Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.
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Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead. |
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Engineer who worked with Telford on the Ellesmere and Caledonian canals.
Engineer and General Manager of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
1926 | He was appointed Engineer and General Manager. | |
1 January 1948 | The canal was nationalised and he became a member of the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive. |
Surveyor. Woked with John Duncombe and worked with William Turner.
1793 | Prepared plans and estimates for the aqueducts at Pontcysllte and pont faen, together with WilliamTurner and John Duncombe. |
Surveyor of Crickhowell. He also took part in the survet fot the Stockton & Darlington railway line. Worked with Edward Martin.
1802 | Surveyed the tramroad from Sirhowy worksto Newport. | |
1811 | Made a survey for the canal with Edward Martin. | |
1812 | He was engineer for the canal. | |
1823 | Surveyed a 15 mile extension to continue the Penydarren tramroad to Cardiff, marked out on the opposite side of the valley to the canal by George Overton. | |
18 August 1825 | A meeting in Hereford decided to seek an Act for a tramroad fromthe Grosmont at Llangua to Wye Bridge, Hereford, on a line surveyed by him. |
Engineer.
1770 | Surveyed a line from Basingstoke to Monkey Island, below Bray on the River Thames. It was to be a 29 mile barge canal that was estimated to cost £51,000. He chose Monkey Island as the point to join the Thames as it was were the proposed Reading to Isleworth canal was to cross the Thames. |
Surveyor and engineer.
August 1827 | He made the first suggestion that the canal should form part of a small ship canal to link Bridgwater to Exeter using new and existing canals at a cost of £500,000 for a navigation taking vessels up to 80-ton or £700,000 for up to 100-ton craft. |
Surveyor. Worked witrh W Bond and worked for John Rennie.
1810 | Together with W Bond he surveyed the line of the canal under Rennie's direction. | |
1823 | He and W Bond oppose a rival tub boat canal, proposed by James Green, as an alternative to Rennie's plans for a ship canal. |
Engineer. Assistant to John Duncombe.
Early 1793 | Was assistant to John Duncombe, the engineer helping William Jessop with the canal. | |
1801 | He was resident engineer for the canal. |
Engineer.
1897 | He reported on the problems of sewage in the canal emanating from the Hanwell sewage works into the River Brent near where it joined the canal. |
Engineer.
1795 | Was engineer for the canal when it was built. |
Surveyor of Gargrave. Woked with Richard Beck.
8 June 1791 | Was asked to re-survey Whitworth's line, together with Rihard Beck and John Longbotham, and to extend it southward to Worsley. |
Surveyor.
1792 | Re-surveyed the line of the canal, with Robert Stickney, making minor amendments to earlier proposals. |
Surveyor. May have been son of Ralph Dodd.
1810 | He surveyed the line for the canal. | |
1825 | He is thought to have been the surveyor called in by a group of Durham people to plan a canal to Sunderland. |
Engineer, Rennine's assistant on the building of Waterloo Bridge. Worked with Robert Dodd and thought to be the brother of Ralph Dodd.
1801 | He gave evidence in favour of the Bill for the canal. |
Engineer born in London. In 1795 he published an Account of the principal Canals in the known World, with reflections on the great utility of Canals. In 1794 he invented a canal cutting machine. He died in Cheltenham. May have been father of Barrodall Robert Dodd, worked with Robert Dodd, thought to be the brother of George Dodd and had his survey confirmed by John Rennie.
1794 | He did the quick preliminary survey for the scheme before William Chapman and William Jessop did the detailed survey. | |
June 1795 | He publised a pamphlet proposing a Stella to Hexham canal on the soth side of the Tyne and estimated a cost of £35,709 for 18 miles of canal with 12 locks. | |
1796 | Surveyed the Tees and proposed a canal from Stockton to Darlington and Staindrop to Winton with branches to the River Wear near Durham and the River Ure at Boroughbridge. | |
September 1796 | He reported to the subscribers of the project that the River Wear should be made navigable with 11 locks from just above Durham down to Picktree, below Chester-le-Street at an estimated cost of £25,338. From ther a 7.25 mile canal would be built up the Team valley to the Tyne, estimated at £29,604. There was also to be a branch just under 3 miles long with 15 locks rising to Beamish and from there a iclined plane and tub boat canal to West Kyo, near Stanley, at a cost of £22,644. All the navigation apart from the tub-boat canal was to take Humber Keels. | |
1799 | He produced a plan for a 12 mile canal from Croydon to Rotherhithe. It was to be a small canal taking boats of 10 to 20 tons, 24 feet wide and 3 feet 6 inches deep with two inclined planes and he estimated it would cost £25,000. | |
1799 | Published a pamphlet advocating the canal. | |
Late 1799 | He estimated the cost of the 47 mile canal, 48 feet wide and 7 feet deep, at £24,576 and thought it could be built in two years. | |
1800 | He produces a revised, shorter, route involving a long deep cutting and changes his estimate to £33,819 or £45,972 should a wider angle of slope be necessary in the cuttings. | |
November 1800 | He submitted a parliamentary notice for bridge near Runcorn which raised concerns about obstruction to the navigation but which went no further. | |
1801 | Was apointed engineer at £600 a year. | |
April 1802 | He was given a gratuity and dismissed as engineer ostensibly because he was engaged on other work and was too expensive, although there is evidence that he did work without authorisation and had a disagreement with the chairman. He then attacked his replacement, John Rowe, and the canal committee but was still given some work by the company after this. | |
1804 | He had probably ceased working on the canal by this date. | |
1810 | He advanced a scheme tfor a canal from Basingstoke to the Andover Canal by way of Overton, Whitchurch and the Test valley. This was opposed and soon dropped. |
Engineer. Recommended William Gravatt.
