Civil engineers, Architects, etc

The arrangement is alphabetical (surnames beginning):

Note: there are 45 articles written by Mike Chrimes, Librarian of the Instiution of Civil Engineers in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: the majority relate to key civil engineers associated with the railway industry.

 Steamindex home page

Arrol, Sir William
Marshall: Born Houston, Renfrewshire, on 15 (13 in ODNB) January 1839 and died in Ayr on 20 February 1913. Civil engineering contractor and bridge builder. He was the son of Thomas Arrol, a cotton spinner. William started work at 14 with a Paisley blacksmith . After several years as journeyman smith he obtained employment in 1863 with Blackmoor & Gordon of Port Glasgow. By the age of 29 he had saved £85, half of which he spent on a boiler and engine, and in 1868 started a small works of his own near Glasgow. This prospered and in 1871 he began the Dalmarnock Works. He had added bridge building to his work and his first contract was on the Caledonian Railway's Hamilton branch, including a multi-span bridge over the Clyde at Bothwell. {is this fully correct?}. The CR then entrusted him with the first portion of the bridge over the Clyde at Glasgow in 1875. Two years earlier Arrol had undertaken construction of a railway suspension bridge over the Forth to designs by T. Bouch. Work began but, after the Tay Bridge collapse on 28th December 1879, the project was stopped and a new cantilever design was produced by John Fowler and Benjamin Baker for which Arrol was again given the contract. In the meantime he constructed the NBR bridge over the South Esk on the Arbroath to Montrose line, gaining experience which became useful when he built the second Tay Bridge, designed by W.H. Barlow. This was begun in 1882 and completed in 1887; the longest R bridge in Europe. The Forth Bridge was begun in 1882 and completed in 1890. For his work Arrol was knighted by Queen Victoria. While engaged on the Forth Bridge. Arrol was also busy with the steelwork for the Tower Bridge in London. Besides these Arrol constructed the Redheugh Bridge, Newcastle, three bridges over the Nile at Cairo, the Queen Alexandra Bridge, Sunderland (1909), the Scherzer lifting bridge at Barrow, and the second section of the Clyde bridge into Central Station, Glasgow. ODNB biography by Michael S. Moss..

Surnames beginning "Ba"

Baker, [Sir] Benjamin
Marshall: Born Keyford, Frome, Somerset on 31 March 1840 and died in Pangbourne, Berks, on 19 May 1907. He was civil engineer and designer of the Forth Bridge. Educated Cheltenham Grammar School. Between 1856 and 1860 was apprenticed to H.H. Price at Neath Abbey Ironworks in Wales. In 1860 he went to London as assistant to W. Wilson on the construction of Grosvenor Road railway bridge across the Thames, and Victoria station. In 1861 he joined the staff of John Fowler and became his partner in 1875. From 1861 he was engaged with Fowler on the Metropolitan (Inner Circle) line in London, and the St John's Wood extension. In 1869 he became Fowler's chief assistant on the construction of the District Railway from Westminster to the City. With Fowler, Baker was consulting engineer for the first of the London tube railways, the City & South London, opened in 1890, and with J. H. Greathead they were joint engineers for the Central London tube, opened in 1900. In the construction of this Baker put into effect a scheme he had suggested 25 yrs earlier of making the line rise in entering a station and dip on leaving it to reduce braking and starting power. Fowler and Baker undertook many overseas works including railways in Australia and Souhern Africa. In England Baker was responsible for docks at Avonmouth and Hull, in association with Sir James Wolfe Barry. In 1877 Baker designed the wrought iron cylinder used to transport Cleopatra's Needle from Egypt to London arriving, after being lost at sea, in 1879. From 1869 he was engaged with Fowler on the Nile dams in Egypt. Following the Tay Bridge disaster in December1879 (see T. Bouch) Baker designed the great cantilever bridge to span the Firth of Forth which was begun in 1883 and opened on 4th March1890. In the same year Baker was knighted. (See also W. Arrol and Fowler). Elected AICE 1867, Member 1877, FRS 1890. Also MIME. ODNB entry by W.F. Spear revised and organised by Mike Chrimes.

Baker, William
William Baker was probably born on 19 May 1817 and died about 20 December 1878. Eventually Chief. engineer of the LNWR. Between 1834 and 1839 he was articled to George Watson Buck, engineer, then engaged on the London & Birmingham Railway between London and Tring. In October1837 Baker went with Buck to work on the Manchester & Birmingham Railway, completed in 1842. Later he became engineer of the MSJ&AR, at the same time being engaged on the Shrewsbury & Birmingham and Shropshire Union Railways, opened in 1849. Baker was then appointed engineer of the Stour Valley Railway, Birmingham to Wolverhampton, and whilst there, in 1852, he was appointed by the LNWR as engineer of the Southern Division to succeed R. B. Dockray. On the death of Robert Stephenson in 1859 Baker was appointed chief engineer of the LNWR. Works carried out under his supervision included the Runcorn Bridge; stations at London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Preston, Bolton, Crewe, Warrington and Stafford; widening works, and many miles of new lines. In addition he acted as consulting engineer to the West London Extension Railway from 1859 to 1863; the North London Railway between 1863 and 1866; and was engineer to various railways built jointly with the LNWR. In Ireland he was responsible for the construction of the Dundalk, Newry & Greenore and North Wall Extension Railways (satelite actvities of the LNWR). Elected MICE .1848.

Baldry, James Danford
Baldry was born in London sometime in 1816 and died in France on 10th February 1900 aged 83. He had been articled to Edward Lomax and later entered into the service of Joseph Cubitt. From 1848 to 1852 he was assistant engineer for the construction and maintenance of the East Lincolnshire Railway. In 1853 he joined staff of John Fowler, and was engaged on constructing the Oxford, Worcester & Wolverhampton Railway. From then until 1881 he worked with Fowler, taking charge of many large engineering works, including the Severn Valley Railway, Craven Arms-Much Wenlock Railway, Coalbrookdale line, and the Isle of Wight Railway. In 1881 he became a partner of Fowler and Benjamin Baker . Became MICE 5. December. 1865. ( Marshall.). Obituaries: Min Proc ICE V 143 1900 1 p 309; Engg V 69 23.2.1900

Barber, E.S.
Engineer Monmouthshire Canal & Railway Co. until 1848: devised a tramplate and wheel that could be used on both trams and edge rails. Rutherford Backtrack, 2008, 22, 368..

Barlow, Peter William
Brother of William Henry (below): born Woolwich 1 February 1809 and died in London on 20 May 1885. (Marshall). Author of paper on atmospheric railways. Improver of the shield methods of tunnelling and lining tunnels with cast iron segments: system was exploited on Tower Subway under the Thames. See Charles E. Lee Railway Magazine Volume 89 page 331.

Barlow, William Henry
Born in Woolwich on 10 May 1812 and died Greenwich on 12 November 1902. (Marshall). First Engineer of the Midland Railway and had been Resident Engineer of the North Midland Railway, and before that of the Midland Counties Railway. Held the post until 1857. Parkhouse, N. Bridge improvements on the Midland in the 1880s. Rly Archive, 2004 (8), 43. Excellent concise biography: Backtrack, 2006, 20, 404. Mike Chrimes: excellent ODNB entry (with portrait).

Behr, Fritz Bernhard
Pioneer of monorail systems: from 1885 he tok over the Lartigue railway interests outside France. Born Berlin on 9 October 1842. Educated in Paris and then trained as an engineer in Britain, firstly as a pupil to Wentworth Shields and Sir John Fowler. In 1876 he became a naturalised British subject. He died on 25 February 1927. Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41. and Tucker, D.G.. F.B. Behr's development of the Lartigue Monorail: from country crawler to electric express. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1983/4, 55, 131-49. Disc.: 149-52.

Bidder, George Parker
Born in Mortonhampstead on 14 (13 according to ODNB) June 1806 and died in Dartmouth on 20 September 1878. Brilliant child mathematician. Civil engineer who worked with Robert Stephenson (who clearly exploied Bidder's remarkable calculating ability) on the London & Birmingham Railway. Designed the swing bridge over the Wensum in Norwich. In later life became involved in the flow of water. Marshall. See also ODNB biography by H.T. Wood, revised E.F. Clark

Bouch, [Sir] Thomas
According to Marshall born in Thursby, Cumbria on 22 February 1822. Burton calls Bouch "the hapless designer of the Tay bridge [who ended] his life in disgrace. With a year of the disaster he was dead, broken in body and spirit. [at Moffat on 30 October 1880]. His crime was to cut his costs to the limit..." He was also responsible for the graceful Deepdale and Belah viaducts on the South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway. He had been knighted by Queen Victoria on 26 June 1879. His brother, William, was Locomotive Engineer of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. The sole remaining reminders of Bouch's endeavours are the stumps of the old Tay Bridge and some of the girders incorporated into the newer structure. One of the greatest might-have-beens was Bouch's Forth Bridge..

See biographical feature by Earnshaw Backtrack (5 p232)

As innovator of train ferries (Granton to Burntisland) see Bruce: Backtrack, 2001, 15, 40.

Surnames beginning "Br"

Brandreth, Thomas Shaw

Brassey, Thomas
Major railway builder. Born Bruerton, Cheshire on 7 November 1805; died St Leonards on Sea on 8 December 1870 (John Marshall). See for instance: Anthony Burton: The railway builders. 1992 and David Gilks' feature on Locke in Backtrack, 2005, 19, 496. Neil Parkhouse in a reviw of an "interesting aside for most historians", namely Tom Stazcey's Thomas Brassey (Archive, 2005, (48), 52) notes that Charles Walker's Thomas Brassey, railway builder remains the standard work. David Brooke: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography..

Brennan, Louis
Irishman from Galway: inventor of gyroscopically-controled monorail: information from Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41; and references therein

Brereton, Robert Pearson
Born on 4 April 1818 into a Norfolk family. Died 1 September 1894. Worked for Brunel on Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash and on Cornwall Railway. Dates from Wikepedia.

Bretland, Arthur
Chief Engineer Midland Great Western Railway. See Andrew Dow: Steam Wld, 2007 (237), 26 et seq

Brotherhood, Rowland (or possibly Roland)
Son of William Brotherhood, who was a contractor on Sonning Cutting (see Backtrack, 2008, 22, 317: letter from Michael R. Bailey) and wass thrown from his horse and killed whilst performing preparatory workds for Wharncliffe Viaduct. His son Rowland took over these works and worked well with Brunel. In 1842 he established a works at Chippenham to supply the railway industry and between 1857 and 1867 locomotives were manufactured thereat. Rowland was born in Middlesex in 1813 and died in Bristol on 4 March 1883. See Leleux Brotherhoods.

Bruce, [Sir] George
Born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 1 October 1821 and died in St Johns Wood, London on 25 August 1908. Engineer of the Royal Border Bridge at Berwick. Winner of Telford Medal. Most of work performed in India. Consulting engineer. See Marshall and ODNB entry by W.F. Spear revised by Ralph Harrington.

Bruff, Peter Schuyler
Born Portsmouth (Baptised Portsea on 23 July 1812); died Ipswich 24 February 1900 (Marshall). Civil engineer and manager for Eastern Union Railway which linked the depths of East Anglia with London. Also responsible for other railways and civil engineering works in East Anglia. Published Treatise on engineering fieldwork in London: Simpkin Marshall, 1838 (BLPC). Ellis's chapter on the development of railway engineering in Singer notes that Bruff was the inventor (and patentee) of fish-plates. See Moffat, Hugh. East Anglia's first railways: Peter Bruff and the Eastern Union Railway. 1987

Brunlees, [Sir] James
Born Kelso 5 January 1816, died Wimbledon 2 June 1892 (Marshall). Outstanding civil engineer: notable works with which he was associated included the viaducts across the Leven and Kent estuaries, the Mersey Railway; the Solway Viaduct and the Mont Cenis Railway. Mike Chrimes has written an excellent biography for the ODNB..

