THE LATE MR. ROBERT TASKER
Our obituary column for the last week contained the notice of the decease of Mr. R Tasker, who has for some years resided at Upland Place, Newbury.

The deceased was well known in the neighbourhood as a gentleman of considerable property. He is stated to have commenced business as a village blacksmith at Abbott's Inn, near Andover, and his industry and skill enabled him to develop a small business into a very large one.

He was the original proprietor of the Waterloo Iron Works, Andover, which he built, and he was for many years well known as a maker of agricultural implements, and the inventor of several improvements in them. The fortune he amassed in business is a remarkable instance of success achieved by intelligent and steady industry.

Retiring from business in 1836, he subsequently resided in Winchester and Southampton, and at the latter place he became connected with some mining operations, by which he unfortunately lost a considerable sum of money.

Since his residence in Newbury, Mr. Tasker has on several occasions contributed munificent donations to the Primitive Methodist cause, with which he was identified. He was buried on Saturday last, in Newbury Cemetery.

THE LATE MR. ROBERT TASKER
The will and six codicils of Mr. Robert Tasker, formerly of Upper Clatford, Hants, but late of Newbury, Berks., were proved on the 17th inst. By Henry Albert Loscombe and William Tasker, the nephew, the executors, under £25,000.

The testator bequeaths to the Andover British school £40 for the Chapel belonging to the independence at Abbots Ann £16 for the benefit of the independent Chapel at Andover £19 19s; for the primitive Methodist Society at Newbury £40; for the Wesleyan missionary society at Newbury £19 19s;  for the Baptist missionaries Society at Newbury £19 19s; for the congregation of independents at Newbury £19 19s; for the Newbury branch of the temperance Society £10; for the Newbury branch of the Bible Society £19 19s . The interest of Mr Tasker in various chapels and charges on others were disposed of for the benefit of those chapels prior to Mr tasker's death there were six codicils appended to the will.

OCTOBER'S meeting of the Andover History and Archaeology Society featured a talk by Gary Wragg on the Milestones museum at Basingstoke and the Tasker collection which is housed there. Gary began by giving a brief overview of the accepted Tasker history -how the journeyman blacksmith Robert Tasker joined Robert Maslem at Abbotts Ann in about 1807, set up the Waterloo Ironworks at Anna Valley in 1813 and later brought both his brother William and his brother-in-law George Fowle into the business. The Waterloo foundry prospered and thrived throughout the 19th centu-ry and was the market leader in advanced farm
machinery and tools. Locally, the well-known bridges of cast iron over both the Ladies Walk and the River Anton at Upper Clatford have been famous landmarks for over 150 years. It was Henry Tasker who initiated the manufacture of steam-powered machines at the ironworks after being apprenticed to Clayton and Shuttleworth of Lincoln in the 1860s and over the following 50 years many versions of traction engines were produced. Notably, the Little Giant of 1904, which was suc-cessful and the Joseph Bramah Diplock engine of 1893 which was not. Many of these engines spent years doing sterling work across the agricul-tural counties of England before production petered out in the 1920s as new developments left Taskers behind. The last traction engine was produced in 1924 and the final steamroller in 1926 and was built for Watson and Haig in order to carry out road repair. Inevitably much of Taskers' output was eventually scrapped but in the 1950s managing director Arthur Fuller tried to collect together the then extant engines and he was successful in acquiring 23 of them and these were stored at the foundry. However, with the takeover of the works by Cravens Industries Ltd in 1968, the collection was put up for sale and a good proportion was bought by the county with a long term view to restoring and displaying the collection in some sort of permanent home. It took many years of negotiation but eventually a site was offered free at Basingstoke where it was envisaged that not only the Tasker Collection but also similar artefacts produced by both Thorneycrofts and Wallis and Stevens could be put on display. Thus began a long period of work as the project evolved into what is now know as the Milestones museum. A small team, which included Gary, worked long hours for many years sourcing either genuine fixtures and fittings or, where none existed, repro-ducing the shopfronts, streets and furniture that
would create the period look in order to effectively display the machinery. Granite cobbling and metal windows came from the old Reading bus station, tram track came from Blackpool and platform furniture came from Chesil railway station to fill out the 7,200 square metres of space that Milestones encompassed. Manikins gave life to the displays and all the shops were copied from genuine buildings. The streets themselves were always intended to be imaginary; a representa-tion of what a Hampshire town might have looked like during the different period settings. Since its opening Milestones has been a tremendous success and owes its existence to Gary Wragg and his team who have worked way beyond the call of duty to create both a wonderful representation of Hampshire history and a fitting home for the Tasker Collection.