Of simple design and construction, this strange little lathe has, for its size, an enormous centre height. As one of the boxes accompanying it carries UK Government markings, that may be a slight clue as to its origins. Unfortunately, although the box does appear to be fitted out to take the lathe and its collet set, there is no proof that the pair started life together.
One strange aspect of the design is the use of a 3-step headstock pulley machined to take an unnecessarily thick belt. As the considerable centre height would have invited the fitting of large-diameter jobs requiring slower speeds, within the same space a 4 or even 5-step pulley could have been fitted, the deep gap below the largest diameter pulley inviting this to be made very much bigger and the required slower revolutions so obtained..
On the theme of this being a government-sponsored job, might it have been a an attempt to produce a simple but effective watchmakers lathe for use in instrument factories during WW2? Attractive those this explanation might be, it runs up against the fact that already in production was the splendid BTM, the ROFB (made in the Royal Ordnance Factory in Birtley), the well-known Pultra and possibly the IME as well..