Buck, George Watson
Resident engineer on some of the sections of the London & Birmingham Railway and responsible for training William Baker and Robert Jacomb-Hood (from other Marshall entries!). Responsible for Stockport Viaduct (M.C. Reed).

Surnames beginning "Ca"

Carpmael, Raymond
Chief Civil Engineer, Great Western Railway. Member of the Indian Pacific Locomotive Committee, but may not have pulled his weight according to Cox Locomotive panorama v. 2.

Surnames beginning "Co"

Collins, A.J.
Chief Engineer Cambrian Railways from January 1898. Previously with L&YR and NER; also some time spent in Australia.

See G.A. Sekon. Rly Mag 3 313-28.
C.C. Green's Cambrian Railways portrait page 58 called him "Collin" without terminal "s"

Colson, Henry
Engineer of the Monmouthshire Railway & Canal Co. from 1848 until sacked: drew up specification for locomotive supplied by Grylls. See Rutherford Backtrack, 2008, 22, 368.

Cowper, Edward Alfred
Born London 10 December 1819; died Weybridge, Surrey on 9 May 1893. Biography by Ronald M. Burse in ODNB, but noted by Foster as serious omission from DNB. Apprenticed John Braithwaite:for seven years. In 1837 he invented the detonating fog signal for railways and this was used on the London & Croydon Railway. In 1841 he joined Fox & Henderson where he invented a method for casting railway chairs, and was involved in the cast iron roof for Birmingham New Street. He was involved in the design work for the Crystal Palace. In association with C.W. Siemens he designed the  hot-blast stove for steelworks. The wire-spoked bicycle wheel is not mentioned by Burse:. see Foster Trans Newcomen Soc., 1967, 40, 147.

Crossley, John Sidney
Born Loughborough 25 December 1812 and died Barrow on Soar on 10 June 1879. Marshall includes an extensive biography. See also Neil Parkhouse (Rly Archive, 2004, (8) 43) who notes that he was Engineer of the Midland Railway between 1857 and 1875, a period which included the Settle & Carlisle Line.

Surnames beginning "D"

Dalrymple Hay, Sir Harley Hugh
Marshall records that was born in Bengal on 6 October 1861 and died in  Chorley Wood on 17 December 1940. He was educated privately in Edinburgh and by army tutors. He was articled as pupil to the chief engineerr of the MR, working on sections of line in South Wales. He then entered the drawing office of the LSWR. In 1894 he was appointed resident engineer on the Waterloo & City Rilway. This was the start of his long connection with tube railways, for which he devised a new type of shield which was an improvement on that of W R Galbraith. Experience he gained on the Waterloo & City line was utilized in the construction of the Bakerloo, Harnpstead and Piccadilly lines, now a part of the London Underground system. He was also consulting engineer to the 2ft gauge Post Office underground Railway completed in 1928. After WWl he undertook an extensive programme of station reconstruction on the surface works of the London Underground system. This included the replacement of many lifts with escalators, and the provision of large sub-surface circulating areas. Some of these works, particularly at Piccadilly, involved much alteration of sewers and other services. He was awarded the Telford Gold Medal for his paper of the Waterloo & City tube. ODNB biography by A.Y. Dalrymple-Hay, revised by Mike Chrimes.

Dargan, William
Born near Carlow in Queen's County (Leix) on 28 February 1799. Died in Dublin on 7 February 1867. Worked under Telford on Shrewsbury to Holyhead Road. In 1831 he worked on Dublin & Kingstown Railway, then on Ulster Canal, and Dublin & Drogheda Railway. He organized the Dublin International Exhibition in 1853 and the Irish National Gallery was built as a monument to him. See Marshall and Rutherford: Backtrack, 2001, 15, 652 et seq.who calls him one of Ireland's greatest benefactors. ODNB biography by G.C. Boase, revised by Mike Chrimes..

Dixon, John
See Marshall

Donkin, Bryan
Born Sandoe near Hexham on 22 March 1768 and died in London on 27 February 1855. Eminent scientist (FRS) and civil engineer. Co-author of ICE paper on locomotive trials on GJR. Newcomen Society paper presumably written by a relative. ODNB biography by Roger Lloyd-Jones.

Donkin, Bryan junior
Son of John Donkin, 1802-1854, (and grandson of Bryan Donkin): born in London on 29 August 1835. Educated University College, London and École Centrale des Arts at Métiers in Paris. Became interested in cylinder jacketing and superheaters and devised glass appartus to inspect interior of cylinders. Died Brussels on 4 March 1902. ODNB biography by Mike Chrimes.

Doyne, William Thomas
See Horne Backtrack 13 296

Dredge, James
Born Bath 29 July 1840; died Pinner 18 August 1906. Civil engineer who worked with D.K. Clark and John Fowler (with latter on Metropolitan Distrct Railway). Succeeded Zerah Colburn as Editor and eventual proprietor of The Engineer. See Marshall and ODNB biography by W.F. Spear revised Ralph Harrington.

Druitt, E.
Lt. Col. in Royal Engineers who conducted the accident enquiry into Quintishill disaster of 22 May 1915. See Nock's Historic railway disasters (portrait p. 287)

Surnames beginning "E"

Earle, John B.
Resident engineer Leek & Manifold: portrait in Lindsey Porter's Leek & Manifold Valley Light Railway. 2002. Also one locomotive named J.B. Earle..

Edgeworth, Richard Lovell
Irish aristocrat who won Royal Society of Arts Gold Medal for development of railways and/or trains. Possible claimant to the inventor of the "train" for carrying loads across soft ground on wooden railways. See letter by Foulkes in Backtrack Volume 10 page 165, and feature by Rutherford in Backtrack Volume 10 beginning page 33 actually on page 34.

Ellson, George
Born Ripley, Derbyshire on 2 June 1875. Educated Ripley College. Apprenticed at Butterley Co. and studied at Nottingham University College. In 1896 appointed draughtsman at E.C. & J. Keay, but in 1898 moved to Engineering Dept of SECR. In 1923 became Deputy Chief Engineer of Southern Railway and succeeded A.W. Szlumper as Chief Engineer. Retired in 1944: died Seaford 29 September 1949. Involved in the vast electrification works and in train ferry terminal at Dover. Marshall. In addition he had a major influence on steam locomotive design, following the Sevenoaks accident where he considered that pony trucks were at fault: see for instance: H.A.V. Bulleid Bulleid of the Southern..
Contribution to Other's paper
Cox, E.S. of locomotive reciprocating parts. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1943, 33, 221-2. (Paper No. 432)
A class 5 locomotive was deliberately slipped on greased rails at a speed equivalent to 100 mile/h to establish the effect of coupled wheel lifting at speed. This paper was also published in Proc. Instn mech. Engrs, 1941, 146 148-62 and J. Instn civ. Engrs, 1941/42, 17, 221-50. Ellson (219) commented upon the Merchant Navy class which had been designed without balance weights and to experiments conducted on the a member of the two-cylinder H15 class from which the balance weights had been removed. He also commented upon the Raworth electric locomotive.

Errington, John Edward
Marshall records born in Hull on 29 December 1806 and died in London on 4 July 1862. Civil engineer, associated with Locke, Training received on public works in Ireland, then worked on railway surveys in England under Padley. He was then engaged by Rastrick on plans for Grand Junction Railway on which he met Joseph Locke, where Errington became resident engineer. He then took charge of the Glasgow, Paisley & Greenock Railway, opened in 1841, and Greenock Harbour works. Further work with Locke as joint engineer on the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway, the Clydesdale Junction Railway, Scottish Central Railway; Scottish Midland Junction, and Aberdeen Railway, later these lines became part of the Caledonian Railway. In 1856 he began work on the Yeovil-Exeter section of the LSWR, which he completed shortly before his death.

See also David Gilks' feature on Locke in Backtrack, 2005, 19, 496 and Biddle's Britain's historic railway buildings.

Surnames beginning "F"

Findlay, [Sir] George
Born at Rainhill on 18 May 1829 whilst father was engaged on construction of skew bridge over Liverpool & Manchester Railway. Eductaed at Halifax Grammar School whilst father working on Halifax branch of Manchester & Leeds Railway. Then worked under his brother James for Brassey in construction of Trent Valley Line. Marshall gives a long list of works for which he was responsible in his own right. In 1864 he became Goods Manager of the LNWR and in 1880 General Manager. See Reed The London & North Western Railway. Knighted in 1892. Author of The working and management of an English railway (Ottley 3737, etc and Supplement 6583 for reprint with Introduction by Jack Simmons). Son Robert briefly Locomotive Superintendent Belfast & Northern Counties Railway. The ODNB entry by E.I. Carlyle revised by Ralph Harrington. notes that "In his later days Findlay was the most prominent figure among railway managers in Britain. He had an admirable talent for organization and direction, and was capable of intense labour".

Fitzgibbon, Abraham Coates
Born Lilworth, County Cork in 1823. Worked as assistant engineer on several Irish railways, and then as agent for William Dargan. Engaged by Charles Fox to report on Illinois Central Railroad, where he must have seen timber versions of Pratt and Howe trusses, Then went to Ceylon and New Zealand before becoming chief engineer to Queensland Railways in 1863. where extensive use was made of Pratt trusses. Sir Charles Fox was the London agent for the QR.

See Horne Backtrack 13 296

Fowler, [Sir] John
Marshall: Born Sheffield on 15 July 1817 and died Bournemouth on 20 November.1898. His major engineering achievements were the Metropolitan Railway and the Forth Bridge. He was educated privately and trained under J.I. Leather, engineer of Sheffield waterworks; then under J.U. Rastrick on the London to Brighton Railway. In 1839, under Leather, he became resident engineer on the Stockton & Hartlepool Railway, on the completion of which in 1841 he was appointed engineer, general manager and locomotive superintendent. In 1844 he set up for himself as a consulting engineer in London and was engaged on lines east of Sheffield which became part of the MS & L. During the Railway Mania Fowler took an active part with the numerous bills then before Parliament.

He designed the Pimlico bridge, completed in 1860, the first railway bridge over the Thames in London. In 1860 he became enginerr of the Metropolitan Railway, an exceedingly difficult project involving the underpinning of buildings, and the diversion of sewers and other services. For this he designed a fireless 2-4-0T, known as Fowler's Ghost, but it was not a success. Zerah Colburn (Plate 36) also credits John Fowler with the 4-4-0T design. The first section of the Metropolitan Railway was opened on the 9th January1863. Of the 13 mile Inner Circle line Fowler was responsible for the construction of over 11 miles and also over 4 miles of branches. In 1869 he advised on railways in Egypt, and in 1870 in India.

In 1875 Fowler took into partnership Benjamin Baker and together they designed the Forth Bridge, the greatest railway bridge in the world. (See also W. Arrol) It was begun in 1883 and opened on 4th March1890. Fowler and Baker were consulting engineerss for the first London tube Railway, the City & South London opened in 1890, and with J. H. Greathead they were joint engineers for the Central London tube railway opened in 1900.

On 17th April1890 Fowler received a baronetcy and retired soon after. He became MIME in 1847, the year the Institution was founded, and MICE in 1849 and was President in 1866-7. On 2nd July1850 he married Elizabeth Broadbent of Manchester and they had 4 sons.

Very good reproduction of illustration of him with William Gladstone on inspection train on Metropolitan Railway: p. 95: Christopher Awdrry's Brunels' broad gauge railway. See also Appendix 13 in Vaughan's Railwaymen..ODNB biography by Mike Chrimes..

Sources: DNB 22 Supplement pp 658-60; Mackay, T., Life of Sir John Fowler. 1900.

