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Dealer Show Stands Rare photographs of a Ferguson dealer’s stands at country shows

A selection of Ferguson tractors, including TE-D20 models, one of which is fitted with a Scottish Aviation cab (despite Henderson manufacturing its own cab for the tractor), can be seen in this view of Geo. Henderson’s stand at a Royal Highland Show. Two Ferguson implements on show are the single-furrow reversible plough (T-AE-28) and the Hammermill (H-LE-A20). Also on view are two front loaders for the Ferguson, while in the background is what appears to be a Massey-Harris combine. Reference to IH is made at the back of the stand and samples of wire and sheep netting are fitted to the stand’s uprights.

Hendersons Heyday of

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A cache of old photographs relating to Geo. Henderson, once one of Scotland’s largest farm machinery dealers, notably for Ferguson, and a sizable manufacturer too, has just come to light. Pete Small has been busy identifying the products and places shown in the pictures

I t was one of those fi nds that you dream about, but rarely get off ered – a cache of old farm machinery photographs. When Ross Yeaman, a keen vintage enthusiast from Coupar Angus in Perthshire, was off ered some old farm machinery photos by an ‘agrijumble’ dealer, he snapped them up, without really knowing much about the company that featured prominently in them.

The photos related to the one-time Ferguson and Massey Ferguson dealer Geo. Henderson. Ross has kindly allowed Heritage Tractor to publish some of these fabulous images. They span an era from the

1930s up to the early 1960s and show many of Geo. Henderson’s stands and displays at local events.

The business was originally established in 1884 by George Henderson of Kelso, who initially supplied iron and steel, as well as specialising in metal for horse shoes. By 1908 the founder’s eldest son James had joined the business, which was working out of a shop in Horsemarket in the Borders market town of Kelso. A foundry in the town was purchased in 1913 and new offi ces were built next door in East Bowmont Street. At the end of the Great War George’s youngest son Tom joined the business. George died in 1925, by which time the business was trading in farm machinery as well as iron and steel nails and fencing wire.

In 1936 the company took on the agency to sell the new Ferguson Type A tractor, making it Scotland’s fi rst Ferguson dealer, although it is likely that it was already selling International Harvester equipment. The founder’s second son, Stamford, joined the business in 1937 when it became a limited company. The collapse of the German economy in the inter-war years resulted in many fi rms selling off assets for cash. James Henderson went to Germany to purchase a nail-making machine, and he duly built a dedicated factory on the Spylaw Road to produce nails for the Scotch whisky industry, which used them to make packing crates.

ABOVE: A Ford-Ferguson fitted with Bower wheel strakes and carrying a Wigton-shire registration can be seen outside Geo. Henderson’s Stranraer branch. The tractor is fitted with lighting that suggests it is a 9N. The unknown service van has a Roxburghshire registration but seems to be assigned to the Stranraer depot.

BELOW INSET: The stores department of Geo. Henderson’s Kelso branch was well-stocked with a whole host of agricultural products, including Black & Decker power tools, Swift poultry feeders, Wolseley electric fencing equipment, tins of agri-chemicals and Snowcem. Many will remember the L-shaped counter and the bell to summon service. “In 1936 the company took on the agency to sell the new Ferguson Type A tractor”

In 1939 the fi rm built a new foundry next to Kelso railway station, freeing up the old foundry in the town for the manufacturing of machines such as turnip scarifi ers, cutters and corn grinders. The old foundry was also used for tractor servicing and repairs, which

RIGHT: Items of sales literature for equipment built by Geo. Henderson. The Henderland plough leaflet is tatty but rare.

“An important part of the business was producing castings of non-original wearing parts”

by the time of the Second World War had become increasingly important.

Another important part of the business was producing castings of non-original wearing parts for ploughs, cultivators and ridgers. It also resulted in the Henderland Plough, which may have been on a Henderson constructed frame, or Henderland bodies fi tted to another more common frame.

The mechanisation of farms during the Second World War led Geo. Henderson to open an East Lothian branch at Kingston, near North Berwick, in 1942. In 1962 this branch was relocated to Haddington. Branches were also opened in the south west of Scotland at Stranraer and Whithorn. Stranraer became very important as the ferry port for Northern Ireland where a great many Ford Ferguson tractors came ashore. As Geo. Henderson was heavily involved with Ford Ferguson a depot at their entry point on to the mainland was very useful.

The Edinburgh branch moved from Forth Street to Gorgie Road close to the capital’s livestock mart complex. The new site had offi ces, workshops and stores. A branch was also opened at Belford in north Northumberland during this period. At some point the Edinburgh branch opened a small factory at Peterhead in the north-east of Scotland to manufacture barrel hoops for the export of herring to Russia.

Aft er the Second World War ended Geo. Henderson began to handle the new Ferguson tractors built at Banner Lane in Coventry, along with all the dedicated items of Ferguson System equipment. At this time, the dealership was still off ering International Harvester equipment, but this arrangement came to an end probably aft er the Massey-Harris buyout of Ferguson in 1953.

