The dial is rather nice for a low end lathe top-side. In the era that appears to be from you’d be lucky to get any sort of topside dial on a bottom of the range small machine.
Basic layout and construction certainly has a more shaper-ish air than lathe top-slide. Agree the overall design and construction is on the weak side, whether shaper or lathe. If it is lathe it’s not terribly clear exactly how it fixes to the cross slide. T slot is unusual on a British low end machine. Looks as if one side of the slot has been got at too.
Strange.
Clive