Fox, Sir Charles
Charles Fox was born in Derby on 11th March 1810 and died Blackheath, Greater London on 14th June 1874. He was a civil engineer and contractor. He was the youngest of four sons of Francis Fox, MD. When 19, Charles abandoned medical training for engineering and was articled to John Ericsson of Liverpool, working with him and J. Braithwaite on the Novelty locomotive, which entered the Rainhill trials. His abilities attracted Robert Stephenson who, in 1837, appointed him as one of the engineers on the London & Birmingham Railway where Fox was responsible for the Watford tunnel and the incline down from Camden Town to Euston. He presented an important paper on the correct principles of skew arches before the Royal Institution. He then entered into partnership with the contractor Bramah upon whose retirement the firm became Fox, Henderson & Co, specialising in railway equipment: wheels, bridges, roofs, cranes, tanks and permanent way materials. The firm was responsible for many important station roofs including Liverpool Tithebarn Street, 1849-50, and Bradford Exchange, 1850, Paddington and Birmingham New Street. In 1850-1 the firm erected the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition, and later dismantled it and reerected it on Sydenham Hill. For this Fox was knighted (together with Joseph Paxton and William Cubitt) on 22 October1851. From 1857 Fox practised in London as a civil and consulting engineer, and in 1860 took his two sons Charles Douglas and Francis into partnership: Sir Charles Fox & Sons. Fox made a special study of narrow-gauge railways and in conjunction with G. Berkley he built the first narrow-gauge line in India, and later built narrow-gauge lines in other parts of the world. But he was opposed to breaks of gauge where avoidable, and recommended first reduced axle loads, second reduced weight of structures and third reduced speeds, in that order, to achieve economies. His works included the Medway bridge at Rochester, three bridges over the Thames, a swing bridge across the Shannon in Ireland, a bridge over the Sahône at Lyons and many bridges on the GWR. Railways upon which he was engaged included the Cork & Bandon, Thames & Medway, Portadown & Dungannon, East Kent, Lyons & Geneva (eastern section), Macon & Geneva (eastern section) and the Wiesbaden and Zealand lines in Denmark. He was engineer to the Queensland; Cape Town; Wynberg (Cape of Good Hope) and the Toronto 3ft 6in gauge lines. Fox & Sons instigated the complex scheme of bridges at Battersea for the LBSCR, LC & DR and LSWR and the approach to Victoria Station, London, including the widening of the bridge over the Thames. Fox was MICE and for many years a member of the council of the IME. He was an original life member of the British Association, member of the RSA and a fellow of the Royal Asiatic and Royal Geographical Societies. He was noted for his urbanity and generosity. Marshall.. ODNB Biography by Robert Thorne.

Fox, [Sir] Charles Douglas
Eldest surviving son of Sir Charles Fox. Born Smethwick on 14 May 1840 and died in London on 13 November 1921. Educated King's College School and King's College, London then articled to father. Upon the death of his father the firm became Sir Douglas Fox & Partners. Major works included Mersey Tunnel, Hawarden Swing Bridge, Liverpool Overhead Railway, Snowdon Mountain Railway. southern part of Great Central London Extension, and early tube lines in London. Author of several ICE papers. Marshall... ODNB Biography by Ralph Freeman.

Fox, Francis (b. 1818)
Born in Plymouth on 12 September 1818. Died in Teignmouth on 13 March 1914. Educated at Friends' Schools at Croydon and Sidcot. In October 1835 became pupil of Edwin O. Tregelles. In 1839 assocaited with Cornwall Central Railway project. In 1846 joined Brunel as assistant engineer on South Wales Railway. In 1854 appointed engineer of Bristol & Exeter Railway. Resigned when BER taken over by GWR, but GWR placed specific works under his care, such as the Weston-super-Mare Loop. Marshall....

Fox, Francis (b. 1844)
Son of Sir Charles Fox: born at Bellefield, near Birmingham on 29 June 1844. Educated Cavendish House School and Brighton College followed by pupilage under his father. Became a partner in the firm on the death of his father when firm became Sir Douglas Fox & Partners. Major works included Mersey Tunnel (with James Brunless, Hawarden Swing Bridge, Liverpool Overhead Railway, Snowdon Mountain Railway. southern part of Great Central London Extension, and early tube lines in London and Simplon Tunnel where he gained experience of rack railways which aided the Snowdon project. HHe was a deeply religeous man and it is appropriate that his expertise saved Winchester Cathedral from possible collapse. He contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica. He died in Wimbledon on 7 January 1927.Not in Marshall: excellent biography in ODNB by Mike Chrimes..

Fox, Samson
Born at Bowling, near Bradford on 11 July 1838. Died Walsall 24 October 1903. Apprenticed Smith, Beacock & Tannett. He established a tool making business in Leeds and in 1874 established the Leeds Forge Co. Ltd.  He designed corrugated fireboxes for marine boilers and in 1887 and 188 took out patents for pressed steel frames for railway freight wagons. In 1888 he started a works at Joliet, near Chicago, which he later sold. He helped to finance the Royal College of Music in 1883 and was three times mayor of Harrogate. Marshall..

Froude, William
Born at Dartington parsonage on 28 November 1810. Died in Simonstown, on 4 May 1879. Educated at Westminster School and Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated BA with first-class honours in mathematics in 1832. His tutors were his eldest brother, Hurrell, and John Henry Newman, who together with I.K. Brunel were, he wrote, the greatest influences on his life. He worked on the survey for the South Eastern Railway in 1833 as a pupil of the engineer Henry Palmer. In 1837 he joined the staff of Brunel, when he managed the last section of the Bristol to Exeter line. He demonstrated his ability by developing a new design of skew bridge, a mathematical approach to reducing the sideways force on a train entering a curve, and a theory of the expansion of steam. In 1856 Brunel persuaded Froude to undertake a study of rolling in waves. This led to his 1861 paper to the Institution of Naval Architects which provided the first correct theory of the behaviour of a ship in a seaway. Over the next decade gaps in his theory were filled and empirical methods developed for the solution of aspects where the mathematics were too difficult. This work was enthusiastically followed by the Admiralty and influenced the design of subsequent warships; it also led to Froude's election in 1870 as a fellow of the Royal Society. It marked the beginning of a partnership with Brunel's second son, Henry. In 1869 Froude was a member of a British Association committee to improve estimates of the power required to drive a ship. The committee's report recommended a number of full-scale trials but Froude dissented, reporting the results of a series of tests of three models, of different scale, representing two very different ship forms, the Swan and the Raven. These tests showed firstly that there was no universal optimum form, as was generally believed; Raven was better at low speeds, Swan at the highest speeds. He also demonstrated that, when tested at the corresponding speed (now defined as the Froude number), the resistance per unit immersed volume of the three models of each form was the same and hence it should be possible to obtain ship resistance from models tests; this is now known as Froude's law. Froude's approach, which was opposed by most engineers of the day, was validated by an elaborate trial in 1871, in which HMS Greyhound was towed and her resistance measured over a range of speeds. He proposed to Edward Reed, chief constructor of the navy, that a special tank should be built close to Froude's house at Chelston Cross, Torquay, in which models could be run and their resistance measured accurately so as to develop improved hull forms for the navy. He offered his own services free to superintend the work. His proposal was approved in February 1870: the tank was 270 feet long, 38 feet wide at the water surface, and 10 feet deep. The model, shaped in paraffin wax, was drawn along the tank by a carriage running on rails, which was itself pulled by an endless rope, worked by a steam engine. A dynamometer on the carriage recorded speed, resistance, and the trim of the model. This was the first ship tank and there were innumerable problems in developing apparatus, including governors to ensure that the model ran at a constant speed, but by May 1872 the tank was operational. The first task was to obtain data on frictional resistance, which had to be treated differently from the remaining residuary resistance. In 1873 Froude designed a dynamometer which would measure the performance of model propellers both in isolation and in the disturbed flow behind a ship. This machine gave good service until 1938 and later became the centrepiece of the Froude's Museum. He was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Society in 1876 and received the degree of LLD from Glasgow the same year. From ODNB biography by David K. Brown and Andrew Lambert

Fulton, Hamilton Henry
His father, Hamilton Fulton, had been State Engineer to South Carolina, but returned to England where his son was born in 1813. The father train trained the son as a civil engineer. He worked on the Newcastle & Carlisle Railway and in 1846 set up his own practice in London. He was involved in many major projects including Penge Tunnel, the Ryde to Ventnor line, and the Manchester & Milford Railway. He was also involved in three major paper projects: a bridge across the Severn Estuary, a similar endeavour across the Mersey and a tidal Manchester ship canal. Marshall states that he died on 10 August 1886: this invalidates what Marshall states about James Szlumper (when Marshall implies Fulton's death being in 1861).

Surnames beginning "Ga"

Galbraith, William Robert
Marshall states that born Stirling 7 July 1829 and died in London on 5 October 1914. Educated Stirling Academy and Glasgow College. In 1846 he was articled to John Errington and worked in the London office and on railways in England and Scotland, including the Aberdeen Railway; the Scottish Central Railway; LNWR (Crewe-Shrewsbury) and LSWR. From 1855 Galbraith was mainly employed on LSWR extensions west of Yeovil. On the death of Errington in 1862 he was appointed engineer for new works on the LSWR with supervision of parliamentary business. He built most new LSWR lines during the next forty years in Middlesex, Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall and, with his partner and former pupil R F Church, branches promoted independently and later acquired by the LSWR, to Swanage, Chard, Seaton, Sidmouth, Ilfracombe and the extns from Exeter to Okehampton, Plymouth and Devonport, Holsworthy and the North Cornwall Railway to Bodmin and Padstow. In 1892 the LSWR became owners of Southampton docks which were greatly extended under Galbraith's supervision. Between 1880 and 1890 he was consulting engineer to the NBR in charge of parliamentary work. He also laid out and built the NBR Inverkeithing & Burntisland and Glenfarg lines in continuation northwards from the Forth Bridge and he prepared and carried out parliamentary plans for the alteration and enlargement of Waverley station at Edinburgh. From 1892 he was engineer with Greathead and later Alexander Kennedy on the Waterloo & City Railway and with Benjamin Baker and R.F. Church on the Bakerloo line, and with Douglas Fox on the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway, altogether 14 miles of tube railways. He retired in 1907.

Surnames beginning "Gr"

Graham, George
Long serving Engineer to the Caledonian Railway. Subject of a Railway Magazine (1, p. 411) Illustrated Interview: He started the first CR train from Carlisle to Baettock when a young man on Locke's staff and had been the Engineer of the CR since 1853. He had started in the mechanical engineering works of Robert Napier in Glasgow and had worked on Cunard engines, but his health failed when he went to Annandale to recover and in 1845 started to work for Locke. He noted the difficulties experienced in surveying. Amongst the new lines completed under Graham were the lines to Lesmahagow and Strathaven, the Gourock extension and the bridge over the Clyde into Glasgow Central.

