Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies Limited was a major British agricultural machinery maker also producing a wide range of general engineering products in Ipswich, Suffolk including traction engines, trolleybuses, ploughs, lawn mowers, combine harvesters and other tilling equipment. Ransomes also manufactured Direct Current electric motors in a wide range of sizes, and electric forklift trucks and tractors. They manufactured aeroplanes during the First World War. Their base, specially set up in 1845, was named Orwell Works.

Ipswich is a large port town and borough in the county of Suffolk, England. Ipswich is the county town of Suffolk and is the largest settlement in the county, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds. It is situated in East Anglia. Ipswich is the second-largest population centre in East Anglia, Norwich being the largest. It is about 80 miles (130 km) northeast of London. In 2011 it had a population of 144,957. The Ipswich built-up area is the fourth-largest in the East of England region and the 42nd-largest in England and Wales. It includes the towns and villages of Kesgrave, Woodbridge, Bramford and Martlesham Heath.