History of Famous British Engineers
Britains history is made up of very famous engineers all through their history. This has made me decide to list just some of the most famous with links to websites with more details on the various engineers.
Thomas Savery (1650-1715)
Thomas Savery was an English military engineer and inventor who in 1698, patented the first crude steam engine.Please click here for more details.
James Watt (1736-1819)
Was the son of a merchant, was born in Greenock, Scotland, in 1736. At the age of nineteen Watt was sent to Glasgow learn the trade of a mathematical-instrument maker.
After spending a year in London, Watt returned to Glasgow in 1757 where he established his own instrument-making business. Watt soon developed a reputation as a high quality engineer and was employed on the Forth & Clyde Canal and the Caledonian Canal. He was also engaged in the improvement of harbours and in the deepening of the Forth, Clyde and other rivers in Scotland. Please click here for details.
Thomas Telford (1757-1834) (Famous Bridge Builder)
Was the son of a shepherd, was born in Westerkirk, Scotland in 1757. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a stonemason. He worked for a time in Edinburgh and in 1792 he moved to London where he was involved in building additions to Somerset House. Two years later he found work at Portsmouth dockyard. Please click here for more details.
George Stephenson (1781- 1848)
Was a British engineer who designed a famous and historically important steam-powered locomotive named Rocket, and is known as the Father of British Steam Railways.
George Stephenson was born in Wylam, England, 9.3 miles (15 km) west of Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1748, a wagonway -- an arrangement similar to a railway, but with wooden tracks and designed to support horse-drawn carts -- had been built from the Wylam colliery to the River Tyne, running for several miles (several km). The young Stephenson grew up near it, and in 1802 gained employment as an engine-man at a coal mine. For the next ten years his knowledge of steam engines increased, until in 1812 he stopped operating them for a living, and started building them. Please click here for more details.
Charles Babbage (1791-1871) (Inventor of First Computer)
Charles Babbage was born in Teignmouth, Devon, in 1791. Educated at Trinity College Cambridge, he spent most of his life trying to build calculating machines. The first of these was designed to calculate tables of logarithms and similar functions by repeated addition performed by gear wheels. A small prototype model of the difference engine was produced in 1822 and this resulted in him receiving a government grant to build a full-sized machine. Please click here for more details.
Robert Stephenson (1803-1859)
In 1827 he began work on the Rocket locomotive. Robert's abilities as an engineer was illustrated by the success of the Rocket at the Rainhill Trials in October, 1829.
Please click here for more details.
Isaambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859)
Was born in Portsmouth on 9th April, 1806. He was educated at Hove, near Brighton. In 1823 Brunel went to work with his father on the building of the Thames Tunnel. He was later to be appointed as resident engineer at the site.
In 1829 Brunel designed a suspension bridge to cross the River Avon at Clifton. His original design was rejected on the advice of Thomas Telford, but an improved version was accepted but the project had to be abandoned because of a lack of funds. Please click here for more details.
Sir William Arrol (1839-1913)
Sir William Arrol was born in 1839 and became famous for his building of the Forth Rail Bridge between North and South Queensferry in Scotland. The bridge with its three cantilever towers which are each 104m (340 feet) high was the design of Sir John Fowler (1817-98) and Sir Benjamin Baker (1840 - 1907) and was constructed by Arrol at a cost of some £2½ million. Building began in 1883 and took seven years to complete; the Prince of Wales at the time (later to become King Edward VII) finished the construction by driving home an inscribed gold rivet on 4th of March 1890. Please click here for more details.
Thomas Andrews (1873-1912)
Born in Comber (pronounced cum-ber), County Down, Thomas Andrews was the son of a politician and a mother whose father owned Belfast's Harland and Wolff shipyard. In 1884 at the age of 11 Andrews entered the Belfast Academic Institute and left in 1889 to become an apprentice at Harland and Wolff where his parents paid the sum of £100 for his apprenticeship. Please click here for more details.
R.J.Mitchell (1893-1937) (Inventor of the Spitfire)
Perhaps Mitchell's greatest legacy was the Spitfire single-seat fighter, designed between 1934 and 1936. It was a hybrid of many diverse technical developments. Using high-speed flight experience gained through the Schneider Trophy successes, influences from the German aircraft manufacturer, Junkers, and learning vital lessons from Supermarine's unsuccessful Type 224, the Spitfire was a masterpiece of practical engineering design that Mitchell would never see fly in combat. Please click here for more details.