Greathead, James Henry
Born Grahamstown, Cape Colony, 6 August 1844; died Streatham, London, 21 October 1896. Civil engineer who invented the Greathead tunnelling shield. In 1859 he went to England to complete his education and in 1864 began a 3 year pupilage under Peter W. Barlow (qv), followed in 1867 by a year as assistant engineer on the Midland Railway's extension from Bedford to London under W. H. Barlow (qv) and C. B. Baker (qv). At about this time his former master Peter W. Barlow was proposing a system of underground railways in London in tubes lined with cast iron segments. In 1869-70 Greathead worked with Barlow on the pioneer scheme, the Tower Subway under the Thames. The difficulties encountered by Marc Brunel (qv) in building the Thames Tunnel at Wapping were such that 26 years later no contractor was willing to undertake the Tower Subway. Greathead, then only 24, tendered for the construction of the shafts and tunnel for £9400, devising a cylindrical wrought iron shield forced forward by 6 powerful screws as the material was excavated in front of it. In 1870 Greathead began to practice on his own account and in 1873 he returned to railway construction.1873-7 he was resident engineer on the Hammersmith extesion railway and the Richmond extension of the Metropolitan District Railway. About this time he devised plant for tunnelling under the Thames at Woolwich in water-bearing strata, incorporating an air lock in the front of the shield to act as a trap to prevent loss of air in the event of a blow in the strata. It was insufficiently tried and the tunnelling attempt, at a lower level without its use, was abandoned in 1876. He assisted in the preparation of several projects: Regents Canal Railway, 1880; Dagenham Dock, and Metropolitan Outer Circle Railway, 1881; a new London-Eastbourne line, 1883; and various light railways in Ireland in 1884. Also in 1884 Greathead was engaged as engineer on the London (City) & Southwark Subway, later called the City & South London Railway, begun in 1886 and opened 18.12.1890, the world's first electrical underground railway. In 1884 he patented further improvements in his shield. In 1888 he became joint engineer with Sir Douglas Fox (qv) on the const of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, opened in 1893. With W.R. Galbraith (qv) he tunnelled the Waterloo & City Railway, opened in 1898, and began the Central London Railway in conjunction with Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker shortly before his death. Elected MICE 1881.

Min Proc Instn Civ. Engrs., 1896, 127, 365-8; The Eng V 82 30.10.1896 p 448 (portrait); Jackson, A.A., & Groome, D.F., Rails through the clay. 1962.

Gregory, Sir Charles Hutton
Born Woolwich on 14 October 1817 and died on 10 January 1898. Civil Engineer: worked under Robert Stephenson on Manchester & Birmingham Railway; in 1840 Resident Engineer on London & Croydon Railway; 1846 Chief Engineer on Bristol & Exeter Railway. Much work on overseas railways. In 1841 erected first semaphore signal. (Marshall). Deakin (Trans. Newcomen Soc, 1929, 9, 1)

Grierson, William Wylie
Born in London on 9 December 1863. Educated at Rugby School. Pupil of William Dean. In 1887 entered Engineering Department of GWR. Involved in several major new works, notably Sodbury Tunnel and was appointed Chief Engineer of GWR in July 1916. Retired in 1918, but President of the Civils in 1929-30, Died in San Remo on 14 March 1935.

Grove, George
Born on 13 August 1820 and died 28 May 1900 (Marshall) into an Evangelical, free-thinking ('Clapham Sect'), attended Clapham Grammar School, where Charles Pritchard encouraged teaching a wide range of subjects, including music and science. Groves was apprenticed to Alexander Gordon, the Scottish civil engineer and expert on lighthouse construction. Gordon took Groves to Malines in 1837/8 to negotiate a railway contract. Groves was admitted to the Institution of Civil Engineers as a graduate on 26 February 1839. He worked under Robert Napier in Glasow for two years, and then joined the staff of C.H. Wild during the time of the Railway Mania and worked on Chester & Holyhead Railway. With the encouragement of Robert Stephenson, Brunel and Sir Charles Barry he applied for the Secretaryship of the Royal Society of Arts, previously held by another engineer, John Scott Russell. He was successful: he is of course far better known for his Dictionary of Music and Musicians. An odd omission from the Oxford Companion to British Railway History

Rutherford: Backtrack, 2001, 15, 228

Surnames beginning "Ha"

Hallade, Emile
The Swiss-born Emile Hallade had been employed. by the Eastern Railway of France as a senior track engineer, and was engaged in raising speeds and improving curve alignments on this railway in the early years of the twentieth century. He developed a method of measuring versines or off-sets from the curve to mid chord points on standard chord lengths at regular intervals round that curve. The larger the versine was, then the sharper the curve was. In other words versine value relates directly to the severity of the curvature. He also arranged for clearances to fixed structures such as platforms, bridge parapets, tunnel walls and so forth, to be measured. Curve calculations were then computed by the technical staff to smooth out the versines and to provide specification for the desired track slews needed to give 'best fit' past adjoining tracks and structures and to keep the track on the existing formation, if possible.

Whilst the resultant curve amendments could be measured from drawings, it was more usual for calculations to be done in a tabular form. In this table, changes in slew at a particular point could be followed forward and back to see the effect of that slew at the adjoining points. After much pencil and eraser work, the final 'best fit' slews could be teased out. Much skill, practice and patience was needed, and the procedure cried out for a modern computer programme, which was to come many years later. The desired slews were marked up on the track and pegs installed to set the final track position. All that remained was to do the actual slew. The Great Northern Railway was the first British railway company to exploit the technique and most others followed. Hallade also invented the eponymous track recorder. LMS Journal, (13) p. 63.

Handyside, Andrew
Born on 25 July 1805 in Edinburgh. Died 9 June 1887 in Derby. As a young man he followed the example of his brother William Handyside (1793–1850) by going to work with his uncle Charles Baird at his iron foundry and engineering works in St Petersburg. Handyside returned from Russia about 1846 and took over the Britannia ironworks in Duke Street, Derby. This works had been established over thirty years earlier by Weatherhead and Glover and had a wide reputation for its ornamental cast ironwork known as ‘Derby castings’. Under Handyside, the scope of its output was considerably extended, and the firm became a leader in the manufacture of iron products for export. During the continued development of the English railway system in the mid-nineteenth century, Handysides supplied bridges, railway equipment, and the ironwork of station buildings, including the roofs of Broad Street, London (1864–5), Liverpool Central (1872–3), and Manchester Central (1876–80) stations. The same range of products was exported for railways throughout the world, notably bridges for India and Australia and the 120 foot span roof of the main station in Amsterdam. The firm retained its reputation for traditional castings such as for lamp-posts, pillar boxes, plus the manufacture of steam engines, pumps, and mining machinery. Handyside was a town councillor (1855–8), and was a director of both the Derby water works and the Derby and Derbyshire Banking Company. The firm which carried his name continued to flourish and was employing about 1000 people in the 1890s, but from that height of success it plunged to failure and was wound up in 1910. From ODNB biography by Robert Thorne

Hawkshaw, Sir John
Chrimes magnificent entry in the ODNB notes that Hawkshaw was born in Leeds (son of a publican) on 9April 1811 and died in London on 2 June 1891. Marshall is incorrect concerning place and date of birth. Educated at Leeds Grammar Shool and apprenticed to Charles Fowler, road surveyor. Civil engineer of Manchester & Leeds Railway (LYR), Severn Tunnel, completed Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge and converted Thames Tunnel for railway use. Also great engineer of harbours (Fleetwood) and canals (Amsterdam Ship Canal). Closely associated with the Manchester & Leeds Railway/Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway until his death. Chrimes succinctly notes that Hawkshaw championed the use of steam locomotives on steep gradients in the Pennines. Reported to the Directors of the Great Western Railway on the broad gauge and on Brunel's permanent way in 1838. Brief biography by Mike Chrimes in Oxford Companion to British Railway History. and superb entry in ODNB. Strong views on folly of broad gauge (Rly Mag., 2, 518).

Henderson. [Sir] Brodie Haldane
Born 6 March 1869; died Braughing on 29 Septeber 1936. Pupil with Beyer Peacock, then with James LIvesey. For a time worked in Civil Engineer's Dept of LYR. In 1891 entered into partnership James Livesey. Livesey & Henderson responsible for Lower Zambezi Brisge and Transandine Railway summit tunnel. Marshall..

Herbert, Luke
Proposer of early Brighton to London monorial to be wind-powered and to convey fish. Information from Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41; and references therein

Hughes, John Sylvester
General Manager Festiniog Railway: Hughes who was a Civil Engineer wiith an interest in moutain railways to the summmits of Ben Lomond, Skiddaw, Snaefell and Snowdon.
Illustrated interviews. No. 34–Mr. John Sylvester Hughes, General Manager Festiniog Railway. Rly Mag., 1900, 7, 97-110.
Portrait on facing page: mainly an account of th railway, its civil engineering works, traffic, motive power (ntably the Fairlies) and rolling stock. Brief details of man.

Hutchinson, Charles Scrope
Major General. in Royal Engineers who conducted the accident enquiry into Armagh disaster of 12 June 1889. Born 1826: died 29 February 1912. Inspector of Railways 1867-1895 (Who Was Who).. See Nock's Historic railway disasters (Chapter 5 and portrait p. 287). Nock notes that he. had an elder Sapper brother who was responsible for demolition of Round Down cliff at Dover for Sir William Cubitt during construction of South Eastern Railway.

Surnames beginning "I"

Inglis, Sir Charles Edward
Born 31 July 1875 at Worcester. Educated Cheltenham College and King's College, Cambridge. Classed as 22nd wrangler in the mathematical tripos and gained first-class honours in mechanical sciences tripos. Became a pupil of Sir John Wolfe-Barry & Partners, consulting engineers: worked under Alexander Gibb, Wolfe-Barry's resident engineer for the extension of the Metropolitan Railway from Whitechapel to Bow: designed and supervised nine bridges crossing the railway. Began to study mechanical vibration. In 1901 made a fellow of King's College. Subject of his thesis was The balancing of engines. Under Bertram Hopkinson, Inglis was appointed to a lectureship in engineering in 1908 and continued his work on vibration. In 1913 he published a seminal paper on stresses in a plate due to the presence of cracks and sharp corners. During WW1 he served in the Royal Engineers. Designed a light tubular bridge, readily transportable and easy to erect, which the War Office adopted. From 1916 to 1918 he was in charge of the department responsible for the design and supply of military bridges; for this work he was appointed OBE. His bridge came to the fore when the army was faced in 1917-18 with the tank bridging problem. He played a highly prominent part in the work of the Bridge Stress Committee, set up in 1923 to determine the behaviour of railway bridges under moving loads, providing all the mathematics and much of the impetus which kept the experimental work going. Elected FRS in 1930, and knighted in 1945. He died in Southwold on 19 April 1952. ODNB: J.F. Baker, rev. Jacques Heyman

Publications
Impact in railway-bridges. Minut. Proc. Instn civ. Engrs, 1931/32, 234, (2), 358-403. Disc.: 404-44. 22 diagrs., 13 tables. (Paper No. 4870).
A mathematical treatise on vibrations in railway bridges. Cambridge, C.U.P., 1934. xxvi, 203 p. 65 diagrs., 39 tables.
The vertical path of a wheel moving along a railway track. J. Instn civ. Engrs, 1938/39, 11, 262-77. Disc.: 278-88: 12, 450-2 + folding plate. 13 diagrs. 3 tables. (Paper No. 5201).

Inglis, [Sir] Robert John Mathison
Born 5 May 1881; died in Helesburgh on 23 June 1962. Educated Bennington Park and Edinburghh University. Civil engineer working for NBR, then LNER in Scotland. Became Engineer Scottish Area in 1936 and Divisional General Manager in 1943. During 1943 he spent four months in India investigating Indian railways for the government. In 1945-9 he was Chief Transport Officer for the British Zone in Germany. In 1949 he was appointed Chairman of the Glasgow & District Transport Committee which led to the Inglis Report (1951) recommending electrification of railways in the Glasgow area. He received a knighthood in 1947. Marshall.

Surnames beginning "J"

Jacomb-Hood, John Wykeham
1859-1914. Chief Engineer LSWR. Went with Fay to USA in 1901. Instigated low pressure pneumatic signalling initially at Grately then on four-track Woking Junction to Baingstoke section. Killed in a hunting accident. Who Was Who.

