In 1868 A. R. Williams joined the firm of Thomas, Muirhead & Co., operators of the Oxford Foundry in Beachville, Ontario, situated between London and Brantford; the firm became Thomson & Williams. They manufactured agricultural equipment and steam engines. In 1875 the engine and boiler portion of the business was relocated to Stratford as the Thomson & Williams Mfg. Co., Ltd. Upon being offered financial incentives by the town, they moved the rest of their manufacturing to Stratford later in the same year. They became known for making large engines and were successful for a time until the business was dissolved in 1883.

Meanwhile, in 1877 L. A. Morrison began a machinery brokerage business in Toronto. In 1881 the business was acquired by A. R. Williams, who gave this venture his full attention as Thomson & Williams Mfg. Co. was wound down. While that was happening the business of the Soho Machine Works on Esplanade Street in Toronto was in financial difficulty and in 1884 or 1885 A. R. Williams acquired the Soho Works. Williams used the Soho Works' machine-shop facilities to rebuild machinery for resale. This machinery rebuilding business was successful and Williams expanded aggressively until they were located in all the major eastern Canadian cities by the 1890s; they would expand westward in the coming decades.

In 1895 or '96 Williams reorganized as the A. R. Williams Machinery Co., and by 1901 it had become A. R. Williams Machinery Co., Ltd. Much later, in 1955, they were acquired by Scottish machine-tool conglomerate Staveley Iron & Coal Co., which would eventually change its own name to Staveley Industries. By the 1970s A. R. Williams had offices in Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, and Victoria. In 1984 the Alberta operations were acquired by Arnie Charbonneau and those operations were incorporated as A. R. Williams Materials Handling Ltd.

None of the above would be of much interest to this website, which is focused on manufacturers rather than distributors and retailers. However, we have seen several machines, including a large bandsaw and a large jointer, with the Williams name cast into them; the bandsaw also had an A. R. Williams plate on it. Although A. R. Williams Machinery were a dealer, they may have manufactured the above-mentioned machines as they had the machining capabilities in-house and could have farmed out the castings.

Many of the Williams-branded metalworking machines we have seen were made by the London Machine Tool Co. A. R. Williams advertised heavily in Canadian Machinery during World War I; most of the ads made clear the true maker of the featured product. One ad features the "Williams turret lathe" with the Williams name cast into it, and presumably this was a machine made by or for A. R. Williams Machinery Co.

From 1916-10-12 Canadian Machinery

During World War II, and likely for longer, the Brantford-based Williams Tool Corp. of Canada, Ltd. was an A. R. Williams subsidiary manufacturing a full line (16 models) of shell lathes as well as presses, milling machines, pipe and bolt threading machines, chucks, vises, and bench grinders. More research is needed to determine the years of operation of Williams Tool Corp.

Manufacturers Represented by A. R. Williams

Based on machines we have seen in addition to articles and ads listing authorized distributors, the following companies are believed to have been represented by A. R. Williams. This list is far from complete.

• Canada Machinery Corp., Ltd., Galt, ON. This successor to MacGregor Gourlay continued to use A. R. Williams as a reseller.
• Major Harper & Son, Whitby, ON. From the late 1800s until 1917 this firm's Eclipse and New Eclipse planer-matchers were sold under the A. R. Williams brand.
• London Machine Tool Co., London, ON. In 1889 this firm's metalworking machinery was distributed exclusively through A. R. Williams.
• MacGregor, Gourlay Co., Galt, ON. A. R. Williams began in 1879 as an agent for this firm (actually, for MacGregor Gourlay's predecessor, Cant, Gourlay & Co.). We have seen numerous machines from Cant Gourlay and MacGregor Gourlay that carried an A. R. Williams name plate.
• D. McKenzie Machinery Co., Guelph, ON. A. R. Williams had an especially close relationship with this firm: at one time T. A. Hollinrake was simultaneously president of both firms.
• Standard Modern Lathes, Inc., Toronto, ON. In 1955 Scottish conglomerate Staveley Iron & Coal Co. acquired both Standard Modern and A. R. Williams.
• Waterous Engine Works Co., Brantford, ON.
• Zucker & Levett & Loeb Co., New York, NY. A polishing and grinding arbor from this exceedingly obscure maker has been seen with a plate for A. R. Williams & Co.
• W. F. & John Barnes Co., Rockford, IL. In 1919 A. R. Williams advertised that they carried in stock a complete line of Barnes drilling machines. (We originally identified this ad as being for drills from Barnes Drill Co., but that firm was only making geared-head drills and the ad shows a belt-drive machine.)
• E. W. Bliss Co., Brooklyn, NY.
• C. C. Bradley & Son, Inc., Syracuse, NY.
• South Bend Lathe Works, South Bend, IN. A. R. Williams was a reseller.
• W. F. Wells, Inc., Three Rivers, MI. We have seen a horizontal bandsaw from this firm also bearing an A. R. Williams plaque.