1816 | He met the company's engineer, Thomas Bradley, in London to discuss dredgers. Donkin had previously sent a plan for a dredger to the company. | |
1817 | He received an order for a dredger from the company. | |
1832 | Recommended William Gravatt as engineer for the navigation under Thomas Bradley. |
Surveyors.
1818 | They were asked to comment on the scheme and replied that they were "very doubtful whether the projectors will be able to accomplish their object". |
Engineer of Oswestry. Woked with Arthur Davies, worked with William Turner, was assisted by Thomas Denson, worked with Joseph Turner and was assistant to William Jessop.
31 August 1791 | At a meeting at the Royal Oak in Ellesmere the estimate he produced with Joseph Turner was presented. They estimated £67,456 for the main line from Netherpool on the Mersey to the River Dee then on to Overton and Shrewsbury. Branches to Llangollen, Bersham and Llanmynech brought the total to £171,098. | |
1792 | Assisted William Jessop in deciding on a line for the canal. | |
1793 | Prepared plans and estimates for the aqueducts at Pontcysllte and pont faen, together with WilliamTurner and Arthur Davies. | |
February 1793 | Was appointed to assist William Jessop in the construction of the canal. |
Engineer.
April 1778 | He was asked to stake out land at Bishopbridge as a coal and general goods wharf. | |
1781 | He resigns as company engineer. |
Engineer. Originally a grinder-cutter from Sheffield who had worked in coal mining.
1797 | Replaced Christopher Staveley as engineer and completed the canal. | |
Early July 1802 | He agrees to survey the line from Tinsley to Sheffield and proposes using 4 locks on the River Don then a canal with 5 locks from Brightside. |
Engineer.
Summer 1811 | He was appointed assistant engineer for the Hay Tramroad and later became resident engineer. |
French engineer.
1818 | Recorded that the canal was disused. |
Engineer who worked for the Driffield Navigation and Keyingham Drainage.
1803 | Was consulted about the estimate for the canal. |
Engineer.
1792 | Invited to be joint egineer of the Horncastle and Sleaford navigations but declined the post. | |
1792 | Invited to be joint egineer of the Horncastle and Sleaford navigations but declined the post. | |
1794 | Reported that a canal from the Derwent to Whitby or Scarborough would not be difficult to build. | |
1794 | Was appointed resident engineer for the canal south of the Ribble and was assisted by Thomas Fletcher. | |
July 1799 | His contract was not renewed and by this date he was no longer a resident engineer on the canal. | |
1801 | It was decided to employ him on a survey of two possible routes for the canal. |
Engineer.
1826 | Appointed resident engineer. | |
February 1843 | Together with the canal superintendent, Samual Skey, he carried out experiments on the canal with steam tugs towing narrowboats. They reported that "the expense of moving trains of boats by steam power is ... likely to be less than horse power". |
Surveyor. Son of Josiah Easton.
28 June 1838 | The canal was reopenned using his steam engine powered inclined plane at Wellisford. |
Surveyor operating in the Taunton area.
Early August 1829 | Together with James Green he completed a survey for the extension of the canal to the Bridgewater & Taunton Canal. |
Engineer and Land Surveyor of Bradford-on-Tone. Father of James Easton.
1793 | Surveyed a line from the English Channel at Axmouth near Seaton through Axminster, Chard, Ilminster, Creech St Michael, Bridgwater, Huntspill and Backwell near Nailsea. | |
1793 | Surveyed a line for the canal. | |
1795 | Was in charge of works to improve the navigation. | |
1825 | He proposed a ship canal from Combwich to Bridgewater. |
An engineer who on 11th December 1797 advertised threashing and winowing machines, flour mills and cider presses, including in the advertisement "canals cut on the new patent plan eighteen feet wide, and three deep, with all apparatus complete, in good ground, £900 per mile. Likewise surveys the lines of canals". He finished by offering Edgecumbe's New Patent Inclided Plane. Worked with Robert Coad and worked with Thomas Esterbrook.
1821 | He surveyed the line and estimated the cost at £16,000. | |
Late 1823 | Resurveyed the line of the canal with Robert Coad and Thomas Esterbrook, estimating the cost at £12,578. |
An engineer who worked on the Chester and Stourbridge Canals. Worked under Robert Mylne.
