his professional occupations. In 1809 he began to execute the Ouse
navigation in Sussex; in 1810 he restored the hot springs of Bath,
which had failed; in 1811 he examined into the causes of leakage
on the Kennet and Avon Canal, and reported on trials for coals in
Buckinghamshire; and in 1812-1814 executed the Minsmere drainage
in Suffolk. During these and a hundred other engagements of a like
nature, which furnished him with the means and occasion for incessant
travelling, Mr. Smith lost no opportunity of committing to paper the
result of the day's observations on the direction, dip, and aspect
of the rocks he passed over during his various journies. In 1812,
receiving proposals from Mr. Cary to publish his map of the strata
of England and Wales, Mr. Smith recommenced his efforts to produce
the great work on which he had been occupied for the space of twenty
years. This map was at length published on the 1st of August, 1815,
being dedicated to Sir Joseph Banks, and he received from the Society
of Arts the premium of 50_l._, which had long been offered for a
work of this description. The fame of its author as a great original
discoverer in English geology was now secured, but it brought Mr. Smith
little pecuniary benefit. Geology had kept him poor all his life by
consuming his professional gains; and an unfortunate speculation, which
he at this time entered into, entirely failed, and compelled him to
sell the property at Bath which he had purchased in 1798. A load of
debt still remained to be discharged, and in order to liquidate this
he proposed selling the valuable geological collection he had been
making during his past life. This collection, of which the number of
species was 693, and of specimens 2657, was purchased by Government
for the British Museum for a total sum of 700_l._ In 1818 Mr. Smith's
claims on public notice were fairly and fully advocated by Dr. Fitton,
and it was chiefly from the favourable light in which this gentleman
placed his long and solitary labours, that public interest for him was
stimulated, and the Geological Society, who had hitherto passed him
over, was at length roused to an impartial estimate of the value of
his works. This resulted in the passing of a resolution in February,
1831, "That the first Wollaston medal be given to Mr. William Smith,
in consideration of his being a great original discoverer in English
Geology; and especially for his having been the first in this country
to discover and to teach the identification of strata, and to determine
their succession by means of their imbedded fossils." The following
year he received from the Crown a pension of 100_l._ a-year. Previous
to this, however, the state of Mr. Smith's finances compelled him to be
unceasingly occupied in various professional engagements; and on one of
these occasions, being engaged by Colonel Braddyll to make a general
mining survey of some estates belonging to that gentleman, he drew
the Colonel's attention to the great probability of there being coal
at an attainable depth on part of his property situated at Haswell,
in Durham. This ultimately led to the foundation of the magnificent
works, called the South Hetton Colliery, which rival the greatest
establishments of the Lambtons, Vanes, and Russels.
During the last few years of his life Mr. Smith lived principally at
Scarborough, where, unfettered by any but temporary engagements, he
devoted his mind to a review of the circumstances of his life, and the
arrangement of his observations and opinions. In 1835 he received the
degree of LL.D., which was conferred on him by the members of Trinity
College, Dublin. Between the years 1837 and 1838 he was appointed by
Government to join Sir Charles Barry and Sir Henry De la Beche in
making a tour through a great part of England and Wales, to select the
most suitable stone for building the Houses of Parliament. The stone
ultimately selected for this purpose was the firm yellow granular
magnesian limestone, of Bolsover Moor, in Derbyshire. This was the
last scientific work on which Dr. Smith was engaged; a cold caught
the following year brought on diarrhœa, which terminated fatally.
He died on the 28th of August, in his seventy-first year, and was
buried at Northampton, at the west end of the church of All Saints,
in which, at the suggestion of Dr. Buckland, a tablet was erected to
his memory, the expense of which was defrayed by a subscription among
geologists.--_Memoirs of William Smith, LL.D., by his nephew, John
Phillips, F.R.S., F.G.S._ London, 1844.
EARL STANHOPE, F.R.S.
Born August 3, 1753. Died December 17, 1816.
Charles Stanhope, third earl of that name, was born at Chevening in
Kent, and was sent at a very early period to Eton; but at the age of
ten he removed with his family to Geneva, where he was placed under
the tuition of M. Le Sage, a well-known man of letters in that place.