Jacomb-Hood, Robert
Born Risley, Beds on 25 January 1822. Died Tunbridge Wells on 10 May 1900. Educated Chist's Hospital and Trinity College, Cambridge. Articled to George Watson Buck who was working on London & Birmingham Railway. Later worked with both Baker and Barlow. In 1846 he became resident engineer on many of the LBSCR  In 1860 he set up in private practice in Westminster. In 1883 he joined the Board of the LBSCR. Marshall

James, Williams
William James was a canal engineer who became involved in surveying early railways. There was a body of opinion that he had been unjustly treated by history, and may have been unfairly usurped by George Stephenson. Gordon Biddle gives a balanced assessment in The Oxford Companion to British Railway History. According to Marshall he was born in Henley-in-Arden on 13 June 1771 and died in Bodmin on 11 March 1837. He was educated at Warwick & Winson School. His most important work was the Stratford & Moreton Railway, the remains of which are still visible in Stratford, the remains of which are easier to find on the ground in Stratford than in Biddle's Britain's historic railway buildings..

See Rly Mag., 1899, 5, 33 and 364 for articles by R.R. Dodds on The father of railways on formation of Committee to raise funds for statue in Liverpool.

Jessop, William
Born in Devonport in January 1745 and died at Butterley Hall, Derbyshire, on 18 November 1814. Jessop was a significant engineer of canals, tramways and railways, notably the Surrey Iron Railway (see Backtrack 17 314). He had been the son of Josias Jessop, a foreman shipwright in the Devonport naval dockyard and a pupil of John Smeaton (Jessop's father had worked on the Eddystone lighthouse), working with him on the Calder & Hebble and Aire & Calder navigations in Yorkshire. Jessop's first major work was the Grand Canal across Ireland, begun in 1753 but not completed until 1805. Another important work was the Cromford Canal to link Arkwright's mills at Cromford with the Derbyshire coalfield. It included the 2966yd Butterley tunnel, and it led to the creation of the Butterley Co in 1790. He was an early user of cast iron as a structural material and was involved in the Surrey Iron Railway..

Rolt, L. T. C., Great Engineers 1962; R. Angus Buchanan: biography ODNB

Johnson, Richard
Born in Spalding in 1827. In 1840 he was apprenticed to a builder and contractor as a carpenter. In October 1847 he was appointed to the staff of Brydone & Evans, engineers to the GNR. In 1855 he was appointed District Engineer to the GNR loop line with an office in Boston and in 1859 he became responsible for the direct Peterborough to Doncaster line. In June 1861 he became Engineer for the GNR when Mr Walter Marr Brydone retired (with Joseph Cubitt as Consulting Engineer). He observed the Welwyn tunnel accident and fire. He was in charge of constructing the Derbyshire Extension Railways, notably the viaduct at Ilkeston over old coal workings, the curved viaduct at Gilbrook, and the long Kimberley cutting. He was also invollved in the Newark Dyke bridge, the Don bridge, the Copenhagen tunnels, and the bridge over the GER at Peterborough. His son T.R. Johnson was also an engineer and was responsible for moving a new bridge into position at Peterborough. Richard Johnson was a teetotaller and was involved in missionary work.

Rly Mag., 1, 10.

Surnames beginning "K"

Kearney, Chalmers
1881-1966: born in Australia. Advocate of the monorail: Kearney High Speed Railway Attempted to popularise his ideas via fiction: Eróne (1943) which introduces a "Monoway" and makes oblique reference to his nearly successful system between North and South Shields. Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41.

Surnames beginning "L"

Langdon, William
Telegraph superintendent of the Midland Railway: gave his name to telegraph insulators: Langdons. Michael Dunn: letter Br. Rly J., 1985, 1, 263. Presented paper on electric lighting to Institution of Civil Engineers: On railway-train lighting. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1891, 106, 127-50. Discussion 150-65.

Lardner, Dionysius
Whereas Marshall does not mention Lardner Simmons found room for this vaguely absurd character in the Oxford Companion (probably because he was an "Academic"). Many of his hypotheses were deeply flawed, such as the ridiculous speeds claimed for trains running away on the down grade in Box Tunnel. He lived from 1793 to 1859 and was born like James Joyce in Dublin. Brunel was able to discredit Lardner. J.B. Snell was better qualified to assess Lardner's achievements..

Lartigue, Charles François Marie-Thérèse
Born in 1834: developed elevated monorail systems to assist in harvesting esparto grass in Spain and Algeria. System developed by Behr.. Information from Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41; and references therein including A.T. Newham. The Listowell & Ballybunion Railway (1967). Lartigue's first venture was a long line in Algeria. Further Backtrack (2008, 22, 295) material in article on Listowel and Ballybunion line .

Latham, John Herbert
Son of a priest, born 30 July 1832 at Little Eaton: brought up in Cambridge; educated at Harrow and St John's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a Degree in mathematics. Wrote a book on girder design (Construction of wrought iron bridges). He became Assistant Engineer to the Madras Irrigation & Canal Company in 1863 and Chief Engineer in 1865. He farmed in New Zealand from 1887 and died in Auckland on 10 July 1910. Horne hints that the book may have been more influential and might have been read by J.W. Murphy of The Lehigh Valley Railroad.

See Horne in Back Track and book on bridge design.

La Touche, James Norman Digges
Born on 19 July 1857 at Wistanstow near Craven Arms where father (Huguenot) was vicar of Stokesay Church. Educated at Marlborough College and Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill. From 1880-2 he was a pupil of Stroudley and was then under Hugh Reid at Hyde Park Works in Glasgow. He joined the Indian Public Works Department in 1882 and was sent to work with his uncle Henry Christopher Digges La Touche where he worked on several lines with difficult bridges. He became Deputy Consulting Engineer for the Calcutta District in 1895, and in 1898 for the Bombay District, finally going to the Secretariat in Bombay until he retired in 1912. He eventually moved to Stokesay Cottage and died there on 25 November 1939. He invented a strain gauge to measure stresses in small span bridges.See Horne Backtrack 16 283.

Laws, William George
Born inn Rynemouth on 18 April 1836 and died in Newcastle upon Tyne on 22 December 1904 (Marshall). Educated Durham University and articled to James Burnett of Thompson & Boyd. Worked on Border Union, Border Counties and NBR Wansbeck Valley railways. Later Chief Assistant to T.E. Harrison of NER. In 1881 appointed City Engineer of Newcastle where responsible for electric tramways construction. Marshall.

Leather, John Towlerton
Marshall states born Kirkham Gate Wakefield on 30 August 1804 and died at Leventhorpe Hall near Leeds on 6 June 1885. Civil engineer and contractor who put up the finance for the Hunslet Engine Co. on behalf of his son Arthur

Leather, John Wignall
Born near Leeds on 26 April 1810 and died in Leeds on 31 January 1887. Early work on reservoirs, drainage works and canals. Later worked on railways: tockton & Hartlepool Railway including Greetham viaduct; Birmingham, Wolverhampton & Dudley Railway; North Midland and Manchester & Leeds Railways. Marshall.

Lindley, Peter
Together with Hirst of Metalastik, he probably did more to make rubber an acceptable engineering material than any other person. He was a graduate of Sheffield University and whilst there had worked on locomotives at the Yorkshire Engine Company. He was a major contributor to the design of rail pads (a mass market for elastomers, especially natural rubber), and to the large bearings used to mount the track beds under the Barbican development and for the Piccadilly Line extension to Heathrow Airport. He was involved with Derham on the isolation of Albany Court above St James Underground Station and in the initial British use of rubber bridge bearings under the Pelham Street bridge in Lincoln. He was responsible for creating an extra market of some 8000 tonnes per annum through his design for an automotive buffer for Ford cars to withstand 5 mile/h impacts..

Locke, Joseph

See separate file

Surnames beginning "M"

McAlpine, Sir Robert
Michael Gould contributed a biography on page 302 of the Oxford Companion. The family, including Sir Robert, is included in an Oxford Dictionary of National Biography contribution by Iain Russell.

McClean, John Robinson
According to Marshall was born in Belfast in 1813 and died in Stonehouse (Kent) on 13 July 1873. Studied Glasgow University. In 1838 entered office of Walker & Burges. Worked on improvements to Birmingham Canal. Jack describes how he leased the South Staffordshire Railway for 21 years from 1 August 1850. He became Chief Engineer of the Furness Railway. President Institution of Civil Egineers in 1865.

Mackenzie, Willliam
Marshall notes that born in Burnley on 20 March 1794 and died on 19 October 1851. Prominent contractor. Apprenticed to Thomas Clapham, lock carpenter on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, and at Troon harbour in Ayrshire. After Clapham's death he worked under Cargill constructing Telford's iron bridge at Craigellachie, subsequently working for Telford on the Birmingham Canal. He then transferred to railway work becoming contractor for the tunnel under Liverpool from Edge Hill to Lime Street station. Other contracts followed, on the GJR, Glasgow, Paisley & Greenock, North Union, and Midland railways. In 1840 he began his connection with Thomas Brassey with whom he carried out much work on railways in France. The revolution of 1848 forced a return to England where, with Brassey, he completed the Eastern Union Railway and, in conjunction with John Stephenson the whole of the lines from Lancashire to Edinburgh and Glasgow under Locke and Errington, the Scottish Central to Perth, the Scottish Midland to Forfar, part of the Chester & Holyhead under Robert Stephenson, part of the North Staffordshire Railway under Bidder, the whole of the Trent Valley line, and the Liverpool, Ormskirk & Preston section of the ELR, again under Locke and Errington. Altogether the contracts executed by Mackenzie alone and in conjunction with Brassey and John Stephenson totalled over £17m. Overwork and exposure led in 1848 to an attack of gangrene in his foot and from then his health declined. See also Newcomen Transactions, 2000, 73, 319 for paper by Otter and Thomas.

McMullen, D.
Colonel in Royal Engineers who became Chief Inspecting Officer of Railways. He conducted the accident enquiry into the Hither Green derailment of 5 November 1967 caused by a broken rail.. See Nock's Historic railway disasters (portrait p. 288)

Macneill, [Sir] John Benjamin
Marshall states that born in near Dundalk County Louth in 1793 and died on 2 March 1880 in London. Trained under Telford, on southern section of Holyhead Road, and was a beneficiary in Telford's will. In 1834 he set himself up as consulting.engineer and was engineer to the Wishaw & Coltness Railway and to Grangemouth Docks. In 1837 the Irish Railway Commissioners appointed him to survey railways in the North of Ireland. In 1840 he was Engineer to the Dublin & Drogheda Railway. Horne (Backtrack, 11, 308) shows that he made a considerable contribution to bridge design, both directly and through his pupils; including George Willoughby Hemans (above and letter in 18, 125).

Marindin, [Sir] Francis
Wikepedia lists place of birth as Weymouth on 1 May 1838 and death as London 21 April 1900. Educated at Eton and Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Served in Crimean War. When Colonel in Royal Engineers, became Chief Inspecting Officer of Railways between 1895 and 1899. He encouraged Sapper soccer and was President of the Football Association for several years. See Nock's Historic railway disasters .

Meyer, Sebastian William
1856-1946: a comparable figure to Colonel Stephens: invloved in East & West Yorkshire Union Railway, the North Sunderland Railway, the Dearne Valley Railway, the Tickhill Light Railway and further similar lines actually constructed and with several proposed lines. A biography by A.L. Barnett (published RCHS) is fulsomely reviewed by "AE" (Alan Earnshaw?) in Backtrack Volume 7 page 166.

Surnames beginning "Mi"

Miller, John (b.1805)
Born 1805, died 1883. Included in the Oxford Companion: biography by Jack Simmons, but not in Marshall. Rutherford (Backtrack, 2004, 18, 688) emphasises his significance in terms of engineering the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway, notably his viaducts across the Almond and Avon valleys, and his contribution to locomotive development through ordering locomotives from R.&W. Hawthorn (a note observes that Miller's name is in the Hawthorn Order Books maintained at the NRM. Sekon (Evolution of the steam locomotive) notes his involvement in the Cowlairs banking engines, but spells his name "Millar". He was also (with Thomas Grainger, who had taken Miller into partnership) engineer of the Ballochmyle Viaduct in Ayrshire (see Biddle).

