Addendum

 

A Short History of Hawksley's Patent Treads:

Patent No 3306 was taken out by engineer and inventor George Hawksley of 1 Montrose Villas, Caledonian Road, Middlesex in 1865 for 'improvements in constructing the treads of steps or stairs', and the earliest mention of Hawksley's Patent Treads is in a description of Bow Station in the Railway News of September 1870 described as a vast improvement on the 'smooth stone tread of the past, on which, or rather off which one was so likely to slip when running in a hurry to catch a train'.

Joseph Westwood was the maker of Hawksley's Patent Treads, from about 1879, supplying institutional and commercial buildings all over Britain and further afield, for example in 1883 tendering for the supply to the new Brisbane Treasury building (now a casino) in Australia.

From 1895 Hawksley's Treads were manufactured, together with an improved version, invented by a Greenwich civil engineer, J. T. Andrews, by the Andrews-Hawksley Patent Tread Company Ltd which were used on omnibus and tram platforms, comprised of wooden cubes in wrought iron framing. They were said to be stronger than comparable treads using cast iron frames, with the additional advantage that the blocks could be reversed when worn.

A number of local people took shares in the new company, including Harry Hooper, the Millwall surveyor and estate agent, and Horace Bradshaw, a carman and contractor.

In the Leeds Mercury 4 May 1883 a description of the new Keighley Railway Station reads: 'The steps are made of small square-faced blocks of pitch pine let into iron frames and known as Hawksley's Patent Treads'. In 1900 Andrews Hawksley's Patent Tread Company Ltd was wound up in the Chancery Division London. By 1904 Hawksley treads were manufactured by the St Pancras Ironwork Company, of London.

Note: Joseph Westwood senior is the founder of the football club which became West Ham Football Club, its nickname 'The Hammers' and 'The Irons' coming from it's ironworking heritage.