In 1854 Frederick Garner Beckett established the Atlas Works foundry and machine shop; by 1861 the Works were being operated by F. G. Beckett & Co., manufacturing steam engines, metalworking machinery and sawmill machinery among other products. The business survived until at least 1873 but seems to have been been already out of business in 1881 when the Works were renovated to become a cotton mill. In 1889, Mr. Beckett partnered with Joseph H. Killey to establish the Killey-Beckett Engine Works in Toronto.

From 1865 A. S. Irving's Toronto Directory

Information Sources

• November 1864 The Journal of the Board of Arts and Manufactures for Upper Canada reports on prizes awarded at the Nineteenth Annual Exhibition of the Agricultural Association of Upper Canada, Hamilton, September 27-30, 1864, including "Best Engine, steam, stationary, five horse power and upwards, in operation, Geo. Northey, Hamilton, $25; 2nd do., F. G. Beckett & Co., Hamilton, $15."
• Lovell's Canadian Dominion Directory of 1871 lists this firm as "BECKETT F. G., & CO., manufacturers of locomotives, marine, portable and stationary steam engines, boilers and saw and grist mill machinery, cor McNab and Simcoe". There is a separate entry for Frederick G. Beckett of F. G. Beckett & Co.
• The 2001 book Hamilton Harbour 1826-1901, by Ivan S. Brookes, and available online, describes events from various years:
  • 1854: "On the subject of machinery, a new foundry and engine works was being erected on James Street North at the corner of Simcoe Street, occupying some two acres. The principals in this organization were Frederick Garner Beckett,Henry Beckett Sr.,Henry Beckett Jr. and Samuel Beckett, who had come from Manchester. Their plant, which would proudly bear the name "Atlas Works" over its main entrance, consisted of a number of substantial brick buildings. There was a foundry, 100 x 40 ft., machine shop, 3 stories, 120 x 50 ft., finishing dept., 2 stories, 50 x 36 ft., boiler shop, 2 stories, 170 x 50 ft., blacksmith shop, 80 x 36 ft. and a combined wood and pattern shop of 2 stories, 120 x 40 ft. Power was supplied by two 35 horse-power engines and it was expected that about 120 men and boys would be employed."
  • 1861: "There was much news In the papers concerning the oil business in Enniskillen Township with its boom towns of Oil Springs and Petrolia. This was of interest, not only to those who shouldered a pick and shovel and boarded the train for Wyoming Station, or those who were engaged in the work of refining the crude, but also, as time went on and it became necessary to pump the crude out of the ground, to the engine-builders of Hamilton who turned out many stationary horizontal engines for this purpose. F. G. Beckett & Co., especially, did very well in this line of business."
  • 1864: "Yesterday afternoon, we had the pleasure of witnessing the launch of Capt. Walsh's new ferry steamer, the PRINCESS OF WALES. There were about three or four hundred people present. She is a neat and beautifully, built vessel and reflects great credit on the builder, Mr. A. LeClaire of Hamilton. She measures 120 feet in length, 25 feet over the guards and 8 feet deep. The engine and boiler have been made by F. G. Beckett & Co. of Hamilton."
  • 1865: "Messrs. F. G. Beckett & Co. received some publicity in the Hamilton Spectator in August, when a reporter visited the engine and boiler works on James Street North. Their specialty at the time was the portable engine much in demand by saw mills and oil wells, and the plant was turning out four per week."
  • 1867: "Her engine, built by F. G. Beckett & Co. measures 32"x 32" and she has a return-tube boiler 17 ft. long and 8 ft. in diameter."
  • 1868: "F. G. Beckett & Co. were building a low pressure beam engine, 24 x 96" , for the steamboat NIPISSING, being built at Muskoka Wharf for A. P. Cockburn, by Robt. Robertson of Kingston... Andrews' Shipyard at Port Dalhousie launched the hull of the steam barge DROMEDARY on Tuesday, 25 August, for David Steele of Hamilton. The mortgage was held by D. Butters & Co. She measured 120.0 x 22.5 x 10.6 and had a gross tonnage of 460, net 359. She was towed to Hamilton for the fitting of machinery by F. G. Beckett & Co."
  • 1870: "D. P. Lavallee was building a hull in the yard behind. F. G. Beckett & Co.'s foundry, which seemed an awkward place for this sort of project, especially when Beckett did not intend to put the machinery in until the hull was afloat." Later, it quotes the Hamilton Spectator of 1870-05-12: "Men are busy at work moving Mr. Beckett's new steamer from the works on MacNab Street, down to the water. The operation is a most tedious one, and three days will probably be spent in getting her down. The capstan, which furnishes the motive power, broke yesterday morning so it was necessary to go to work and make a new one. The name of the vessel will be ONTARIO and she will be propelled by a screw. Her engine will be put in when she is in the water. Her weight, without machinery, is 40 tons."
  • 1871: "On the 11 May, readers of the Spectator were informed that F. G. Beckett & Co. had purchased "a very commodious and fast-sailing steam yacht called NEW ONTARIO, to be used for excursion parties during the summer. She arrived here on the 9th and is now lying alongside the ONTARIO's wharf... F. G. Beckett & Co. were building a low pressure beam engine, 24 x 96" , for the steamboat NIPISSING, being built at Muskoka Wharf for A. P. Cockburn, by Robt. Robertson of Kingston."
  • 1872: "The CANADA's machinery was built by F. G. Beckett & Co. and her hull measurements were 142.1 x 23.9 x 13.0, Gross 624 and net tonnage 40... F. G. Beckett & Co. stated in the Hamilton Spectator on the 7 June, that they had leased Martin's Wharf on the Beach and that their steamer ONTARIO would be the only vessel going to that point. This was later proved to be a bluff to keep the ARGYLE, or any other vessel, away.... An accident which filled the papers for some time occurred on the 1 July at the Beach. Late in the afternoon, the flimsy jerry-built structure known as Martin's Wharf collapsed under the weight of the holiday crowd and several small children were drowned. The inquest, with Capt. Thomas Harbottle as foreman of the coroner's jury, dragged on for some time and brought to light the fact that F. G. Beckett & Co. had no exclusive rights to the wharf. Mrs. Martin, the owner, stated she had signed no lease with the Becketts, or anyone else."
  • 1873: "The engine and boiler for this little vessel, which had been named MAGGIE, were being built by F. G. Beckett & Co."
  • 1881: "The former Beckett Engine Works was, at this time, being rebuilt and enlarged for use as a cotton mill."
  • 1888: "The compound engine was built by F. G. Beckett & Co. and had cylinders 14 & 24 x 20"
  • 1890: "The chain had been sent to Burlington to be welded and the Killey Beckett Engine Works in Hamilton was making new castings for the aprons."
  • 1893: "On the 11 September, J. H. Larkin was preparing to launch his new steam-launch MASONIC, which measured 63 ft. in length by 10'6" beam. Her engine was built by Killey, Beckett & Co. in Hamilton."
  • 1894: "While bound up the Lake from Oswego to Hamilton with coal, the schooner DAUNTLESS,Capt. J. T. Mercer, sprang a leak off Braddock's Point on the 5 August. She finally completed the voyage and unloaded 270 tons of coal, mostly wet, at Murton's Wharf. The schooner was owned jointly by F. G. Beckett of Hamilton and Capt. Mercer. Her value was given as only $l,000... During 1894, two steam launches were built in Hamilton. These were the LIZZIE and the ATHENA. The former was built by W. & A. Johnston and measured 71.0 x 12.5 x 4.6; 16 tons and was powered by a HP 10 x 10" engine said to be built by Wm. Johnston. The ATHENA was built by Wm. Johnston and her dimensions were 57.5 x 9.6 x 5.8, 14 tons and she was fitted with a steeple compound engine 8/13 x 10, built by the Killey Beckett Engine Works in Hamilton."
  • 1896: "Melancthon Simpson had been building a steam yacht for Messrs. Long & Bisby of Hamilton and she was launched on the 11 June. Her name was NYMOCA and she was 60 feet long by 12 feet beam. Her hull was B.C. pine and she was propelled by a compound engine built at Copp Bros. machine shop, under the supervision of F. G. Beckett."
  • 1899: "On the 21 March, word was received of the death of Frederick Garner Beckett at Englewood, N. J., where he had been staying since shortly after the new year. He was the founder of F. G. Beckett & Co., manufacturers of engines, boilers and other machinery and the plant was situated on Simcoe Street. It occupied the entire block from James St. to MacNab St., a site later used by a cotton mill. In 1889, Mr. Beckett entered into a partnership with Joseph H. Killey and they operated the Killey Beckett Engine Works at York and Bay Sts. He was a promoter of the mountain access road which became known as Beckett's Drive and he was interested in the Brantford & Hamilton Electric Railway project."
• A genealogy page on Frederick Garner Beckett shows that he was born 1831-03-23 in Middlewich, Cheshire, England, and died about 1899-03-21 in Englewood, NJ. Elsewhere on that site it provides an undated advertisement. "F. G. Beckett & Co., / Engineers and Machinists, / Manufacturers of Stationary / and portable steam engines, / of every variety. / Pile Drivers, Hoisting Machines, Pumps, Sawing Machinery, Cranes, &c., &c.....Smithwork and Repairs at shortest notice. / Simcoe St., West of James St., near the G. W. Railway."
• September 1899 Canadian Electrical News.

