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 U-UNIVfR.C/A
 
 SIE WILLIAM FAffiBAIRN, BART,
 
 I.ONDOS : PRINTED BY 
 
 8POTTISWOODB ASD CO., NEW-STHEET bQUAIlE 
 AND PAKLIAMKXT STREET
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 SIR WILLIAM FAffiBAIRN, BART. 
 
 F.R.S., LL.D., D.C.L. 
 
 CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE 
 
 MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS 
 
 HONORARY ASSOCIATE OF THE INSTITUTION OF NAVAL ARCHITECTS 
 
 CORRESPONDING ASSOCIATE OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, TURIN 
 
 ETC. 
 
 ~W IR, I T T E IN" BIT H I M S IE L IE 1 
 
 EDITED AND COMPLETED 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM POLE, F.E.S. 
 
 MEMBER OF COUNCIL OP THE INSTITUTION OP CIVIL ENGINEERS 
 
 WITH PORTBAIT 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 1877 
 
 All rights reterved
 
 TA 
 
 .14-0 
 
 FI5 A 2. 
 PREFACE. 
 
 IT WAS NOT without some hesitation that I undertook, at 
 the request of the family of the late SIR WILLIAM FAIR- 
 BAIBX, a task which, under ordinary circumstances, would 
 have been better performed by a more practised writer. 
 It was, however, considered that, from the peculiar nature 
 of his occupations and pursuits, justice could hardly be 
 done to his biography, except by some one familiar with 
 the technical and scientific subjects it must so largely treat 
 of; and it was on this ground alone that I felt justified in 
 accepting the proposal. 
 
 The autobiography which forms the earlier part of 
 the history bears on its first page the following remark : 
 
 This memoir was written at the request of some highly 
 respected friends, who were desirous that I should leave on re- 
 cord the events of what they were pleased to call an eventful 
 and useful life. To this I consented, on condition that it 
 should not be published till after my death ; and then only in 
 case my executors and friends should think it would be for the 
 benefit of those who have to encounter similar difficulties in 
 life. 
 
 As most of the account of my early life was written from 
 memory during a voyage, the narrative will require careful 
 revision and condensation, including such omissions as in the 
 judgment of my friends may be deemed necessary. 
 
 W. F. 
 
 MANCHESTER : March 17, 1851.
 
 vl PREFACE. 
 
 My work in regard to this has been simply to carry 
 out the revision directed by the author. 
 
 For the remainder of the biography, which records 
 the important labours of the last thirty or forty years of 
 his life, my data have been derived from his published 
 works and memoirs ; from an immense mass of his corre- 
 spondence and papers put into my hands ; from informa- 
 tion furnished to me by relatives and friends ; and from 
 facts within my own knowledge. I take this opportunity 
 of expressing my thanks to all those who have so kindly 
 given me their aid. 
 
 I have thought it would add to the interest of the 
 work to give a notice, more complete than has hitherto 
 appeared, of the profession to which Sm WILLIAM FAIR- 
 BAIKN belonged; one which, although so recent in its 
 origin, has acquired in the present day a magnitude and 
 importance most remarkable. 
 
 In regard to the general selection of the matter that 
 appears in the following pages, I have been guided by the 
 judgment and wishes of the family ; for the literary and 
 technical treatment I alone am responsible. 
 
 W. P. 
 
 OLTTB, LONDON: 
 December 1876.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTEK I. 
 
 ON THE PROFESSION OP ENGINEERING GENERALLY. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Interest attaching to the Profession of Engineering Origin of the Term 
 Engineer Examples of its early Use Ancient Engineering Works 
 Persons by whom they were constructed The Architect The 
 Ancient Priests' Title 'Pontifex' Works in the Middle Ages 
 Bridges ; the ' Freres Pontiers ' Hydraulic Works in the North of 
 Italy Appreciation of Science Belidor Want of Men to execute 
 such Works Rise of a new Class of Practitioners called Civil En- 
 gineers Engineering in England Early Works The New River 
 British Bridges Inigo Jones, Labelye, Edwards True Rise of 
 English Engineering with Brindley and Smeaton First Use in 
 England of the present Name of the Profession Sineaton's Suc- 
 cessors : Watt, Milne, Rennie, Telford The Modern Era of 
 Railways Definition of the Profession of Engineering, and the 
 Occupations comprised therein Importance of the Profession as 
 estimated by the Magnitude and Value of the Works executed . 1 
 
 CHAPTEK II. 
 