Information Sources

• 1885 book History of Toronto and County of York, Ontario, Volume II, pub. C. Blackett Robinson, Toronto.

  A. R. WILLIAMS carries on at 36 and 38 Melinda Street the busines of manufacturers' agent and machinery broker. The business was established in 1877 by Morrison Bros., who were succeeded by Mr. Williams in 1883. He deals in all kinds of wood and iron-working machinery, both new and second-hand, handles all the iron-working machinery made by the London, Ont., Machine Tool Company, consisting of iron lathes, planes, drills, milling machines, et. In woodwork machinery he is agent for Cant, Gourley & Co., of Galt, and in shingle machinery for Goldie & McCulloch, also of Galt. He keeps a full line of machine supplies, consisting of French band saw blades, band saw files, planer knives, "Sweetland lathe chucks," twist drills, taps, dies, etc. He also holds the Toronto agency for J. C. McLaren's oak-tan leather belting, which was awarded the only medal in 1883. An important feature of the business is the exchange of machinery—new for old and vice versa. An extensive import business is done on special lines of machinery not manufactured in Canada. Mr. Williams has lately purchased the Soho Machine Works in front of the Union Depot, on the Esplanade, whither he is about to remove.

• 1886 book A Cyclopedia of Canadian Biography, Volume 1, edited by George Maclean Rose, pages 492 and following.

  Thomson, Robert, of the firm of McDonald & Thomson, millers, Woostock, Ontario, was born in Roxboroughshire, Scotland, in 1833. He is a son of Andrew and Agnes (Bass) Thomson... Our subject's father was a millwright... In 1847 he [the father] removed to Beechville, and began business for himself as millwright and engineer, continuing in the same until 1856, when he, together with the subject of this sketch, and the late James Muirhead, of London, established a foundry under the firm name of Thomson, Muirhead & Thomson, and afterwards known as the "Oxford Foundry." In 1859 Mr. Thomson sold his interest to Robert Whiteland, then foreman of machinists in the shop, and now of Woodstock...

  Robert Thomson received a common school education...He then entered the shops of his father in Beechville to learn the millwright and engineer business, and continued as journeyman there until 1856, when he became a member of the firm of Thomas, Muirhead & Co., in the Oxford foundry. In 1860 he rented the interests of the other partners, and carried on the business himself. In 1863 he removed to the town of Mitchell, where he purchased the foundry of the late William Smith, registrar of the County of Perth, where he commenced the manufacture of agricultural implements in connection with his mill work.

  In 1868 he took into partnership A. R. Williams, now of Toronto, when the firm became Thomas & Williams, and was one of the best known manufacturing houses in Ontario. In 1874 the firm arranged to divide their business, removing the engine and boiler department to the town of Stratford, under the name of the Thomson & Williams Manufacturing Company, Limited. They erected large shops, but owing to slack business and oppression in trade did not occupy the premises until 1875, when the town offered a bonus if they would bring all their works to Stratford. Accordingly, in the fall of the same year, they removed their shops thither, and commenced business with the subject of this sketch as president. They carried on a most extensive business, turning out some of the largest engines in Canada, among which might be mentioned that for Park & Sons, woollen mills, St. John, N. B., and also for the new Cotton Company of the same city; for the Merchants' Cotton Company, Montreal; besides numerous other immense engines in all parts of Canada, they have sent mills and machinery from Halifax to Vancouver Island. In the fall of 1883 the company dissolved, and the property was sold to George T. Smith, of the Purifier Company, Michigan...

