Family Donate Model Mill Engine  

The family of an engineering enthusiast from Barnsley has kindly donated his model mill engine to Huddersfield Society of Model Engineers in the hope that his skills can help to continue to inspire interest in steam power for future generations. 

Maynard John Wildgoose, ‘Jonny’ to most (1906 – 1994), originally from Matlock, was fascinated with the engineering that surrounded him growing up in post-Victorian Britain. The mark of industrial Britain went on to dominate his career and his hobbies.   

After leaving school, and as public transport shifted from tram to bus, Jonny became a bus driver. In his role he met his wife to be, Gladys May Earley, originally from Dukinfield, who was working in service at the time in Matlock.   

The couple married in 1932 and moved to Barnsley in 1935 where Jonny continued his career as a bus driver for Yorkshire Traction. Model engineering dominated Jonny’s spare time, and he spent many lost hours in his own, no tool or machine missing, workshop in the cellar of their home in Park Grove, Barnsley.  

During his life in Barnsley, Jonny was a member of Barnsley Model Engineers in the Pogmoor area of the town. The passion, skills and knowledge that he developed here, at home and at work, are present within the standard of his work. The only other known example of his work remains on display at Worsborough Mill Museum, Barnsley. 

Jonny’s Great-Grandson, Martyn Richardson, has been custodian for the model since his passing in 1994. During this time, it has remained a talking point for the family as well as spending some time on display at the National Coal Mining Museum for England (NCMME).  

Martyn, a Trade Unionist and a University of Huddersfield History Alumni has lived in Huddersfield since 2013. He emigrates to Southeast Asia in early 2026 and wanted to ensure that his family heirloom. that he has had since a young child, is well looked after and appreciated by fellow enthusiasts. 

Both Jonny and Martyn are pictured here on a visit to another family member’s workshop in Driffield, East Yorkshire c. 1990. (Colour photo) 

(Black & white photo with a friend in his workshop) 

Happy memories of a genuinely really great, Great-Grandad! RIP.