 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. 
 
 Mechanical Engineering a Branch of Civil Engineering, and not distinct 
 from it Early History of Practical Mechanics Archimedes 
 Hero Vitruvius Works on Mechanics Mechanical Engineering 
 in England Peter Morice's Water Machinery Millwrights Brind- 
 ley Smeaton The Iron Manufacture Works in Sussex Dud 
 Dudley; Darby, and Colebrook Dale The Iron Bridge over the 
 Severn Puddling Cort's Improvements Welsh Iron Works 
 Scotch Iron Works The Carron Company Smeaton Watt and 
 the Steam Engine Connection with Roebuck and Boulton Soho 
 Works The Rotating Engine Albion Mills Rennie Great 
 Stimulus to Manufacturing Progress Later Improvements in the
 
 ii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Manufacture of Iron The Hot Blast Cleveland and Lancashire 
 Iron Districts Statistics Improvements in Workshop Processes, 
 Tools, and Appliances Early Difficulties, and how they were 
 surmounted Founding, Forging, Riveting, Shaping Turning, 
 and Improvement in Lathes Maudsley Boring ; Wilkinson 
 Planing ; Clement Shaping and Slotting Machines Screwing and 
 Screw Threads Whitworth's Improvements Development of Au- 
 tomatic Tools largely due to Strikes among Workmen Decay of 
 the Millwright Class Large Structures in Iron Iron Bridges, Cast 
 and Wrought Iron Ships Iron Armour Plates and Forts Heavy 
 Guns Fairhairn as a Mechanical Engineer 21 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM BIRTH TO THE END OF RESIDENCE AT KELSO. 
 AGE, TO 14. 1789-1803. 
 
 Date and Place of Birth Pedigree Father and Mother First School- 
 ing Athletic Exercises Family Circumstances Connection with 
 Sir Walter Scott and his Family Character and Ability of Wil- 
 liam's Mother Spinning Competitions Farm at Moy Difficult 
 and trying Journey to the Highlands Ingenious Method of clear- 
 ing the Land Farm Improvements Effect of Residence at Moy 
 Early Indications of Taste for Mechanical Pursuits Relinquish- 
 ment of the Conduct of the Farm Mullochy School ; its Disci- 
 pline Further Education with his Uncle at Galashiels The 
 Psalms of David Return to Kelso Employment on an Engineer- 
 ing Work Serious Accident 51 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 FIRST EMPLOYMENT AND APPRENTICESHIP. 
 AGE 14-21. 1803-1810. 
 
 Appointment of Andrew at Percy Main Colliery, Northumberland 
 William joins him Prosperity among the Pitman and Sailors ; 
 its Consequences Boxing Matches; William's First Victory 
 
 fc Bound Apprentice to a Millwright Endeavours to improve his 
 Mind Programme of Study First Love Attachment ; Its influ- 
 ence on his Literary Abilities Frederick and Felicia Mathe- 
 matics, History and Poetry Mechanical Pursuits Design for 
 a Clock-Orrery; its Failure Music and Musical Instruments 
 The Story of a Fiddle Home-Brewed Music Takea charge of 
 the Steam-Engine and Pumps of the Colliery Severe and trying 
 Nature of the Duties Subscription to the Keg ; its Consequences 
 Completion of his Term of Apprenticeship George Stephenson 67
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 REMOVAL TO LONDON EMPLOYMENT THERE. 
 AGE 21-24. 1810-1813. 
 