Miller, John (b.1872)
Born in County Tyrone on 29 February 1872; gained a BSc in Belfast in 1904. Lectured in mathematics at the the Central Technical College of the City & Guilds of London Institute until 1909 when he emigrated to USA and eventually became Chief Engineer of the Long Island Railroad, but in 1916 joined Henry Worth Thornton on the Great Eastern Railway, and became its Chief Civil Engineer in March 1919. In 1925 he became Chief Civil Engineer at York (the LNER did not have a single "chief" civil engineer). At York he encouraged the uptake of modern signalling, introduced the Morris-Bretland Tracklayer, and encouraged the careful maintenance of the railway environment with the removal of rubbish and the use of curbing. Marshall records taht he died in Woodford Green on 16 May 1942.

See Rutherford: Backtrack, 2001, 15, 228.

Molesworth, Guilford
Director General of Railway Department and then from 1871 Consulting Engineer to Indian railways. Narrow gauge activities covered in Ransom's Narrow gauge steam. Also biography.

Molesworth, E.J. Life of Sir Guilford Molesworth. Spon, 1922.

Moorsom, William Scarth
Marshall notes that he was born near Whitby in 1804 and died in London on 3 June 1863. He was educated at Sandhurst and is usually known by his rank of Captain (Royal Engineers). He was closely associated with the London & Birmingham (with Robert Stephenson) and Birmingham & Gloucester Railways. In the case of the latter he was responsible for ordering 4-2-0s from Norris in Philadelphia to work the Lickey Incline. He was engineer of those lines which eventually became part of the Great Western Railway from Wolverhampton to Shrewsbury and Chester. Other lines associated with him included the Cromford & High Peak Railway and the lines from Plymouth to Falmouth and Penzance. He contributed a paper in 1840 on the Norris 4-2-0s in Min Proc Instn civ. Engrs. Mike Chrimes provides an Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry. See also LMS Journal (19) 2 (especially Note 3)..

Mount, [Sir] Alan Henry Lawrence
Born in 1881, died 1955 (BLPC). Chief Inspecting Officer Railways (he had investigated the serious derailments of Maunsell's 2-6-4Ts, most notably one which immediately preceded the on at Sevenoaks) and was Chairman of the Pacific Locomotive Committee which investigated rhe serious derailments of Indian locomotives which had been supplied by British locomotive manufacturers. Cox was a member of this Committee and this activity is described (and the members of the Committee are illustrated) in Volume 2 of Cox's Locomotive panorama. The 190pp Report was published in Delhi in 1939. The cause of the derailments was poor bogie design and this was established by the French Member Léguille. Mount commented upon his Iandian experiences at a joint meeting of the Locomotive, Civil and Mechanical Engineers: this is reported in J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1943, 33, 226-7. See also Nock's Historic railway disasters (including portrait p. 288)

Surnames beginning "N"

Newlands, Alexander
Born in Elgin on 11 January 1870 and died in Glasgow on 28 August 1938 (Marshall). He was appointed Chief Engineer of the Highland Railway in 1914 and was responsible for the dismissal of F.R. Smith, the Locomotive Superintendent. He eventually became the Chief Civil Engineer of the LMS in 1927 until his retirement in 1933

Norris, Richard Stuart
1812-78 (Brian Reed): Norris was born at Bolton and was employed on early GJR surveys by Locke. In 1836 he became chief draughtsman in Locke's Liverpool office, but was considered as on the GJR payroll from December 1833, and thus in length of service the senior of all men associated with Crewe. After the GJR was opened he was appointed resident engineer of the Northern Division, and as such had charge of the erection of early Crewe houses and streets, also of the town and works extensions. In the early 1850s he was made both engineer and superintendent of the Northern Division, with headquarters variously at Warrington and Liverpool. Towards the end of his active career he came somewhat under the strictures of Richard Moon, as did various other old-timers. He retired from railway service in 1862 after the ND-SD locomotive consolidation, and settled near Kenyon Junction, where he died on 26 January 1878. .

Surnames beginning "P"

Pain family
The Culm Valley Railway in 1811 was the brainchild of 27-year old Arthur Cadlick Pain, Simon Pain's (letter to Backtrack, 16, p. 174) great-grandfather. He convinced the Bristol & Exeter Railway and the "great and good" locally to invest on the basis that he could build the over seven-mile railway in twelve months for £22,500. Sadly this proved to be vely optimistic and it finally opened in late 1874 at a cost of £47,000. As a result its financial position was doomed and it was finally swallowed up by the GWR in 1880.

Still espousing the light railway philosophy, A.C. continued with railway building and amongst many others he engineered the 3ft gauge Southwold Rallway which opened in 1879 and he remained chairman until its closure in 1929; he had been succeeded by my grandfather Claude as its engineer in 1912.

A.C. is best remembered in railway circles as the engineer for the Axminster & Lyme Regis Light Railway which opened in 1903 where he was ably assisted by two of his sons, Edward and Claude. The 600ft Cannington Viaduct was the first [sic] one early viaduct constructed almost exclusively of concrete. A paper which was read to the Institution of Civil Engineers by Edward in 1904 on its pioneering design and construction.

In later years he concentrated his skills on other public works, notably public water supply, and was chairman of the Mid Wessex (later Mid Southern) Water Company, which he had founded in 1893, until 1935. I have a splendid portrait of him painted at that time which hung in the boardroom for over 60 years. He lived in Frimley, Surrey, being very active in the local community and was also a JP for many years. He was obviously a man of great energy and warmth much loved by all; he finally died aged 93 in 1937.

Arthur C. Pain was engineer of the Axminster & Lyme Regis Railway. He was aided by his sons Edward & Claud. Edward Pain presented Construction of a railway viaduct entirely on the Cannington construction. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1905. See Backtrack.

Karau, Paul. Common light railway architecture. Br. Rly J., 1984, 1, 60-3.

Palmer, Henry
Founder member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Patented monorail system in 1821. Systems at Royal Victualling Yard, Deptford and at Cheshunt in Hertfordshire. Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41.

Parry, Edward
Marshall: born Hendy in Flintshire on 8 November 1844 and died at Leamington on 11 August 1920. Educated at private school in Chester. Began civil engineering career on Midland Railway. Between 1879 and 1889 he was county surveyor for Nottinghamshire. He was responsible for the construction of the Nottingham Suburban Railway and was resident engineer for the Nottingham to Rugby section of the GCR London Extension (Emblin Backtrack, 2008, 22, 110). Most of his works were faced with vitrified blue bricks.

Pasley, [General Sir] Charles William
Born Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire on 8 September 1780, and died in London on 19 April 1861. (Marshall). Excellent biography by Jack Simmons in Oxford Companion which makes it even more absurd that ODNB entry by R.H. Vetch (some sort of weed) supposedly revised by John Sweetham fails to make anything of his contribution to railway safety. Established Royal Engineers Institution at Chatham. Inspector of Railways at Board of Trade 1841-6. Diary at British Library.

Peto, Samuel Morton
Railway, and other major works, builder and contractor. Born in Woking on 4 August 1809. Following an apprenticeship with his uncle as a builder he went into partnership with his cousin Thomas Grissell: a partnership that lasted 16 years. Contracts included that between Hanwell and Langley on the GWR, Foord Viaduct, Folkestone in 1843, most of the London & Blackwall Railway, Curzon Street (Birmingham). He frequently accepted payment in the form of shares in lieu of cash payment. He became involved in many East Anglian lines, including the Yarmouth & Norwich Railway, and acquired Somerleyton Hall as a residence and the harbour at Lowestoft. He became an influential East Anglian figure and became associated with the Gurney banking family. He was Liberal MP for Norwich from 1847 to 1954, but resigned to take Government work in the Crimea. He was involved in many overseas contracts and in the construction of the Crystal Palace. He became an MP for Bristol from 1865-8 and more dangerously became involved in the LCDR which collapsed on 12 July 1866 following the failure of the bankers Overend, Gurney & Co. on 11 May. Peto was declared bankrupt and was forced to apply for the Chiltern Hundreds. He retired from public life and lived in Tunbridge Wells (a sort of pleasant Siberia) and died on 13 November 1889 and is buried at Pembury. See Gray Backtrack, 16, 220.

Pringle, [Sir] John W.
Colonel in Royal Engineers who conducted the accident enquiry into the Sevenoaks derailment of 24 August 1927. See Nock's Historic railway disasters (portrait p. 288). Chaired two high-powered Committees to investigate the general adoption of automatic train control on British railways (following the adoption of an electro-mecnaical system on the GWR). The first reported in April 1922: its members were W.C. Acfield, Signalling Superintendent of the Midland Railway,;E.C. Cox, Superintendent of the Line, SECR; Major Edmonds of the Ministry of Transport; H.N. Gresley, Locomotive Engineer, GNR; Major Hall, Inspecting Office, Ministry of Transport, J.H. Thomas, General Secretary, NUR; and Sir Robert Turnbull, a Director of the LNWR. The second committee reported in 1930, its members were H.C. Charleton, MP; C.B. Collett, E.C. Cox, Chief Operating Superintendent of the SR; Gresley, Lt. Col. G.L. Hall, Assistant Engineer, Signals & Telegraphs, SR, A. Newlands, Chief Civil Engineer, LMS, J. Sayers, Telegraph Superintendent, LMS and E.A. Wilson, Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Railway. As was shown later at Harrow & Wealdstone (and elsewhere) little was done outside the GWR. 

Surnames beginning "Ra"

Rattray, David Campbell
Born in Dundee in 1858. Educated at High Schools. Apprenticed to Pearse Brothers of Dundee. Became a pupil and then assistant on CR & GSWJR. Studied civil engineering at Glasgow University. Moved to LYR. In 1890 he moved to the MSLR in Manchester and in 1893 became district engineer in charge of that railway west of Penistone. In 1897 he returned to the LYR as assitant to W.B. Worthington and in April 1905 he became Chief Engineer. He retired immediately prior to the Grouping and died in Southport on 11 January 1927. Marshall.

Rendel, George Wightwick
George Rendel was the second son of James Rendel. He was born in 1832 and educated at Harrow; then in his father's office.See Horne in Backtrack

Rendel, James Meadows
James Meadows Rendel was born in 1799 in South Devon . His father was a supervisor of roads; his uncle was a millwright. He was a surveyor under Telford and an expert in hydraulics. By 1849 he had become London Consultant to the East Indian Railway. See Horne in Back Track

Surnames beginning "Ro"

Ross, Alexander
Marshall: born Laggan in County of Inverness on 20 April 1845. Died in London on 3 February 1923. Educated at Aberdeen and at Owen's College, Manchester. Began railway career on GNSR, but moved to LNWR in 1871, thence to the NER in 1873, but returned to the LNWR in 1874. He moved to the LYR in 1884 and became Chief Engineer on the MSLR in 1890 where he was responsible for many of the works on the London Extension (Emblin Backtrack, 2008, 22, 110). He was Chief Engineer on the GNR between 1896 and 1911 when he became a consulting engineer. His later works included the Herford Loop and Breydon Water Viaduct. The massive girder viaducts across the Hertford to Stevenage road, and the flyover at Langley Junction are presumably amongst his last remaining works still visible.(KPJ)

Surnames beginning "Sa"

Samuel, James
Born in Glasgow on 21 March 1824 and died in Fulham, London on 25 May 1874. Educated Glsgow High School and Glasgow University. Articled to Daniel Mackain at Glasgow waterworks. In January 1846 appointed Resident Engineer to the Eastern Counties Railway. From 1858 on involved in civil engineering projects in Asia Minor, the USA and Mexico. (Marshall) . Advocated light railway vehicles and was involved in this with William Bridges Adams. See also Morayshire Railway for his 2-2-0 locomotives employed thereon. Involved with John Nicholson in early application of compounding.

