H. A. Purnell

H.A. Purnell, Engineer, 305, Parliamentary Road.—

    Mr. H. A. Purnell is the son of the Mr. H. Purnell who, under Mr. Geo. Haden (the original founder of the business in Edinburgh, in 1837), founded the above establishment in the year 1841. On the death of the founder of the Edinburgh business, the two businesses were combined by Mr. Purnell, who died in 1872, since which it has been carried on by the present proprietor, Mr. H. A. Purnell. It is the oldest establishment of its class in Scotland.

    Mr. Purnell is an engineer, and manufacturer of low and high pressure warm water and warm air apparatus, for churches, gentlemen’s mansions, hot-houses, &c., and for drying, steam cooking, washing, and bathing works. He has a branch establishment in St. Andrew Street Lane, Edinburgh. The business is a very extensive one, and the connection very widespread and of a most superior character. Mr. Purnell has executed some of the most important work in the hot-water engineering line which were ever undertaken in Scotland, Ireland, or the north of England, and he enjoys great celebrity in his profession. It would be very difficult to give anything more than a very brief account of his successful achievements, but we may state that he has executed work for institutions of all kinds, public and private, large and small ; for churches and chapels, schools, banks, warehouses, theatres, police stations, prisons, factories, hotels, gentlemen’s mansions and other places innumerable, where hot water or steam heating has been adopted. In all cases Mr. Purnell accomplished his task to the satisfaction of the parties concerned, and in a way which added to his own reputation.

    The premises in Parliamentary Road cover an area of 550 square yards, and they are most admirably planned and arranged for the special requirements of his business, and the workshops are fitted up with all the plant and machinery requisite for conducting the trade. There is a large and valuable stock of machinery kept at the establishment, and specimens of Mr. Purnell’s patent water engines, and patent warm water apparatus, &c., are likewise to be seen there. He regularly employs a large number of trained and experienced mechanics, and his business is worked upon the most honourable and straightforward lines.

Back to Index of Firms (1888)