Force Diaphragm Pump instruction manual.

We still have stock of some of these parts for the pump unit! Including part numbers: 38 (P25), 50 (WE900), 55 (P21).

On the Wickham Lift & Force Double Diaphragm pump there were a variety of alternate engine types that were attached onto the machines. This includes popular brands including: Petter/ Lister Petter, Ruston and Wolesely as shown in the images below.