Scott, James Robb
Born in the Gorbals, Glasgow in 1882, illegitimate son of a Glasgow architect. Articled to Leadbetter & Fairley of Edinburgh around 1900. He then joined Belcher & Joass in London before joining the LSWR in 1907 as chief architectural assistant where he was responsible for the Victory Arch at the entrance to the reconstructed Waterloo Station. Chief Architect to the Southern Railway and thus responsible for a wide range of stations from a fairly traditional style at Ramsgate to Art Deco at Wimbledon and on the Chessington branch. Died in 1940. See Mel Holley: Fit for the purpose. Steam Wld, 2008 (249), 4-5..

Scott, [Sir] Walter
Born Abbey Town, Cumbria on 17 August 1826 and died whilst on holiday in Meltone, France, on 8 April 1910. Began work as a mason and by 23 became a contractor on his own account working on railways in North East England, later as Walter Scott & Co. worked on railways in Essex and London (including City & South London Railway). Established publishing works at Felling in County Durham, famous for its editions of standard classics (business acquired in lieu of debt payment for constructing printing factory). Knighted in 1907. John Marshall and John R. Turner's Sir Walter Scott (1826-1910), civil engineering contractor. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1993, 65, 1-19. This biographer was also responsible for the ODNB biography.

Simmons, John Lintorn Arabin
Simmons was born on 12 February 1821 at Langford Budville, near Milverton in Somerset. He was the fifth son of Lieutenant Thomas F. Simmons, a Royal Artillery Officer. He was educated at Elizabeth College Guernsey (where his father was serving) and at the Royal Military College in Woolwich. He was commissioned on 14 December 1837 as a Royal Engineer and sent to Chatham for further study under Col. Sir Charles Pasley who was to become Chief Inspector of Railways in 1841, until deprived of this post following the collapse of bridges on the NBR due to flooding. Simmons spent six years in Canada, and on his return was sent to Chester to provide expertise on the bridge collapse there on 24 May 1847. Captain Simmons recomended a Royal Commission on the Application of Iron to Railway Structures. Subsequently, he became involved as an advisor to the Turkish Army and rose in rank. He became Govenor of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, was involved in the Royal Commission on Railway Accidents of 1874, became a full General in 1877, the Govenor of Malta between 1884 and 1888 where his diplomatic skills were used in negotiations with the Pope. He retired on 28 September 1888 and was made a Field Marshall in 1890. He died at Blackwater (Hants) on 14 February 1903 and is buried in Churchill, Somerset. See Horne Backtrack 16 504 and Horne Backtrack, 15, 148.

Surnames beginning "Sm"

Stephens, Holman Frederick
Born Hammersmith on 31 October 1868. His father Frederick George Stephes was a member of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.. Known as Holly as a child. During his lifetime he built or was associated with around sixteen light railways, ranging from the lightly constructed Rye & Camber Tramway to the Bere Alston and Callington line, with its magnificent viaduct of 12 arches, each of 60ft span and standing 120ft above the River Tamar: see article by Neil Parhouse in Archive No. 2 and links from therein.

Stephens studied civil engineering at University College under Sir Alexander Kennedy. In 1888 his father arranged with John Bell, General Manager of the Metropolitan Railway, for him to enter the Company's works at Neasden as a pupil of the Locomotive Superintendent, John Hanbury. In due course, Stephens pressed for the opportunity to gain experience in civil engineering and Hanbury suggested that he approach Seaton, who was working for the Metropolitan on extensive alterations to Baker Street and Portland Road stations. Edward P. Seaton took Stephens on to assist with the design of the route and structures of the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood Railway, and although Stephens was only 22 and still a student many of the distinctive features and materials used in the buildings on this line were adopted by him on subsequent schemes.

Stephens was an individualist who set out to build and operate railways of economical construction. In 1895 with Edward Peterson, a solicitor with a practice in Staplehurst, they formed a company called the Light Railways Syndicate to finance Bills or Orders in Parliament for proposed new railways. The intention was that once the necessary authorisations had been obtained, a separate company would be formed for each scheme to raise the capital and the syndicate would receive a fee for its services. A total of seven schemes were formally proposed by the Light Railways Syndicate and its sister company, the Economic Railways Company, formed in 1898, but only one, the Sheppey Light Railway, was built. In all cases, Stephens was to have been the engineer and had a smallish shareholding in the syndicate.

The failures Stephens had in the early years were balanced by many successes, commencing with the Selsey line in 1895 and the Rother Valley (later the Kent & East Sussex) in 1900 - the first line to be constructed under the provisions of the 1896 Light Railways Act. Thereafter a string of schemes came to fruition - the Sheppey Light, Bere Alston & Callington, Shropshire & Montgomeryshire, and Burry Port. WW1 did not end his activity. The North Devon & Cornwall Junction Light was constructed in the early 1920s. He saved the Festiniog Railway from bankruptcy in the 1920s and had the Kent coalfield achieved its expected potential it would have been amply served by a network of lines engineered and managed by him. His biggest disappointment was the Southern Heights, a projected electric line in Surrey on which he was working almost up to the time of his death and which failed to come to fruition. It featured on many of the carriuage panel maps of the old Southern Electrics: see article by Arthur R. Nicholls in  Backtrack, 13, 271.

In private life Stephens was an enigmatic, even an eccentric character. A tall, striking figure, instantly recognisable, with a military bearing; an arrogant man, but with immense personal charm and wit, much admired and liked by his staff; his attitude to women always courteous, sometimes supercilious - occasionally mysterious, he nevertheless had few friends outside his business acquaintances and lived a solitary existence mainly in hotels or at his clubs. A lifelong bachelor with no close relatives, he had few interests apart from his railways; his army service was spasmodic, but he attained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in 1916, mainly in respect of services to the Territorial Force, a contact that he maintained throughout most of the 1920s. His interest in classical mythology, if somewhat superficial, is evidenced by the naming of many of his locomotives after goddesses.

He died in Dover on 23 October 1931 Portrait & brief biography: .Morgan, J.S. The Colonel Stephens railways. 1978..
Excellent website at www.hfstephens-museum.org.uk/pages/himself.htm.

Stephenson, John
Marshall notes born in 1794 and died on 8 July 1848 at Rotherham. Civil engineer, friend (but not related to) George Stephenson. Worked on Stockton & Darlinton Railway, Summit Tunnel on Manchester & Leeds Railway, Chorley cutting (including its flying arches). Member of the firm Stephenson, Mackenzie & Brassey.

Stephenson, Robert  (Civil Engineer)

Stevenson, Francis
Born in Scotland on 27 August 1827 and died in London on 1 February 1902. Marshall. Articled to R.B. Dockray, then engineer on the London & Birmingham Railway. In 1855 became assistant to William Baker who was in charge of new works and succeeded him in 1879. From 1886 he became in charge of maintenance of of the whole LNWR system.

Stevenson, Robert
Born Glasgow 8 June 1772: died Eninburgh 12 July 1850. Famous civil engineer, and contributor to early railway schemes. Grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson, See Marshall.

Sylvester, Charles
Author of a report to the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad Committee in 1824 following a visit to Hetton Colliery to obseve locomotives at work. He observed runs hauling 16 wagons of 1½ miles at 4½ mile/h and at 5¾ mile/h. Unfortunately, he also came up with a theory that gradients steeper than about 1:360 were excessive for steam traction. This greatly increased the cost of the L&BR. See Backtrack, 9, 436 and Sylvester's report.

Surnames beginning "T"

Telford, Thomas
Born 1757: died 1834. One of the greatest British civil engineers. Correctly Simmons included Telford in the Oxford Companion  (but excluded from Marshall) and succinctly noted his contributions to railways, most permanently as an expert called in by the Exchequer Load Commissioners to comment upon the works for the Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1829. He also advised on the Stratford & Moreton and Newcastle & Carlisle Railways and laid out the somewhat improbable Glasgow & Berwick Railway of 1809. His major road and canal projects, and their bridges, cuttings and embankments, had a huge influence on early railway construction.

Tempest, Percy Crosland
Born in Leeds on 24 February 1860. Educated Leeds Grammar School and Leeds University. Chief Engineer of the South Eastern & Chatham Railway. On retirement of Sir Francis Dent in 1920 became General Manager and was initially joint General Manager of the Southern Railway with Sir Herbert Walker, but retired from 1 January 1924.. Formerly Permanent Way Engineer of the South Eastern Railway. Born in Yorkshire. Trained on LNWR. Ardent advocate of Channel Tunnel (Engineer to Channel Tunnel Co. from 1916). Knighted in 1923.. Died on 2 November 1924. Marshall..

Thom, Riach
Reverent gentleman from Kilmarnock: model of Marvo railway (top-supported monorail) built:in 1904. Information from Hennessey, R.A.S. One track to the future. Backtrack, 2005, 19, 437-41; and references therein

Thompson, Francis
Born at Woodbridge in Suffolk on 25 July 1808. Francis Thompson was the architect of stations on the North Midland and Chester & Holhead Railways, including the noteworthy Chester Station. He was also architect for several significant structures in Canada. He died on 23 April 1895 back at Woodbridge.
See O. Carter: Francis Thompson... Backtrack, 1995, 9, 213.

Thornton, James
Born in 1798? at Cowick, Yorkshire, and died at Cheshunt in 1880. Described on census returns as a 'railway contractor' or 'public works contractor'. He was living with his family at Eastwick in 1841 when the Northern & Eastern Railway reached Harlow on 9 August and Bishop's Stortford on 16 May 1842. Thus it is highly probable that he was a contractor on this line. His wife came from Norfolk and their children were born in Denver (Norfolk), Oldham, the Wakefield area and Harlow where James rented a substantial house in what is now Old Harlow.

Train, John Cumberland [Sir] Landale
Formerly Chief Engineer (Southern Area) of the LNER, but from 1942 Chief Engineer LNER and following Nationalization became Railway Executive member for Civil Engineering (Hughes LNER). Unlike Riddles he transferred his expertise to the British Transport Commission
Paper
Organization in relation to engineering output and efficiency on the London and North Eastern Railway. Instn Civ. Engrs., 1944, 2, (Railway Engineering Division)
Patent
342,890 Improvements relating to cant gauges for railways. Applied 30 January 1930. Published 12 February 1931.
Contribution to Other's paper
Cox, E.S. of locomotive reciprocating parts. J. Instn Loco. Engrs., 1943, 33, 221-2. (Paper No. 432)
A class 5 locomotive was deliberately slipped on greased rails at a speed equivalent to 100 mile/h to establish the effect of coupled wheel lifting at speed. This paper was also published in Proc. Instn mech. Engrs, 1941, 146 148-62 and J. Instn civ. Engrs, 1941/42, 17, 221-50. J.C.L. Train (221-2) commented at length on his concern about the effect of high speed trains, but had accepted Gresley's reassurances. He considered that the steam locomotive was at a disadvantage compared with other forms of motive power due to their reciprocating parts. Advocated multiple cylinders to lessen risk..:

Trench, Ernest F. Crosbie
Born Ardfert Abbey, Kerry (Ireland) on 6 August 1869. In 1893 became pupil of E.B. Thornhill, then Chief Engineer LNWR and succeeded Thornhill from 1 October 1909. Became Chief Engineer of the LMS where generally agreed that he was obstructive towards locomotive policy. Retired 1930. Died 15 September 1960. Marshall.

