James Walker (engineer)

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James Walker (engineer) bigraphy, stories - Scottish engineer

James Walker (engineer) : biography

14 September 1781 – 8 October 1862

James Walker, FRS, (14 September 1781 – 8 October 1862) was an influential Scottish civil engineer of the first half of the 19th century.

Walker was born in Falkirk and was apprenticed to his uncle Ralph Walker in approximately 1800, with whom he gained experience working on the design and construction of the West India and East India Docks in London. Also in London, he worked on the Surrey Commercial Docks from about 1810 onwards, remaining as engineer to the Surrey Commercial Dock Company until his death in 1862.

In 1821 Walker built his first lighthouse, the West Usk Lighthouse, near Newport, South Wales. He went on to build another 21 lighthouses.

An associate of Thomas Telford, he succeeded him as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, serving from 1834 to 1845. He was also chief engineer of Trinity House, hence his considerable involvement with coastal engineering and lighthouses. He was conferred with Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland in 1857.http://www.iesis.org/honorary-fellows.html

Memorial

A memorial to Walker was commissioned by the Institution of Civil Engineers to stand at Greenland Dock and was unveiled in 1990.

Projects and other work

James Walker worked on various engineering projects, including:

  • Greenland Dock, London (c.1808 – c.1862)
  • The Regent’s Bridge (today Vauxhall Bridge), London (1816, since demolished)
  • West Usk Lighthouse, near Newport, South Wales
  • Survey for the Leeds and Selby Railway (1829)The North Eastern Railway; its rise and development, William Weaver Tomlinson, 1915, p. 203,
  • Start Point lighthouse, Devon (1836)
  • Advice on alignment of Hereford and Gloucester Canal (1838)
  • Improvements to Aberdeen Harbour (1838)
  • Wolf Rock beacon and lighthouse (1840–1862)
  • River Severn and South Wales Railway (1845), a report that blocked Brunel’s plans for railway bridges across the River Severn.
  • Gunfleet Lighthouse, off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex (1850)
  • Bishop Rock lighthouse (1858)
  • Needles Lighthouse
  • Completion of the Caledonian Canal (1838–1848)
  • Alderney breakwater, Channel Islands (1847)
  • St Catherine’s Harbour, Jersey, Channel Islands (1847–1856)
  • Improvements to navigation in the River Tyne (1853–1861)

Walker was also involved in the design of a dock harbour in Hamburg (1845, with William Lindley and Heinrich Hübbe). He was also involved in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, preparing a report on the merits of stationary and locomotive engines along with other notable engineers of the day.Report to the directors of the Liverpool and Manchester railway: on the comparative merits of locomotive and fixed engines, as a moving power, James Walker, Robert Stephenson, Joseph Locke, Henry Booth, 1831, He was also for a long period consulting engineer to the Board of Admiralty.