There can be but little doubt that the whole political career of Earl
Stanhope was deeply influenced by the circumstance of his receiving his
early education in this republican city; and to this may be ascribed
the extreme views which he entertained in after life respecting civil
liberty and other points affecting the welfare of great communities.
While acquiring these sentiments, Lord Stanhope was at the same
time pursuing a course of training which subsequently made him so
remarkable, as a man of science and letters. Natural philosophy was his
chief study; and the knowledge which he acquired of this subject was
decisively shewn by his gaining, at the early age of eighteen, a prize
offered by the Stockholm Society of Arts for the best essay, written
in French, on the pendulum; and this essay was the more remarkable,
as being the fruit not only of mere reading, but of numerous original
experiments, performed by him in person.
Shortly after attaining his majority, Lord Stanhope, together with
his family, left Geneva amidst the regrets of the whole population,
while crowds of poor people assembled to take a last look on the
noble English residents who had long been their generous benefactors.
On reaching England, the family rank and influence of the young
nobleman speedily procured him a seat in the House of Commons, which
he occupied until his succession to the Stanhope title called him to
the Upper House of Parliament. Here it was that he became famous as a
politician. Honesty and straightforwardness were the grand features
of his statesmanship; his views, however, although now entertained by
even moderate politicians, were at that time considered extreme, and
subsequently led to a separation of the earl from his family.
But it is chiefly as a man of science, and as an inventor in the
field of practical mechanics, that Earl Stanhope has rendered himself
celebrated. Shortly after leaving the Continent, about the year 1775,
he turned his attention to devising some means whereby forgeries
in coins and bank-notes might be prevented; this resulted in his
publishing a pamphlet on that subject, in which various processes
calculated to prevent forgeries on the mint are recommended.
In the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1778, Lord Stanhope gives a
full account of experiments performed by him, on a large scale, in
presence of the Lord Mayor and members of the Royal Society, showing
that wood could be rendered fireproof, by coating it with a species of
stucco or plaster of his own invention. The practical efficiency of
this was still more decisively shown by a fire which broke out in the
earl's mansion at Chevening. Having had occasion to rebuild this some
time previously, Earl Stanhope had taken care to make use of his new
discovery; a portion of the offices, however, remained unsecured, and
here the fire originated; but on reaching the protected portion, it was
at once arrested, and the mansion saved from destruction.
Among other works of Lord Stanhope which attracted most attention at
that time are his experiments on electricity, his improvements in
shipbuilding and navigation, a calculating machine, and the Stanhope
printing-press, which to this day bears his name. He has also been
called the inventor of stereotype printing, and had at all events
the merit of greatly improving this most important process, and of
introducing it into general use. The application of steam to navigation
was another favourite study of Earl Stanhope; and, in concert with him,
Fulton the American entered into an extensive series of experiments to
prove its practicability. Although unsuccessful in this last pursuit,
canal navigation owes much to the earl; the value of his improvements
in canal-locks being felt to this day throughout the whole land. He
lived in constant pursuit of these philosophical enquiries till the age
of sixty-three, when he died of dropsy, at his seat in Kent.
Lord Stanhope was essentially a practical man, of a firm, upright, and
independent character; and it is related of him, that when advising his
children to pursue some useful calling, he remarked of himself, that
"Charles Stanhope, as a carpenter, blacksmith, or millwright, could
in any country, or at any time, preserve his independence, and bring
up his family to honest and industrious courses, without soliciting
either the bounty of friends or the charity of strangers." He merits
the grateful remembrance of posterity, not only for the practical
results of his genius, but for the indirect influence of his noble
example exerted on others, and for the generous patronage he bestowed
on many poorer fellow-labourers in the same great field.--_Chambers'
Edinburgh Journal_, No. 392, August 3, 1839.--_Stuart's Anecdotes of
the Steam-Engine._ London, 1829.
WILLIAM SYMINGTON.[33]
Born in 1763. Died March 22, 1831.
William Symington, claimant conjointly with Patrick Miller to the
honour of originating the present system of steam navigation, was
a native of Leadhills, in the county of Lanark, Scotland. He was
originally destined for the church, but an early predilection for
mechanical philosophy led him to abandon his theological studies,
and pursue with ardour those connected with his favourite science.
