Adams, William Bridges (1797–1872), railway engineer, was born in Westminster, London, on 26 May 1797, the son of William Adams, a coach builder, and his wife, Ann. He showed an early aptitude for engineering. On 30 November 1818 he married Elizabeth, daughter of the radical ...
Article
Ronald M. Birse
Armstrong, Joseph (1816–1877), locomotive engineer, was born on 21 September 1816 at Bewcastle, Cumberland, the son of Thomas Armstrong (1785–1844), yeoman and later farm bailiff, and his wife. Joseph and his three older brothers went with their parents in 1817 to Canada where his brother ...
Image
George Bennie (1891–1957) by unknown photographer, 1928 reproduced courtesy of Glasgow University Archive Services (DC85/3/9)
Article
Iain F. Russell
Bennie, George (1891–1957), inventor, was born on 29 August 1891 in Auldhousefield, Harriet Street, Pollokshaws, near Glasgow, the second of four children of John Bennie of John Bennie Ltd, general and hydraulic engineers, and his second wife, Elizabeth Gillespie. His father, who owned the ...
Article
Thomas Seccombe
revised by M. W. Kirby
Blenkinsop, John (1783–1831), developer of the steam locomotive, was born near Leeds and became the principal agent of the Brandling family, who owned the extensive Middleton collieries in that district. On 10 April 1811 he obtained a patent for a new type of locomotive, developing some of the ideas embodied in the engine constructed by ...
Article
Churchward, George Jackson (1857–1933), railway engineer, was born at Rowes Farm, Stoke Gabriel, south Devon, on 31 January 1857, the second son in the family of three sons and two daughters of George Churchward, a farmer, and his wife, Adelina Mary Churchward, who was his cousin. He was educated at ...
Article
Clayton, Nathaniel (1811–1890), engineer and manufacturer of steam engines, was born on 25 August 1811 at Lincoln, the second son of Nathaniel Clayton (d. 1827), of Lincoln. His father was the proprietor of a horse-drawn packet boat that plied the River Witham...
Article
Geoffrey Hughes
Crampton, Thomas Russell (1816–1888), railway and civil engineer, was born on 6 August 1816, at Broadstairs, Kent, the son of John Crampton and his wife, Mary. He received his education at a private school. In 1831 he was articled to John Hague, engineer, of ...
Image
Thomas Russell Crampton (1816–1888) by unknown engraver, 1860s Heritage Images Partnership
Article
Crofts, Freeman Wills (1879–1957), railway engineer and writer of detective stories, was born at 26 Waterloo Road, Dublin, on 1 June 1879, the son of Freeman Wills Crofts, a surgeon-lieutenant in the Army Medical Service, who died before his son's birth, and his wife, ...
Article
Drummond, Dugald (1840–1912), railway engineer, was born on 1 January 1840 in Ardrossan, Ayrshire, the son of George Drummond, a permanent-way inspector on the Bowling to Balloch railway, and his wife, Christina Thomson. He had at least one brother, Peter Drummond. In 1856 he commenced an engineering apprenticeship with ...
Article
Drummond, Peter (1850–1918), locomotive engineer, was born on 13 August 1850 in Polmont, Stirlingshire, the son of George Drummond, who was then a permanent-way inspector on that section of the Edinburgh and Glasgow (later North British) Railway, and his wife, Christina Thomson. When ...
Article
P. J. G. Ransom
England, George (1811/12–1878), engineer and locomotive builder, was born in Newcastle upon Tyne. He was probably the George England baptized on 28 July 1811 in Newcastle, son of George England and Mary Whinney. Both were presumably English. George England trained at John Penn's...
Article
Fairburn, Charles Edward (1887–1945), railway engineer, was born in Bradford on 5 September 1887, the only son of Robert Fairburn and his wife, Elizabeth. He was educated at Bradford grammar school, where he gained an open scholarship in mathematics to Brasenose College, Oxford...
Article
Garratt, Herbert William (1864–1913), locomotive engineer, was born on 8 June 1864 at 11 Loddiges Road, Hackney, London, the son of William Garratt, umbrella manufacturer, and his wife, Emma Hunt. He was educated at private schools in London, then served his apprenticeship from 1879 to 1882 in the locomotive works in ...
Article
John Flint
Girouard, Sir (Édouard) Percy Cranwill (1867–1932), railway engineer and colonial governor, was born on 26 January 1867 in Montreal, the son of Désiré Girouard (1836–1911) and his second wife, Essie (d. 1879), daughter of Dr Joseph Cranwill of Ballynamona, Ireland. The Girouard...
Image
Sir Daniel Gooch, first baronet (1816–1889) by Sir Francis Grant, 1872 © National Portrait Gallery, London
Article
Gooch, Sir Daniel, first baronet (1816–1889), railway engineer and executive, was born at Bedlington, Northumberland, on 24 August 1816, the third son of John Gooch (1763–1833) and his wife, Anna Longridge (1783–1863). His father was the cashier and bookkeeper at the Bedlington ironworks, where ...
Article
Gooch, Thomas Longridge (1808–1882), civil and railway engineer, was born in London on 1 November 1808, the first son and second of ten children (five sons and five daughters) of John Gooch, cashier of Bedlington ironworks, near Morpeth, Northumberland, and his wife, Anna...