• 1887-03-05 Electrical Review page 9. "The American Company have recently established a general agency in Canada under the management of A. R. Williams, the machinery agent of Toronto, Canada."
• 1887-08-27 Electrical Review page 13. "The AMerican Electric Manufacturing Company are shipping considerable quantities of apparatus into the Dominion. Mr. A. R. Williams, of Toronto, Ont., has sold a number of plants, and has just ordered a 25 light dynamo machine and lamps from the American Company to use as an exhibit in the coming Provincial Exhibition to be held in Toronto next month."
• 1891 book Toronto, Old and New.

  About the year 1840, three bright young mechanics from the Soho Machine Works at Belfast, Ireland, established the Soho Machine Works, Toronto. After passing through three or four ownerships, the establishment, which is located on the Esplanade, east of the Union Station, came into the hands of the present proprietor, Mr. A. R. Williams. The chief work done by this enterprising house is the refitting of machinery in connection with his brokerage machine business. The brokerage department was commenced in 1877 by Mr. L. A. Morrison, and was acquired by Mr. Williams, in 1881. It now covers all the important lines of machinery used in the manufacture of wood and iron, together with power of different classes and appliances used in connection with machinery. Local agencies have been established in all the important commercial centres, and a large staff of travelling salesmen keep the establishment fully supplied with orders.

• A website with photographs of abandoned Toronto industrial sites has some lovely photographs of the 'A.R. Williams Machinery Company, Liberty Street Plant', near King & Strachan. This building is quite popular with photographers, and numerous photos can be found online by doing a search for "A. R. Williams Machinery".
• The Barkerville Historic Town Library and Archives, in Barkerville, BC, has an archive of correspondence from Cariboo Gold Quartz Mining Co., Ltd. Included is correspondence between CGQ and A. R. Williams Machinery Co. of Vancouver. The correspondence dates from Dec. 1932 through July 1933.
• An entry in the Photo Index shows a Clark & Demill jointer that also has an A. R. Williams plaque on it—Williams was the retailer, and given the fraction of Clark & Demill machines that have an A. R. Williams plaque on them, Williams was a major dealer for them.
• A history of the Vancouver-based Beedie Group mentions that they bought woodworking machinery from A. R. Williams Machinery in the mid-1940s.
• A 1970s catalog from A. R. Williams Co. lists their locations: "Halifax, Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver, Victoria".
• An online resume says that the person had been an inside sales representative for this company, 1979-1980.
• McMaster University, in Hamilton, ON, has an archive of Copp-Clark correspondence that includes "agreements and correspondence" with A. R. Williams Machinery; the material dates from 1911-1914.
• Thanks to correspondent Mike Loader, who communicated to us the results of his research on the history of A. R. Williams. "The change from Soho Machine Works to A.R. Williams Machinery Company happened circa 1895-1896... The 1895 and earlier Toronto directories list Soho Machine Works on the Esplanade run by A.R. Williams but from 1897 and onward Soho is gone and A.R. Williams Machinery Co. on Front Street is listed. The 1896 directory is unavailable so I can't nail it down further... Also, you don't have a date for when he acquired Soho Machine Works but I believe it to be around 1884-1885 since he's listed as the owner in the 1885 directory and the data was typically 6 months old by then. There's an 1883 newspaper piece on Soho being closed due to financial trouble and various newspaper ads afterward with a trustee selling equipment but I couldn't find a piece on his acquiring it."
• Seen on eBay: a 12-page WW2 era catalog from Williams Tool Corp. of Canada, Ltd., featuring their lineup of single-purpose shell lathes. The last page of the catalog lists their other products manufactured.