Geo. Henderson continued to sell Massey Ferguson equipment very successfully alongside its own range of machines.

ABOVE: In this view of a Geo. Henderson stand it is possible to pick out one of the company’s Jubilee thistle cutters at the front alongside fencing wire, troughs feed bins and hay hakes. There is also a turnip cutter, a Petter A Type engine and an IH 10/20 tractor. ABOVE: A packed Geo. Henderson show stand, the high point of which is a wind pump tripod rick lifter. On the ground, the Waverley manure distributor was made at Kelso and, more interesting for tractor enthusiasts, an IH 10/20 tractor. Geo. Henderson must have been selling IH tractors and equipment before it began handling the Ferguson Type A tractor.

A post-1953 Royal Highland Show stand promoting Ferguson and Massey-Harris. At least one tractor is a TE-F20 while a Ferguson three-ton trailer (F-JE-A30) is placed next to a Whitsed root harvester. A Massey-Harris combine harvester and a Massey-Harris Dickie hay turner are also on show alongside some of Henderson’s own products. BELOW: This pre-war Highland Show picture depicts a busy Geo. Henderson stand with all types of implements and farming sundries. Implements include a Tumbling Tam hay collector, Henderson Jubilee thistle cutters and Waverley fertiliser distributors, along with some of the company’s feed kits and wire netting.

ABOVE: An early Ferguson tractor at work planting potatoes with the early type of Ferguson planter. It has the openings for the seed potatoes to be picked and dropped down the chutes at the front of the hopper, as opposed to the more common side openings. Note the closed centre patterned tyres on the tractor.

RIGHT: A Peter Standen sugar beet harvester at work behind a Ferguson tractor. This looks like it may be a demonstration event and a Fordson E27N and trailer sit on the headland. The eastern region covered by Geo. Henderson was a big beetgrowing area, with the crop being destined for Scotland’s only processing factory at Cupar in Fife. ABOVE: This 1950s picture shows Geo. Henderson’s stand at a Royal Highland Show. Two Ferguson tractors are visible: the one on the left is hitched to Henderson’s turnip cutting cart, while the one on the right, fitted with Ferguson Tyre Tracks A-TE-113, is hitched to a Henderson scarifier. On the back wall is some of the non-original plough metal made by Henderson. LEFT: Geo. Henderson sold both IH and Ferguson equipment for a period of time. This picture dates from the late 1940s and was probably taken at the Border Union Show at Kelso. IH products include a crawler, wheeled tractors, a seed drill and a binder under a cover. An unknown manure spreader sits behind the seed drill while on the far side are several early Ferguson TE-20s. They appear to be Continentalengined models with solid wheel centres.

Henderson equipment

1 TURNIP CUTTER 3 CATTLE CRUSH

One of Geo. Henderson’s turnip cutters powered by what appears to be a Lister D engine. The cutting blades are sitting out from the frame so that wheelbarrows can be filled underneath.

2 TURNIP CUTTER

An example of one of Geo. Henderson’s range of turnip cutters. The type shown is likely to have been used in fields where turnips were lifted and cut for feeding the sheep on the ground, such as lambing ewes in springtime. The chain allows the cutter to be pulled to a new area when needed. It is set quite low, making it easier to load, possibly from a cart or trailer. A studio image of a Geo. Henderson cattle catching crate (crush). After the war, when brucellosis and TB testing became more common, these were ideal for administering treatment to a restrained animal. The crates, which were also useful for de-horning or clipping cattle, could be carried on a tractor three-point linkage.

4 SCARIFYING HOE

A catalogue shot of a four-row Geo. Henderson scarifying hoe fitted to a Ferguson tool bar. This was used for cleaning drills (rows) of turnips and sugar beet; the turnip types usually had diablo wheels to follow the ridges.

3

ABOVE: Possibly taken at the Border Union Show held at Springwood Park, Kelso, this picture shows several MF 35 and 65 tractors. One 65 is fitted with a loader and there is a 35 with a Victor Stormguard cab. Other items on the stand include an MF 735 combine, 711 potato harvester, and 721 fertiliser spreader. At the rear of the scene is an MF 788 combine.

ABOVE: This Royal Highland Show view features an industrial MF 205 backhoe loader alongside a Massey Ferguson 35 with Victor Stormguard cab and a Henderson cutting cart. In the centre is a Henderson two-row scarifier, behind which is a selection of Henderland plough metal. The signage on top shows all the various branches of the business.

The firm branched out into farmingrelated electrical engineering and undertook the installation of grain dryers and grain bins, as well as offering a range of garden machinery.

The company held the Massey Ferguson franchise until 1986. In 2001, the directors of the business, which included two of the founder’s great grandsons, decided to restructure Geo. Henderson, a move that led to the sale of several depots and the formation of Henderson Grass Machinery. This dealership now operates from sites at Haddington, Selkirk and Kinross, selling a wide range of agricultural, horticultural and amenity equipment.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Our thanks to Bob and Alasdair Henderson, Ross Yeaman and Duncan Robertson.

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