Trubshaw, Charles
Charles Trubshaw came from an architecural family. He was born in 1841, the son of an architect, who was also called Charles and was educated by him His father was the architect and surveyor to the County of Stafford. He became an ARIBA in 1865 and worked for the LNWR until in 1874 when he became the Architect of the Northern Division of the MR. Both Hellifield and Skipton stations were designed by him. The magnificent Midland Hotel in Manchester followed a visit to the USA with William Towle the Midland Railway Hotels' Manager. According to Biddle Britain's historical railway buildings Trubshaw was responsible for architecture on the whole of the MR between 1884 and 1910. The latter is contrary to Dixey who stated that he retired in 1906.  The hotel and station at Bradford Forster Square were also his work. Leicester London Road Station is probably his best surving work. He died in Derby on 15 February 1917. Charles Trubshaw: a Victorian railway architect. S. John Dixey. Bedside Backtrack, 65-8.

Trubshaw, James
Born in Colwich, Staffordshire on 13 February 1877. He was engineer to the Trent & Mersey Canal and built the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester. He worked with Locke being responsible for 14 miles of the Birmingham Grand Junction Railway, and surveyed and constructed the Shipton on Stour branch. See paper by Woodward in Trans Newcomen Soc., 2000, 72, 77 .

Turner, Frederick Thomas
Born Hereford on 4 August 1812; died London 21 August 1877 (Marshall). Articled to John Fawcetts, became assistant to J.U. Rastrick. Latterly Civil Engineer of LCDR.

Tyler, [Sir] Henry Watley
Born on 7 March 1827 and died on 30 January 1908 in London. Educated Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. In 1852 married Margaret, daughter of Lieut General Sir Charles Pasley, first Government Inspector of Railways. Appointed a Government Inspector for Railways in 1853: Chief Inspector 1870-7. Became closely involved with Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. MP for Harwich 1880-5 and for Great Yarmouth 1885-92. Deputy Chairman GER. Became chairman of the British Westinghouse Co. Not in ODNB, but excellent thumbnail biography by Jack Simmons in his everyday book (Oxford Companion). Marshall.
Papers
On the Festiniog Railway for passengers. Min. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs., 1865, 24. (Paper 1130) .
On the working of steep gradients and sharp curves on railways. Min. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs., 1867, 26. (Paper 1160) 

Surnames beginning "U"

Vignoles, Charles Blacker
Vignoles was born in May 1793 in County Wexford into a Huguenot family. His diaries are preserved in The British Library and he has been the subject of two biographies by members of his family (the earlier one by his son. In 1814 he was commissioned into the 1st Royals and served in Holland, Canada and within the UK. He made his mark in surveying in Holland, and following his departure from the Services he produced a survey of Florida which was published in 1823, the year he returned to England, leaving his financial affairs in America in a mess (he both owed, and was owed, money).

He worked for the Rennie brothers and surveyed the L&MR where he came into dispute with George Stephenson. Nevertheless, this did not prevent him from becoming a M.I.C.E. in April 1827. He invented a device to enable trains to climb steep gradients and was involved in engineering the Midland Counties Railway, the Manchester, Ashton-under-Lyme and Sheffield Railway and many lines in the period of the railway mania. He did a considerable amount of work overseas including in Russia. He became the first Professor of Civil Engineering at University College, London in 1841 and was elected as an FRS in 1855. He made, or attempted to make, several observations of solar eclipses.

Short biography by Anthony Hall-Patch. Backtrack, 1995, 9, 445.

Von Donop, P[elham] G.
Lt. Col. in Royal Engineers who became an Inspecting Officer in 1899. He conducted the accident enquiry into the Grantham derailment of 9 September 1906, became Inspector General of Railways and had played for the team which won the Football Association Cup in 1875. See Nock's Historic railway disasters (portrait p. 287). Wikepedia gives first name from when playing soccer.

Surnames beginning "W"

Walker, James
Born Falkirk in 1781. Died London on 8 November 1862. Civil engineer: work on docks and bridges. Built Hull & Selby and Leeds & Selby Railways. Reported with Rastrick on traction for Liverpool & Manchester Railway: See Captain Edgar Smith's observations about James Walker: Trans. Newcomen Soc., .9, 92. Marshall.
Smith, Denis. James Walker (1781-1862): Civil Engineer. Trans. Newcomen Soc., 1997, 69, 23.

Wallace, William Kelly
Irishman from Ulster where he had been Chief Engineer of the Northern Counties Committee, became Chief Stores Superintendent of the LMS from 1930 and eventually Chief Civil Engineer. See Martin Stuart Smith LMS Journal, (13), 60.
Wallace, W.K. Modern British railway practice. Loco. Rly Carr. Wagon Rev., 1927, 33, 369-72.
Abstract of an address presented to the Belfast Association of Engineers, by the NCC's Chief Engineer. Most of the paper is concerned with British, as distinct from Irish, development.

Warren, James
Born London 23 November 1802 and died London 23 April 1870. Inventor and patentee of Warren truss bridge: see long entry in Marshall.

Wild, Charles Heard
Horne introduces this Wild engineer several times: (Backtrack Volume 9 page 509 and Volume 11 page 51 and in Volume 11 page 441) He was born in about 1815 and was pupilled to John Braithwaite and died in 1857. It seems likely that the design of the permanent way, and the gauge of 5' 6" in India, was borrowed from the Dublin and Drogheda Railway by Charles Heard Wild, who had been sent to Ireland to examine it; and Wild was occupied with the design of Warren girders for the EIR in 1853 and for the Great Northern Railway to cross the Trent via the Newark Dyke Bridge. This same Wild was credited with the invention of the 'under-cut' railway switch.

Willet, Archibald William
Son of John: born in Aberdeen on 29 January 1858 and died in same City on 11 October 1942. Educated Aberdeen Grammar School and Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. Pupil under his father. Joined LNWR under Francis Stevenson where innvolved in many major works. Marshall

Willet, John
Born Aikenhead, Ayrshire on 6 February 1815. Marshall notes that educated Ayr Academy and School of Arts, Edinburgh. Apprenticed to James Thomson, a Glasgow civil engineer. Then joined Andrew Thomson to work on railways many of which were to become part of Caledonian Railway. In 1843 he joined Locke and Errington to work on Grand Junction Railway. From 1849 he was resident engineer of the Aberdeen Railway, then worked for Caledonian Raiway and then independently. Father of Archibald William.

Wilson, George Robert Stewart
Born Devizes on 17 April 1896 and died in London on 20 March 1958. Educated at Marlborough College and Royal Military Acadmey at Woolwich. Served with Royal Engineers during WW1, and following that he became an instructor at Longmoor following which he joined Railway Inspectorate. With rank of Lt Col he became Chief Inspecting Officer in 1949 and was responsible for the report on the Harrow & Wealdstone disaster of 8 October 1952. He was working ion the Lewisham disaster of 4 December 1957 at the time of his death. He was involved in advising the Ministry of Transport on Automatic Warning Systems. Marshall. See  also Nock's Historic railway disasters (portrait p. 288)

Wilson, William
Born Alnwick on 20 January 1822. Died London 20 September 1898. Articled to John Bourne of Newcastle upon Tyne and became acquainted with George Stephenson. Worked with Fox, Henderson & Co. on roof of Dover station, then with John Fowler on MSLR and OWWR. Marshall lists other civil engineering with which William Wilson was associated.

Wise, Berkeley Dean
Irish Civil Engineer. Born New Ross, County Wexford in 1853. Apprentice engineer on the Dublin, Wicklow & Wexford Railway. Chief Engineer of the BCDR from 1877 until 1888 when he became Chief Engineer of the BNCR where he left a considerable mark upon the buildings and the landscape (where scenic walkways were created). See Backtrack, 14, 693.

Surnames beginning "Wo"

Wolfe-Barry, Sir John
Born London 7 December 1836 and died in London on 22 January 1918. Son of Sir Charles Barry, architect of Houses of Parliament. Pupil of John Hawkshaw. In 1867 established himself as consulting engineer: associated with Metropolitan District Railway underground lines, with the Caledonian Railway's underground line in Glasgow, the Barry Railway, the Ballachulish branch including the cantilver bridge across Loch Etive. His son Kenneth Alfred became a senior partner in the consultancy. Mainly Marshall. There is also an ODNB entry by Robert C. McWilliam.

Wolfe-Barry, Kenneth Alfred
Born London 16 March 1879 and died in London on 1 July 1936. Educated at Winchester. Studied engineering at Trinity College, Cambridge, then articled in father's firm. Associated with Piccadilly tube and Whitechapel & Bow Railway. Later railway work was mainly concerned with railways and docks in India. Marshall..

Wolley-Dod, Francis
Born in Eton College as Francis Wolley on 3 May 1855, but father added wife's name Dod in 1868. He was educated at Eton and (from 1873) at the Royal Indian Engineering College in Windsor Great Park. In 1876 he joined the Indian Public Works Department: see Horne Backtrack, 16, 215. Returns to Backtrack (2007, 21, 44) when Rutherford considers his contribution to locomotive standardization in India: he presided over a conference of Indian locomotive superintendents held in Calcutta in December 1901 and this led to the Engineering Standrads Committee with standard 0-6-0s and 4-4-0s emerging in 1903, and later a line of standard 2-8-2s.

Woodhouse, Thomas Jackson
Born Bedworth, Warwickshire on 9 December 1793. Died in Turin on 26 September 1855 whilst working for Brassey on Italian railways. He had been resident engineer under Josias Jessop on the Cromford & High Peak Railway. He was engineer of the Dublin & Kingstown Railway. This was followed by civil engineering for the Belfast Harbour Trust and the railway between Belfast and Lisburn. In 1836 he was appointed resident engineer to the Midland Counties Railway. This work included a bridge across the Trent.(Marshall).

Worthington, Samuel Barton
Born Stockport on 14 December 1820, died Bowdon 8 February 1915. Articled to Joseph Locke, and worked with him on many of Locke's projects including Paris & Rouen. In 1846 he became engineer to the Lancaster & Carlisle Railway in charge of all aspects including rolling stock. Following the acquistion of the L&CR by the LNWR he was in effect made civil engineer for the Northern Division. His office was moved to Manchester and he became a consulting engineer in that City following his retirement from the LNWR in 1886. (Marshall). Son Edgar became a mechanical engineer...

Worthington, William Barton
Born Lancaster on 8 July 1854, died Bushey Heath on 29 December 1939. Son of Samuel Barton Worthington to whom he was articled, following education at Owen's College, Manchester and London University. Joined staff of Blyth & Cunningham in Edinburgh where he worked on civil engineering projects for Caledonian Railway. In 1876 he was appointed resident engineer under William Baker for new works on LNWR including construction of Manchester Exchange Station. In 1890 he became Assistant Engineer on the LYR and in 1897 he became Chief Engineer where he was responsible for many new works. In 1905 he became Chief Engineer of the Midland Railway, Following retirement from the Midland in 1915 he became a Consulting Engineer. (Marshall)

Yolland, [Col.] William
Born in 1810 and died on 3 September 1885 in Atherstone (a temporary abode according to ODNB) (Marshall). Jack Simmons (Oxford Companion): excellent concise biography. Royal Engineer (trained Royal Academy Wolwich): longest serving of all Board of Trade Inspectors of Railways (1854-77). Very strict in his investigations, but not harsh. Deakin (Trans. Newcomen Soc, 1929, 9, 1) stated that Yolland suggested interlocking between points and signals. Sought greater Government control over railways. R.H. Vetch revised C.G. Matthew (ODNB) adds that underpass berween Westbourne Park and Bishop's Road beneath GWR approach roads to Paddington was constructed by a reluctant Metropolitan Railway at the behest of Yolland: only trouble is that literary types at ODNB refer to this as "submerged" as if Great Western Canal..

Yorke, [Lt Col. Sir] Horatio Arthur
Born 3 June 1848; died 10 December 1930. Educated Charterhouse and Sandhurst. Served in Afghan War 1879-80 and Nile Expedition 1884-5. Joined Royal Engineers in 1886. Inspector of Railways from 1891, Chief from 1900 until retirement in 1913. Director of Grand Trunk Railway of Canada and of GWR. Marshall

Last updated 2008-02-29