Sir Frank Whittle (1907-1996) (Inventor of the Jet Engine)
Whittle's jet-propelled Gloster E28 took its first flight on 15th May, 1941 and travelled at speeds of 350 mph. This was followed by the Gloster Meteor that was used to intercept German V1 Flying Bomb. Power Jets Company was taken over by the British government in 1944. Please click here for more details.
Sir Christopher Cockerell (1910-1999) (Inventor of the Hovercraft)
In 1953 Cockerell began work on his invention the hovercroft. After successful experiments on Oulton Broad, Cockerell approached the government National Research Development Council (NRDC) who invested £1,000 in his invention. However, it took him another three years before he got full commercial backing for his project. Please click here for more details.
Below is a list of more British Engineers with links to their biographys.
James Abernethy - Scottish canal, marine and bridge engineer
John Aird - English engineer from the late 19th century
David Anderson - Scottish civil engineer and lawyer
William George Armstrong - British engineer and 22nd president of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Sir William Arrol - Scottish engineer involved with the construction of the Tay Rail Bridge, Forth Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge
Sir Ove Arup - Founder of Arup
John Aspinall - British railway engineer
Benjamin Baker - English engineer in late 19th century
James Arthur Banks - British Dam engineer
Robert Barker - English railway engineer who also played in the first ever football international game.
Peter W. Barlow - English engineer in late 19th century. Notable for Lambeth Bridge (old) and tunnelling shield
William Henry Barlow - English engineer in late 19th century; railway engineering
Sir John Wolfe-Barry - English engineer in late 19th century; designed Tower Bridge
John Frederic La Trobe Bateman - British hydraulic engineer
Sir Joseph Bazalgette - English engineer in late 19th century;
Sir George Berkley - British railway engineer
George Parker Bidder - British engineer; railways, telegraphs and hydraulics
Sir Alexander Binnie - English engineer in late 19th century; tunnels and bridges across the Thames
William Binnie - British waterworks engineer, son of the above
John Blenkinsop - English engineer in mid 19th century; railways, locomotives and mining
Benjamin Blyth - Scottish railway engineer
Benjamin Blyth II - Scottish railway engineer, first practising Scottish engineer to become president of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Sir Thomas Bouch - English engineer in late 19th century; first Tay Rail Bridge disaster
William Bragge - English engineer in the 19th century
Frederick Bramwell - British Engineer
James Brindley - English engineer from mid 18th century - canals and watermills
John Alexander Brodie - City Engineer of Liverpool and inventor of the football goal net
George Barclay Bruce - English railway engineer
Henry Marc Brunel - English engineer in late 19th century.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel - English engineer in mid 19th century - designed Great Western Railway, a series of famous steamships, and important bridges.
James Brunlees - Scottish engineer notable for designing Southend Pier
Peter Bruff - English engineer in 19th century. Notable for work in Clacton on Sea
Sir George Buchanan - British civil engineer associated with harbour works in Burma, Iraq and Bombay, during early 20th century.
William Tierney Clark - English engineer in mid 19th century; suspension bridges
Reginald Coates - British civil engineer and academic
John Coode - English engineer, notable for work on Portland Harbour
Henry Cronin - British civil engineer
William Cubitt - English engineer in 19th century.