His genius soon attracted the notice, and secured the patronage of
Gilbert Meason, a gentleman at that time connected with the Wanlock
Head lead mines. Before completing his twenty-first year, Mr. Symington
made several improvements on the steam-engine, for which he took out
patents, and continued for some time to construct and introduce engines
on his principle, in various parts of England and Scotland.
In the year 1784, the idea first occurred to him that steam might be
advantageously employed for the propulsion of carriages; and in 1786
he succeeded in producing a working model of a steam-carriage, which
he submitted to the inspection of the professors and other scientific
gentlemen in Edinburgh. Although this steam-carriage afforded proofs
of considerable capability, it was never proceeded further with, on
account of the state of the roads in Scotland at that period, and the
difficulty of procuring fuel and water.
In the meanwhile Patrick Miller, a gentleman of property residing
on his estate at Dalswinton, Dumfriesshire, had for some time been
engaged in making various experiments for the improvement of naval
architecture, and had constructed a double or twin-boat, with
paddle-wheels, to be moved by manual labour. At this point Miller was
informed by Mr. James Taylor, a tutor in his family, of Symington's
model steam-carriage, and they both called at Mr. Meason's house in
Edinburgh to see it. During the course of conversation with Symington,
the practicability of advantageously employing steam for the purposes
of navigation was talked about, and it was ultimately arranged that
Symington should endeavour to construct a steam-engine to be fitted
on board Miller's twin-boat, and capable of moving the paddle-wheels.
This was accomplished in the autumn of 1788, when a trial was made,
in the presence of Mr. Miller and various others, of so satisfactory
a nature, that it was immediately determined to commence another
experiment, upon a larger scale. It may, however, be satisfactory to
state here, that this, the parent engine of steam navigation, after
enduring many vicissitudes, was ultimately rescued from destruction
by Mr. Bennet Woodcroft, and contributed by him for exhibition in the
South Kensington Museum.
In the month of October 1789, a second exemplification of the
practicability of steam navigation was afforded by Miller and
Symington, on the Forth and Clyde Inland Navigation Canal, in the
presence of many hundreds of spectators; the boat proceeding along at
the rate of nearly six miles an hour. In this instance the machinery
was constructed at the Carron Works, under the direction of Symington,
and placed on board a boat which had been used in Miller's previous
experiments. Unfortunately, Mr. Miller now withdrew from the concern;
he had already expended nearly thirty thousand pounds on various
experiments, and he determined to devote his time to the improvement of
the Dalswinton estate.
Symington's pecuniary resources were insufficient to enable him unaided
to pursue his experiments, and he was compelled to desist, and turn
his attention to the fulfilment of engagements with the Wanlock Head
company, for constructing machinery on a large scale. An interval of
ten years thus elapsed, at the end of which time Mr. Symington secured
the patronage of Thomas, Lord Dundas of Kerse, under whose auspices
another series of experiments were commenced, in January 1801, at the
cost of 7000_l._; but they placed beyond the possibility of doubt the
practicability of steam navigation. Symington had availed himself of
the improvements made in the steam-engine by Watt and others, and he
now constructed an improved marine engine, with boat and paddle-wheel
after the plan at present adopted. This boat, called the 'Charlotte
Dundas,'[34] was the first practical steamboat; and for the novel
combination of the parts, Symington obtained a patent on the 14th
October, 1801. The vessel made her first voyage in March 1803, on the
Forth and Clyde Canal, and proceeded upwards of nineteen miles, drawing
after her two laden vessels, each of seventy tons burden, although it
blew so strong a gale right ahead, that no other vessel in the canal
attempted to move to windward during that day. There were on board on
this occasion Lord Dundas, the Hon. Captain George Dundas, R.N., and
Archibald Spiers of Elderslee, together with several other gentlemen of
their acquaintance.
Miller's boat had proved a practical steam-boat, but in the 'Charlotte
Dundas' Symington had the undoubted merit of having combined together
for the first time those improvements which constitute the present
system of steam navigation. Although Henry Bell and Fulton the
American are both claimants for the above honour, their inventions
did not appear until some years afterwards, Fulton establishing his
steamboat at New York in 1807, and Bell establishing one on the Clyde
in 1811;[35] undoubted proof also exists that both these gentlemen were
well acquainted with the result of Miller of Dalswinton's experiments,
the 'Charlotte Dundas,' and must have derived considerable advantage
from such knowledge.