 PAQK 
 
 Search for Employment Work at Newcastle David Hogg Tlie 
 future Mrs. Fairbairn Discussion Society The Theatre The 
 Poet of Plessy Castles in the Air Embarks for London Perils 
 of the Voyage Arrival in the Thames The Captain's Walk 
 on Shore Midnight Murders Difficulties Application to Mr. 
 Rennie The Millwrights' Society Cold and Hunger New Use 
 of a Bedstead Refusal of Permission to work with Mr. Rennie 
 Walk to Hertford Discouragement Sunshine Chestnut Wind- 
 mill Supper Return to London Trades' Unions The Indepen- 
 dent Society Employment and Residence in London Mr. Hall . 81 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 FURTHER EMPLOYMENT MARRIAGE AND SETTLEMENT IN MANCHESTER. 
 
 AGE 24-28. 1813-1817. 
 
 Studies in Agriculture Steam Ploughing The Society of Arts and 
 the Board of Agriculture Sausage-Making Machine Visit to 
 Bath Reminiscences of the Novelists Bristol South Wales 
 ' Dublin Breakfast with Duke Humphrey Festivities in the Phre- 
 nix Park Employment with Mr. Robinson Nail-Making Machi- 
 nery Passage to Liverpool First Arrival at Manchester Em- 
 ployment with Mr. Parkinson Attack of Scarlet Fever Mr. 
 Houtson His Brother, the African Traveller Belzoni 
 Prospects for the Future Saving Money The Fiddle again 
 Habits of the Lancashire Operatives Marriage in 1816 Domes- 
 tic Arrangements Mrs. Fairbairn's Illness Accident by Fire 
 The New Blackfriars Bridge at Manchester Mr. Hewes Resolu- 
 tion to start Business on his own Account ..... 95 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF BUSINESS IN MANCHESTER SUCCESSFUL ESTA- 
 BLISHMENT OF MANUFACTURING WORKS. 
 AGE 28-34. 1817-1823. 
 
 Determination to set up for himself in Business First Order under- 
 taken Partnership with Lillie Patent Claim Difficulties and 
 Discouragements Small Orders The Irishman as a Motive Power 
 Mr. Murray Order to rearrange his Mill Machinery The 
 Poverty of the Land Nature of the Alterations Defects observed 
 and Improvements introduced Their Importance and Success
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Eepairs on Sundays abolished New Mill for M'Counel and 
 Kennedy Reminiscences of Murdoch, of Soho Rising Fame of 
 the new Firm of Fairbairn and Lillie Increase of the Manu- 
 facturing Establishment Constant Occupation . . . . 109 
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 WATER-WHEELS AT CATRINE BANK CONNECTION WITH ESCHER 
 JOURNEY TO THE CONTINENT AND WORK THERE. 
 AGE 34-41. 1824-1830. 
 
 Order from Mr. Buchanan, of Catrine Bank, for New Waterwheels 
 Mr. Fairbairn visits the Site Nature of the old Machinery Im- 
 provements proposed Completion and Success of the New Wheels 
 Character of Mr, Buchanan Application from Mr. Escher, of 
 Zurich Adventures of a Cotton Mill during the War Lavater 
 Effect of the Peace in stimulating Industry on the Continent 
 Account of Mr. Fairbairn's Journey Posting through France 
 Lille Paris The Old Parts of the Town M. Fourneyron and his 
 Turbine Stay at Zurich The Mills and the Alterations to them 
 Pleasure Excursions The Righi Sunrise Increasing Success 
 in the Business Mr. Fairbairn joins the Institution of Civil Engi- 
 neers 119 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 STEAM LOCOMOTION ON CANALS IRON BOATS VOYAGE OF THE 
 ' LORD DUNDAS ' TROUBLES IN BUSINESS DISSOLUTION OF PART- 
 NERSHIP. 
 
 AGE 41-43. 1830-1832. 
 