1793 | Was appointed resident engineer at £210 a year. | |
1793 | Was employed to survey a possible canal from Bath to Bristol to bypass the river Avon. | |
1795 | Was dissmissed from his post of resident engineer. |
Engineer Worked with John Aram.
June 1751 | Instructed by the Nar Commissioners, together with John Aram, to make a survey and estimate for making the river navigable. | |
1756 | He surveyed the river and produced a plan to make it navigable from Tempsford to Biggleswade Mill. | |
Spring 1757 | Gave evidence to the Parliamentary committee examining the navigation bill. He proposed a depth of 3 foot for 20 ton barges which would pay a charge of 3 pence a lock. | |
May 1757 | Was appointed surveyor together with Thomas Yeoman. | |
May 1757 | He was paid £100 for survey and for "putting out the works from King's Lynn to Westacre for himself and his assistants untill the same is completed". He produced an estimate of £2,500 for the entire works, chiefly for the making of new cuts. | |
10 August 1757 | He reported the results of his survey to the commissioners, estimating the cost of the work at around £3,000. | |
October 1758 | He was asked to complete the work on the river by 1st January 1759, lter extended to 15th February but with a £20 a week penalty for any over-run. | |
Mid 1759 | Was asked to resurvey the river and again estimated £3,000 as the cost of improvements. | |
August 1759 | He completed the navigation but was in dispute with the commissioners over the payment of the costs for two additional staunches that had been found to be needed. | |
30 October 1759 | He sent his regrets at being unable to attend the commissioners meeting. Unforseen circumstances had detained him at Biggleswade. | |
3 November 1759 | He attends a meeting of the commissioners at which they place a contract for earthworks. | |
30 July 1760 | Defects discovered in newly constructed bridges prompt the commissioners to seek his explaination but they find his whereabouts are unknown. | |
5 August 1760 | He writes to the commisioners saying that he is detained on business and cannot attend their meeting on the 9th but he "was surprised at the account of the brickwork as I have had many built of the same dimensions of wall and have never yet had one failed". | |
23 August 1760 | He writes to the commisioners saying he is sorry he did not attend their meeting on the 20th. | |
10 September 1760 | He attended a meeting with the commisioners and appologised for missing the last meeting as he had arrived a day late due to having been taken ill on the road and he had other jobs to complete. He had missed another meeting due to a fall from his horse and a third due to his horse being taken lame on the road. | |
1761 | Together with John Grundy and John Smeaton he presented the results of their survey of the river between Lincoln and Boston. | |
13 May 1761 | The commissioners very dissatisfied with his non-attendence at meetings advertised the meeting in the press in the hope it would ensure his presence. He arrived late and appologised. | |
23 July 1761 | The navigation was completed at a cost of £3,822 compared to his original estimate of £3,000. | |
November 1762 | He was appointed surveyor at £25 a year. He was asked to put a chain across the river between Stamp End and Washingborough ferry for the collection of a 2.5 pence toll, to survey the whole length of the river and prepare plans for a sea-lock. | |
1765 | Was approached to prepare a scheme in opposition to Thomas Yeoman's plan for the river but was too busy to take on the work. | |
1766 | The Grand Sluice was opened including the lock he had built beside it. | |
1771 | He reported on the problems with the river outfall. |
Engineer. Woked with William Cubitt.
1844 | Was appointed Expenditor of the Rother Levels and together with William Cubitt he rebuilt Scots Float Sluice. |
Engineer.
Autumn 1824 | He produced a plan for a ship canal costing £4m or £5m. |
Engineer.
1748 | About this date he and the Kinderley's proposed cutting off the great bend near King's Lynn. |
Surveyor. Worked with Robert Coad and worked with John Edgcumbe.
Late 1823 | Resurveyed the line of the canal with Robert Coad and John Edgcumbe, estimating the cost at £12,578. |
Engineer.
July 1795 | Was employed at 2 guineas a week in charge of building Standege Tunnel under Benjamin Outram. He later did some contracting. | |
1798 | He left his job working on Standedge Tunnel. |
Surveyor and map maker.
1740 | He made a survey of the proposed navigation and together with Thomas Steers produced a projection. | |
January 1758 | Did a survey to extend the proposed navigation to Sowerby Bridge. | |
1762 | He surveyed the extension of the canal towards the River Mersey, the Act for which was passed this year. | |
1769 | Did a survey with Richard Melling for a line of canal that went through Burnley. Their survey was checked by Robert Whitwoth who found a 35 feet error in the levels at Rishton. |
Surveyor of the Greasbrough (Park Gate) Canal in 1778. Father of William III Fairbank.
1778 | Lord Rockingham employed him to make a survey for the line. | |
Summer 1792 | Together with John Thompson he surveyed a route for the navigation. | |
1793 | Appeared before the parliamentary committee as surveyor. |
Text and photographs copyright of Jim Shead.