After the successful experiment with the 'Charlotte Dundas,' a proposal
was made to the canal proprietors to substitute steam-tugs in place
of horses, but it was rejected on the ground that the undulation
created in the water by the paddle-wheels might wash away the banks.
Lord Dundas then introduced Symington to the notice of the Duke of
Bridgewater, who, although at first averse to the project, ultimately
gave Symington an order to build eight boats on his principle. On this
Mr. Symington returned to Scotland full of hopes for the future, but
these were suddenly frustrated by the death of the Duke. His resources
were now exhausted, and, unable any longer to struggle against his
misfortunes, Mr. Symington was obliged, although with great reluctance,
to lay up his boat in a creek of the canal near Barnsford draw-bridge,
where it remained for many years exposed to the view of the public.
Shortly after Bell's steamboat, the 'Comet,' had begun plying upon
the Clyde, notice was sent by Symington, not only to Bell, but to all
other proprietors following his example, that by so doing they were
invading his right; and legal advice having been taken,[36] an action
for damages was commenced. Before, however, the cause was settled,
Mr. Symington's patent expired; and although he had given directions
to institute an application to have it renewed, this was most
unaccountably neglected to be done, and he saw his hopes expire, being
reduced to much and severe distress through want of money--a state in
which he continued more or less during the remainder of his life.
When in his last illness, the ruling passion of his life was strongly
exhibited. At one time the irregular form of his bedroom occasioned
him so much uneasiness, that, being slightly delirious, he requested
his son to reduce it to a square; while his last act was an imitation
of winding-up and adjusting a newly-invented chronometer, which he had
lately completed.--_Stuart's Anecdotes of the Steam-Engine._ London,
1829.--_Narrative by R. Bowie, proving W. Symington the Inventor of
Steam Land-Carriage Locomotion and of Steam Navigation._ London,
1833.--_Descriptive Catalogue of the Museum of the Commissioners of
Patents._
THOMAS TELFORD, F.R.S., L. and E., &c.
Born August 9, 1757. Died September 2, 1834.
The life of Thomas Telford adds another striking instance to those
on record of men who, from the force of natural talent, unaided save
by uprightness and persevering industry, have raised themselves from
the low estate in which they were born, and taken their stand among
the master-spirits of their age. Telford was born in the parish of
Westerkirk, in the pastoral district of Eskdale in Dumfriesshire. His
father, who followed the occupation of a shepherd, died while his son
was yet an infant, and the orphan boy was thus left to the care of
his mother, whose maiden name was Janet Jackson, and for whom her son
always cherished an affectionate regard, being in the habit, in after
life, of writing letters to her in printed characters, in order that
she might be able to read them without assistance.
Young Telford received the rudiments of education at the parish school
of Westerkirk, and during the summer season was employed by his uncle
as a shepherd boy. This occupation left him abundant leisure, of which
he made diligent use in studying the books furnished by his village
friends. At the age of fourteen he was apprenticed to a stone mason in
the neighbouring town of Langholm, and for several years was employed,
chiefly in his native district, in the construction of plain bridges,
farm buildings, simple village churches and manses, and other works of
a similar nature, such as are usually performed by a country mason in a
district where there is little occasion for the higher departments of
his art.
These operations afforded, however, good opportunities for obtaining
practical knowledge, and Telford himself has expressed his sense of
the value of this humble training, observing, that "as there is not
sufficient employment to produce a division of labour in building, the
young practitioner is under the necessity of making himself acquainted
with every detail in procuring, preparing, and employing every kind
of material, whether it be the produce of the forest, the quarry, or
the forge; and this necessity, although unfavourable to the dexterity
of the individual workman, who earns his livelihood by expertness in
one operation, is of singular advantage to the future architect and
engineer, whose professional excellence must rest on the adaptation
of materials, and a confirmed habit of discrimination and judicious
superintendance."