 Experiments on the Ardrossan Canal Mr. Fairbairn's Trials on the 
 Forth and Clyde Navigation Results Competition of Railways 
 with Canals Fears of the Proprietors Endeavours to introduce 
 quick Passenger Boats Commission to Mr. Fairbairn to build a 
 new Iron Vessel, to be propelled by Steam-Power Publication of 
 the Experiments Mr. Fairbairn's first Literary Essay Contents 
 of the Book Dr. Henry's Opinion on the Style The 'Lord 
 Dundas ' Description First Trial on the River Irwell Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's Anxiety Results of the Trial Mr. George Rennie Other 
 Trials Departure of the 'Lord Dundas' for the Isle of Man 
 Deviation from the proper Course Errors of the Compass Mr. 
 Fairbairn follows His Search for the Boat Correction of the 
 Compass Arrival in the Clyde Further Trials Final Result 
 Letter to the Baron Dupin Influence of this Event on Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's Career New Speculation in the Egerton Dye- Works 
 Failure Misunderstandings between Mr. Fairbaim and Mr. Lillie 
 Resulting Dissolution of Partnership 131
 
 CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 IRON SHIP-BUILDING RIVER BANN EXPERIMENTS ON IRON 
 THE RIVETING MACHINE. 
 AGE 43-50. 1832-1839. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Iron Ship-Building The 'Manchester' Canal Steamer Other Iron 
 Vessels Establishment of a Ship-Building Yard at Millwall 
 Competition Difficulties "and Anxiety Perseverance and Energy 
 Evening Meetings for Discussion Proposed Establishment of 
 ' The Workshop ' Periodical HodgMnson Woodcroft Nasmyth 
 Literary and Scientific Ambition Soham Mere Drainage 
 Report on the River Bann Mr. John Frederick Bateman Recom- 
 mendations adopted Construction of Reservoirs River Don 
 Experiments and Investigation on hot and cold Blast Cast-iron 
 in conjunction with Mr. Eaton Hodgkinson, for the British Asso- 
 ciation Paper for the Manchester Literary and Philosophical 
 Society The Riveting Machine Mr. Robert Smith Patent taken 
 out . . 151 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 JOURNEY TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND WORK FOR THE TURKISH 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 AGE 50-54. 1839-1843. 
 
 Commission sent by the Sultan to England Their Report Applica- 
 tion to Mr. Fairbairn He visits Constantinople Death of the 
 Sultan Ohanes Dadian Exploration of the Country Animated 
 Boulder Stones Survey of the Government Manufacturing Works 
 Their Imperfections Astrological Considerations about casting 
 a Gun The Seraskier's Dinner Party English- Railways Trades 
 in the open Air Mr. Fairbairn's Attempt to imitate the Turkish 
 Workmen, and ignominious Failure Large Orders Second Mis- 
 sion to England Investigation regarding Iron Ores Paper for 
 the Institution of Civil Engineers Telford Medal Account of a 
 large Woollen Factory Complimentary Letter, and Decoration 
 from the Sultan , . 165 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 
 AGE 51-60. 1840-1849. 
 
 Conclusion of the Autobiography Data for subsequent Chapters 
 Professional Matters Haarlem Lake The Manchester Geological
 
 xii CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Society Further Experiments on Oast-IronLetters from a 
 Fellow-Labourer Accidents in Factories Patent for Improve- 
 ments in joining Metal PJates The Smoke Nuisance The use of 
 Iron for krge Buildings Fires in Liverpool Fire-Proof Con- 
 structions Fall of a Mill at Oldham Bridge at Basle Iron 
 Structure Commission of 1847 Mr. Fairbairn's Evidence "Water- 
 Wheels with ventilated Buckets Personal Matters Pupils Dr. 
 Birkbeck Miss Fairbairn's Marriage Death of Mr. Fairbairn's 
 Father Haydon, the Artist Proposed Wrestling Match with 
 George Stephenson 177 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 THE CONWAY AND BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGES. 
 