  THE LATE JOSEPH H. KILLEY.—A PROMINENT citizen of Hamilton and a well known engineer passed away on August 10th, in the person of Mr. joseph H. Killey.

  Deceased was born in Castletown, Isle of Man, on April 24th, 1827. From his earliest years he had a great love of machinery. His parents purchased for him the work “Lardner on the Steam Engine,” and this he mastered before he was twelve years old. At the age of fourteen he constructed a crude model engine and boiler. He went to Liverpool to learn the foundry business, and after five years entered the Vulcan Iron Works, owned by a cousin of the late W. E. Gladstone. Mr. Killey afterwards became foreman of a large foundry, and later mechanical manager and partner in the Windsor Machine Works, near Liverpool. In 1864 he came to Canada, obtaining employment with F. G. Beckett & Co., of Hamilton, and later became foreman of the St. Lawrence Foundry Co., Toronto. Then he was appointed engineer of the steamer Rothesay Castle, afterwards becoming engineer of the gunboat Prince Albert. After serving for three years on this boat, he built an oscillating and marine engine and boiler for the composite steamer Adelaide Horton.

  Mr. Killey then established a business in a small way in the city of Hamilton, but it gradually increased to an important engine building concern. In 1870 the business was conducted under the name of H. Killey & Co., and in 1884 it became the Osborne-Killey Co. For some years after the winding up of this company he was associated with the late F. G. Beckett as the Killey-Beckett Co., manufacturing engines on a somewhat large scale. Among the machinery constructed by Mr. Killey were the pumping engines at Hamilton beach and the engine at the Asylum. For the past fiVe years he has not been engaged in active business.