Tractor heritage, news and features

That Marshall moment

Mike Harris, the well-known tractor collector from Liskeard in Cornwall has in his collection six Marshall tractors. He started collecting them in 1996; the first one was a Series II, then a Series III, Series I, Series IIIA, then a 1938 M that arrived at Mike’s in 2001, plus a Fowler crawler. The Series M does not come out of the shed very often. But it was cleaned up to almost showroom condition to be taken to the Royal Cornwall Show as a trade exhibit.

Now this Marshall has quite a bit of known history. The tractor was purchased late in 1938 by a Mr Joseph Mitchell from St Agnes; it arrived in Cornwall on a train that stopped at the seaside resort of Perranporth, although St Agnes had a station! Rumour has it that when the Marshall was off-loaded from the train, the town fathers laid on a reception; quite why we are unsure – perhaps one of our readers can fill in the blanks?

The tractor was then taken to Joseph Mitchell’s farm at St Agnes, where it was attached to a threshing rig and driven by a Mr Juleff. Mitchells were well-known contractors in the district, and had operated a number of steam engines in the past. But it seems that all was not well with the Marshall, for in correspondence dated 21 July 1939, Joseph Mitchell voiced his concerns about the tractor; he was not satisfied with his new purchase, and felt that it was not capable of handling a Marshall threshing machine in the St Agnes District.

However, Marshalls, in correspondence, said they ‘are anxious to satisfy him and would arrange for their representative to travel down from Gainsborough so they could discuss the matter further’.

By 25 July 1939, the Marshall representative had made his call, and the letter dated the same was returned to Marshalls Agent, Frank Piper, from St Agnes. The Marshalls letter stated: ‘As our Mr EE Spencer has now returned to the Works, we now come to deal fully with your communication of the 19th instant, and having discussed the matter with our driver, we are still of the opinion that the engine will be able to cope with the work in question.

‘In the first place, we would point out that we did not offer this plant without previous experience in a similar district, and as we had done the work satisfactorily, we saw no reason why we should not be successful in your case.

‘You will, of course, appreciate that this is an entirely new engine, and that all running fits on piston and bearings are therefore at their tightest, in other words the engine has not had time to shake down to its job. Our experience is that after a considerable period of running this machine will actually gain approximately 10
per cent in power, and it therefore is rather unfortunate that the machine had to be put to such a heavy pull immediately on delivery, and we feel sure that you yourselves fully realise the importance of running in. Before again demonstrating, we will ask one of our experts to look the machine over, and if necessary give it a few adjustments, which in connection with what we propose in the next paragraph, will, we think, definitely overcome the troubles.

‘To make certain you will have no need to worry concerning the hills, we have come to the conclusion that it would be advisable to have the Thresher fitted with pneumatic tyred wheels and Timken roller bearings, which would considerably ease the drawbar, and if you are agreeable, we are prepared to make the necessary alteration to the standard charge of £50 pounds, including internal expanding brakes, and our mechanics time and expenses.

‘After fitting, we will send down one of our expert drivers to prove to you that the Tractor is capable of hauling the machine and trusser in your district.

‘In the very unlikely event that the tractor would not be suitable, then we shall be only too pleased to take it back and substitute some other power unit’.

We can assume that Joseph Mitchell took heed of what had been said, for the braking system was fitted with a very rare to find hydraulic hand braking system, which operated in conjunction with the normal hand brake.

Then in 1943 an account was sent to Joseph for ‘Changing the wheels from iron over to rubber tyres’ on the Marshall, which cost the princely sum of £3-10s-0d. At a later date the tractor was also then fitted with an awning, which was still fitted when Mike purchased it.

The Marshall stayed with the Mitchells up until 1945, when we think it was taken in part exchange at Unity Garage, St Day, before being sold to Edward Jennings, Anchor Farm, Perranporth. There it was used as part of a threshing set that travelled between Perranporth and St Keverne down on the Lizard Peninsular. In 1989, the tractor was purchased by Brian Johns, who kept it until 2001, by which time Mike had put the word out that he was looking for a Marshall M tractor. Contact was made!

Mike drove down to Brian’s smallholding at North Country, just outside Redruth. A deal was soon done, and the tractor loaded onto a trailer and taken back to Mike’s yard. After a brief stay in the shed, Mike soon started the job of stripping the Marshall down. A new set of rings was needed, but the piston was fine and the bearings were still in good order – considering that the tractor had done an enormous amount of work driving the threshing rig. All in all, the engine ran as sweet as a nut once it was reassembled.

The winch was taken off and the anchor was found to be completely rusted through, so a new one was built; but the wire rope was so badly corroded it just fell off, and to date this has not been replaced. The tractor still has its original lights, except that the headlight had to have a new glass fitted. The tinwork was in need of a complete rebuild. This was a task Mike undertook himself, and a close inspection of a new bonnet, wings front end reveals a near factory finish.

After a while, the tractor was painted, but then it was all stripped down to be repainted again. This all took time but was worth it when the finished tractor was ready to be taken to a couple of local rallies. However, back home she was parked up in the shed, for I suspect Mike had another one up his sleeve to restore!

Those of you who think this is the end of this story, think again! For Mike received a phone call from a lady asking if the Marshall was going to attend a local rally. He told the lady that he would not be going, then asked why. She explained that her husband was the one who drove the tractor in the first place for the Mitchells! He was not at all well at this time and would love to see her again, she added.

So Mike, along with his wife Joanne and two young children, in September 2003 loaded her up again, took her back to Perranporth where she originally started from. When they arrived, the Joleff family were all there as well as the Mitchell family for the ‘homecoming’. The tractor was offloaded, started up, then Mr Joleff climbed aboard and drove her around the field – just like he did more than 60 years ago.