 1845-1849. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn's Book on the Subject Origin and early History 
 The Chester and Holyhead Railway Mr. Stephenson's original 
 Idea Mr. Fairbairn consulted by him Doubt as to the best 
 form of Tube, cylindrical, elliptical, or rectangular Nature of 
 the Strains Weakness of the upper Part Mr. Eaton Hodgkin- 
 son Corrugated Top Reports to the Directors Proposed use 
 of Suspension Chains Mr. Fairbairn's Confidence The large 
 Model Drawings for the Bridges Definition of Mr. Fairbairn's 
 Position Resolutions of the Directors Commencement of the 
 Construction of the Conway Bridge Contracts for Ironwork 
 Erection and fixing Completion Retirement of Mr. Fairbairn 
 Publication of the Book Assistance of Eminent Men Patent 
 for Tubular Bridges Extensive Manufacture of them . . .195 
 
 CHAPTER XIY. 
 
 BRIDGE OVER THE RHINE AT COLOGNE. 
 1849-1852. 
 
 Application to Mr. Fairbairn Proposed Chain Bridge The Chevalier 
 Bunsen Mr. Fairbairn visits Berlin Reception by the Baron 
 Yon Humboldt Presentation to the King Correspondence with 
 Humboldt and Bunsen Mr. Fairbairn's Impressions of the Berlin 
 Journey Visit of Commissioners to England Letter to Mrs. 
 Edgeworth Invitation by the Prussian Authorities for competi- 
 tive Designs on the Chain Principle This Principle abandoned 
 Second Mission to England Complete Design sent in by Mr. 
 Fairbairn Adoption of the general Principle Rejection of the 
 Tubular Form of Girder and Preference for the Open Lattice 
 Final Correspondence . . , . . . . . .215
 
 CONTENTS; Xlll 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 SCIENTIFIC HONOURS. 
 AGE 61-64. 1850-1853. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Culminating Point in Mr. Fairbairn's Life Effect of Controversies 
 The Royal Society of London Mr. George Kennie Certificate- 
 Election as F.R.S. The National Institute of France Its Founda- 
 tion and Constitution The French Academy and Johnson 
 Vacancy Mr. Fairbairn proposed as a Candidate Commission of 
 the Academy of Sciences Correspondence with Arago, Dupin, 
 Morin, Poncelet Water- Wheels Election The Athenseurn Club 
 Its Objects and Mode of Election Rule II. Mr. Fairbairn 
 elected without Ballot Minor Honours ..... 239 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 STEAM BOILERS AND MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH. 
 1844-1874. 
 
 Steam-Boilers Mr. Fairbairn engaged largely in their Construction 
 Improvement in their Design The Two-Flued, or Lancashire 
 Boiler Boiler Explosions Their Frequency in the Manufacturing 
 Districts Mr. Fairbairn's frequent Evidence at Coroners' Inquests 
 Lectures at Leeds and other Towns Paper at the British Asso- 
 ciation Foundation of the Association for the Prevention of Boiler 
 Explosions First Ideas First Steps for the Formation of the 
 Society Fairbairn and Whitworth Notices by the Press Pre- 
 liminary Meetings Formal Establishment Mr. Fairbairn becomes 
 President Present State of the Association Theoretical Investi- 
 gations undertaken by Mr. Fairbairn Paper to the Royal Society 
 The Resistance of Tubes to Collapse The Strength of Glass 
 The Properties of Steam Letter from Regnault Legislative Inter- 
 ference in regard to Steam Boilers Mr. Fairbairn's Opinions there- 
 on Committees of the British Association and of the House of 
 Commons Sir William's late Improvements in Boilers Communi- 
 cation with the Association near the Close of his Life Tribute by 
 them to his Memory . . . 256 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MR. HOPKINS'S EARTH EXPERIMENTS. 
 1861-1857. 
 