Jonathan Davidson - British civil engineer
Sydney Donkin - British civil, mechanical and electrical engineer
Francis Drake
Thomas Dadford Junior - canals
Robert Elliott-Cooper - British civil engineer
William Henry Ellis - British civil engineer and steel maker
Joshua Field - telegraph cables, sewerage
Maurice Fitzmaurice - Irish bridge, dam and tunnel engineer
Ken Fleming - Northern Irish civil engineer and piling and foundations specialist
Sanford Fleming - railroads, time zone
Sir John Fowler - bridges
Sir Charles Fox - British railway engineer
Charles Douglas Fox - British railway engineer
Thomas Pierson Frank - British civil engineer
Ralph Freeman - English bridge and highways engineer
Buckminster Fuller
Angus Fulton - British civil engineer
William George Nicholson Geddes - Scottish engineer
Alexander Gibb - Scottish railway and military engineer
Alfred Giles - British civil engineer
William Glanville - British highways engineer
Charles Hutton Gregory - railways,
William Grierson - British railway engineer
John Griffith - Irish engineer
Sir William Halcrow - tunnels
Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover - Big Ben
Archibald Milne Hamilton - Callender-Hamilton Bridge and Hamilton Road in Kurdistan
Dr Edmund Hambly - British structural engineer
Sir William Gordon Harris - British docks and roads engineer
Thomas Elliott Harrison - British railway and bridge engineer
Arthur Hartley - British oil engineer
Sir John Hawkshaw - British railway and harbour engineer
John Clarke Hawkshaw - British engineer, son of the above
Thomas Hawksley - English engineer noted for his work on water supplies
Charles Hawksley - Son of the above, also a water engineer
Harrison Hayter - British railway and harbour engineer
Brodie Henderson - British railway engineer
Hugh Henshall - British canal engineer and student of James Brindley
Roger Hetherington - British civil engineer
Roger Gaskell Hetherington - British Ministry of Health civil engineer
Clement Hindley - British railway engineer
George Humphreys - British civil engineer
James Charles Inglis, British engineer
John Holmes Jellett - docks and harbours
John B. Jervis - canals and railroads
William Jessop - canals
Albert Mussey Johnson - helped design Scotty's Castle.
Theodore Judah - railroads
Edward Judge - bridges
Alexander Kennedy - British maritime and electrical engineer and academic
Kirby Laing - former chairman of John Laing plc
Anthony George Lyster - British docks engineer
John MacAdam - roads
Sir John MacNeill - railways
William Mahone - plank road, railways
Robert Manning - Open channel flow
James Mansergh - English railway, water supply and sewage engineer
William Marriott - English railway engineer
William Matthews - British harbour engineer
William Maw - British railway engineer
Sir Henry Maybury - British railway and highways engineer
John Robinson McClean - British engineer, railways, water supply
Conde McCullough - bridges
Scott McMorrow - playwright, poet, and engineer
John Miller (engineer), 19th century Edinburgh-based railway engineer (Grainger & Miller)
Guilford Lindsey Molesworth - English railway engineer
General Sir John Monash GCMG, KCB, VD - bridges and precast concrete (also Commander of the Australian Corps in World War I)
Charles Langbridge Morgan - British civil engineer
James Morgan - Regent's Canal
Basil Mott - mines, tunnels, bridges
Sir Alan Muir Wood - British tunnelling engineer
Benjamin Outram - canals
William N. Page - railways, mining
Frederick Palmer - Dockyards
William Barclay Parsons
Thomas Paton - British dam engineer
Allan Quartermaine - British civil engineer
Robert Rawlinson - English canal engineer and sanitarian
Richard Redmayne - British mining and civil engineer
Vernon Robertson - British civil engineer
Alexander Ross (engineer) - Scottish railway engineer
Leopold Halliday Savile - British reservoir engineer
Robert Stephenson - railways
Robert Stevenson - lighthouses
John Edward Thornycroft - British ship builder and president of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Ernest Crosbie Trench - British railway engineer
William Unwin - British civil and materials engineer
Charles Blacker Vignoles - British railway engineer
James Walker
William Kelly Wallace - Irish railway engineer
André Waterkeyn designed the Atomium
John Duncan Watson - British sewage treatment engineer
David Mowat Watson - British civil engineer
Francis Wentworth-Shields - British civil engineer
William Henry White - British engineer and chief constructor of the Admiralty
William Willcocks - British irrigation engineer served in India and Egypt
Edward Leader Williams - canals, bridges
George Ambler Wilson - British port engineer
Norman D. Wilson - mass transit
John Wolfe-Barry
A. Baldwin Wood - pumps
Edward Woods - British railway engineer
William Barton Worthington - British railway engineer
Robert Wynne-Edwards - British tunnel and pipeline engineer
Andrew Yarranton - English navigation engineer
A to Z Scientists and Engineering Encyclopedia
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My name is Paul Hussey and I was born in Portsmouth, England on the same day as my brother Mark, but a year later, in 1962.
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