When Telford had completed his apprenticeship as a stonemason, he
remained for some time at Langholm working as a journeyman, his wages
being _eighteenpence_ per diem.[37] The first bridge masonry on
which he was engaged was the erection of a structure over the Esk at
Langholm to connect the old with the new town. Mr. Smiles, in his
'Lives of the Engineers,' tells a good story in connection with this
bridge. Telford's master, one Thompson, was bound by contract to
maintain it for a period of seven years. Not long after the completion
of the structure an unusually high flood swept along the valley, and
Thompson's wife, Tibby, knowing the terms of her husband's contract,
was in a state of great alarm lest the fabric should be carried away by
the torrent. In her distress she thought of Telford, and calling out,
"Oh, we'll be ruined--we'll be ruined! where's Tammy Telfer--where's
Tammy? send in search of him." When he came running up, Tibby
exclaimed, "Oh, Tammy, they're been on the brig and they say it's
shaking! It'll be doon." "Never you heed them, Tibby," said Telford,
clapping her on the shoulder, "there's nae fear o' the brig--I like
it a' the better that it shakes; it proves it's weel put thegither."
Tibby's fears were not, however, so easily allayed, and asserting
that she heard the brig "rumlin," she ran up and set her back against
it to keep it from falling. Whether Tibby's zealous support to the
bridge in this instance was of any avail or no, Telford's opinion of
the soundness of the structure has been proved by its withstanding the
storms of nearly a century.
At this early period of his life, Telford was remarkable for his
elastic spirits and good humour, and in his native district of Eskdale
was long remembered as 'laughing Tam.' His favourite pursuits were
not as yet scientific but literary, and he acquired some distinction
as a poet. He wrote in the homely style of Ramsay and Ferguson, and
used to contribute small pieces to Ruddiman's 'Weekly Magazine,' under
the signature of 'Eskdale Tam.' One of his compositions, entitled
'Eskdale,' a short poem descriptive of the scenes of his early years,
appeared in a provincial miscellany, and was subsequently reprinted at
Shrewsbury, at the request of his friends, and ultimately inserted in
the appendix to his life. Another pleasing fragment of his composition
is given at the end of the first volume of Dr. Currie's 'Life and Works
of Burns,' published at Liverpool in 1800; it is an extract from a
poetical epistle sent by Telford, when at Shrewsbury, to the Ayrshire
poet, recommending him to take up other subjects of a serious nature,
similar to the 'Cottar's Saturday Night.'
At the age of twenty-three Telford at length quitted Eskdale, and
visited Edinburgh with a view to obtain better employment. The splendid
improvements then in progress in that city enlarged his field of
observation, and enabled him to contemplate architecture as applied to
the object of magnificence as well as utility; and he seems at this
time to have devoted much attention both to the scientific study of
architecture and to drawing.
After remaining in Edinburgh two years, he removed to London, where
he obtained employment upon the quadrangle of Somerset House, then
erecting by Sir William Chambers, an engagement in which he states that
he obtained much practical information.
After this, in 1784, he was engaged to superintend the erection of a
house for the resident commissioner at Portsmouth Dockyard, and for the
next three years was occupied upon various buildings in this dockyard,
which gave him good opportunities of becoming well acquainted with
the construction of graving-docks, wharf walls, and other similar
engineering works. Two or three years previous to this, Telford's good
character and promising talent had secured for him the friendship of
two families resident in his native district,--the Pasleys and the
Johnstones,--and to their influence his early employment on important
works is in some measure to be attributed.
In 1787, having completed his engagements at Portsmouth, he was
invited by Sir William Pulteney (a member of the Johnstone family) to
take the superintendence of some alterations to be made in Shrewsbury
Castle. Telford consequently removed to Shrewsbury, where he was
employed to erect a new jail, completed in 1793, and was afterwards
appointed county surveyor, in which office (retained by him until
death) he had to design, and oversee the construction of, bridges and
similar works. The first bridge which he designed and built was that
over the Severn at Mont-fort, consisting of three elliptical stone
arches, one of fifty-eight, and the others of fifty-five feet span.
His next was the iron bridge over the Severn at Buildwas, which was
the third iron bridge ever erected in Great Britain, the first being
the Colebrookdale in Shropshire, built in the years 1777-9, and the
second the Wearmouth,[38] erected between the years 1793-6. Telford's
bridge over the Severn was erected in 1796, and consisted of a single
arch of 130 feet span, formed of five cast iron ribs, and having a rise
of only 14 feet; the width of the platform is 18 feet, and the total
weight of iron in the bridge about 174 tons; it was constructed by the
Coalbrookdale Ironmasters at a cost of 6,034_l._ Forty smaller bridges
were erected in Shropshire under Telford's direction.