 Mr. William Hopkins of Cambridge His Investigations in the Appli- 
 cation of Mechanics to Geology Igneous Origin of the Earth 
 Condition of its Crust Internal Heat Scientific Discussions
 
 xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Experiments wanted of a practical Nature Application to Mr. 
 Fairbaini Experiments begun in 1851 Grant of the Royal 
 Society Mr. Joule Professor William Thomson Ingenious 
 Magnetic Indicator Scientific Correspondence between Mr. 
 Hopkins and Mr. Joule Progress of the Experiments Liverpool 
 Meeting of the British Association in 1854 Mr. Hopldns's Illness 
 and Death Conclusions drawn from the Experiments . . . 285 
 
 CHAPTER XYI1I. 
 
 THE MANCHESTER MANUFACTURING BUSINESS. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn as a Manufacturing Engineer The Manchester Works 
 Their Origin Improvements in Driving Machinery Water- 
 WheelsTestimony to their Efficiency Dissolution of Partner- 
 ship New Branches of Business Ship-building The Manufac- 
 ture of Steam-Engines and Boilers Locomotives The Tank 
 Engine Work for Constantinople Entrance of Mr. Fairbairn's 
 Son into the Business Liverpool Landing Stage The Tubular 
 Bridge Patent Improvements in the Steam-Engine Caisson for 
 Keyham Dockyard Express Locomotives Tubular Cranes 
 Strike of the Engineering Workmen Letters of ' Amicus ' to the 
 'Times' Lord Shaftesbury The Small Arms Factory at Enfield 
 Saltaire Woollen Factory Great Prosperity of the Manchester 
 Business Retirement of Mr. Fairbairn Flour-Mill and Bakery for 
 the Crimean War Rebuilding of Viaducts on the Manchester and 
 Sheffield Railway Limited Liability Company Winding Up . 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE MILLWALL SHIP-BUILDING FACTORY. 
 
 Contrast with the Manchester Business Early History of Iron 
 Ship-building The ' Aaron Manby ' and Sir Charles Napier 
 Mr. Fairbairn's early Experiments Choice of a Locality for the 
 Ship-building Manufacture Millwall Outlay Management 
 Orders Work for the Admiralty, the East India Company, and 
 the Mercantile Marine Royal Pleasure Yachts Patents Diffi- 
 culties Competition Want of Experience Unfavourable Reports 
 as to Mr. Fairbairn's Credit Depression and Anxiety Resolu- 
 tion to get rid of the Works Their Sale Mr. Fairbairn's Sons 
 Large amount of Loss by these Works 333
 
 CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTEK XX. 
 
 IRON ARMOUR. 
 
 AGE 73-79. 1861-1867. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Application of Iron to Defensive Purposes Change in the Construc- 
 tion of the Navy Iron Ships Refusal of the Admiralty to adopt 
 the new Material Ignorance and Prejudice in regard to it 
 Rifled Guns and Shell Casing of Timber Ships with Iron The 
 Emperor of the French The Russian War ' La Gloire ' The 
 1 Warrior ' Iron Armour Plan of first doing a Thing and 
 then enquiring how it should be done Appointment of the 
 Iron Committee Their Labours Evidence Experiments 
 Nature of the Material Mode of Manufacture Hammering and 
 Rolling Form and Material of the Shot Law of Resistance of 
 Plates Mode of applying the Armour to the Vessels Wood 
 Backing Minor Particulars Experimental Targets Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's Contributions to the Committee The Gibraltar Shield . 343 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS. 
 AGE 61-80. 1850-1869. 
 
 Visit to Northern Europe Interview with the Emperor of Russia 
 Medal from the King of Sweden Inventors, Letter from Mr. 
 Cobden Exhibition of 1851 British Association at Hull 
 Cooling Air in Hot Climates The Institution of Mechanical 
 Engineers Business in France Mr. Babbage French Exhibition 
 of 1855 Backwardness of English Design Lord Ashburton The 
 Legion of Honour James Watt Henry Cort Manchester Art 
 Treasures Exhibition Journey to Italy Atlantic Cable Man- 
 chester Literary and Philosophical Society Gold Medal from 
 the Royal Society President of the British Association at Man- 
 chester in 1861 Offer of Knighthood Richard Roberts Honorary 
 Degrees British Association at Cambridge International Exhi- 
 bition of 1862 Baronetcy 361 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 LITERARY WORK. 
 1850-1873. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn a voluminous Writer Tubular Girder Bridges Paper 
 for the Royal Society Effect of repeated Meltings on Cast-iron
 
 i CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGB 
 
 Application of Iron to Building Purposes Article ' Iron ' in the 
 ' Encyclopaedia Britannica ' ' Useful Information for Engineers ' 
 Self- Acting Brakes The Strength of Iron Ships Second Series of 
 ' Useful Information ' Effect of vibratory Action on Girders 
 Mills and MUlwork Iron Ship-Building Third Series of ' Useful 
 Information ' Contribution to Baines's ' Lancashire and Cheshire ' 
 On the Durability of Iron Ships Mr. Fairbairn as a Lecturer 
 His Last Address Mr. W. C. Unwin . . . . . .399 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ILLNESS AND DEATH. 
 
 The Fairbairns a long-lived Family William's robust Constitution 
 First serious Illness Reaches his Seventy-eighth Year Loss of 
 his Eldest Son Letters from Sir David Brewster and Dr. Robin- 
 son Complaints Obliged to give up Romping and other juvenile 
 Propensities Owens College Bronchial Attack Visits to Brigh- 
 ton and to Holland Park Marriage of his Grand-daughter ' Give 
 her a Round ' Visits to Mr. Bateman Last Days at Moor Park 
 Death Bishop Sumner Funeral Obituary Notices Memorial 
 by the City of Manchester 423 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PERSONAL DETAILS ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER. 
 
 The Golden Wedding Day Sons and Daughters The present Baro- 
 net The Royal Family, the Prince Consort and the Prince of 
 Wales Offers of Rank House at the Polygon, Society there 
 Mr. Fairbairn's Character Business Integrity Domestic Letters 
 New Stock and Barrel Two Moons Opinions on worthless 
 Schemes Religious Feelings, Cross Street Chapel, the Rev. W. 
 Gaskell, Rival Hymn-Books Peculiar Notions of Religious Tolera- 
 tionNovel Reading Correspondence with Mrs. Gaskell Pro- 
 fessional and Scientific Character Personal and Private Traits 
 Indefatigable Activity Regular and punctual Habits Liberality 
 Popularity ' There's Fairbairn ! ' Fondness for Children- 
 Moral . 447 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 List of Sir William Fairbairn's published Works and Papers . . 475 
 
 INDEX . . , ..>- -v ^ . 493
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PROFESSION OF ENGINEERING GENERALLY
 
 INTEREST ATTACHING TO THE PROFESSION OF ENGINEERING 
 ORIGIN OF THE TEETH ENGINEER EXAMPLES OF ITS EARLY USE 
 ANCIENT ENGINEERING WORKS PERSONS BY WHOM THEY WERE CON- 
 STRUCTED THE ARCHITECT THE ANCIENT PRIESTS' TITLE 'PONTIFEX' 
 WORKS IN THE MIDDLE AGES BRIDGES; THE <FRERES PONTIERS 7 
 HYDRAULIC WORKS LN THE NORTH OF ITALY APPRECIATION OF 
 SCIENCE BELIDOR WANT OF MEN TO EXECUTE SUCH WORKS RISE 
 OF A NEW CLASS OF PRACTITIONERS CALLED CIVIL ENGINEERS 
 ENGINEERING IN ENGLAND EARLY WORKS THE NEW RITER BRITISH 
 BRIDGES INIGO JONES, LABELYE, EDWARDS TRUE RISE OF ENGLISH 
 ENGINEERING WITH BRINDLEY AND SMEATON FIRST USE IN ENGLAND 
 OF THE PRESENT NAME OF THE PROFESSION SMEATON's SUCCESSORS : 
 WATT, MYLNE, RENNIB, TELFORD THE MODERN ERA OF RAILWAYS 
 DEFINITION OF THE PROFESSION OF ENGINEERING, AND THE OCCU- 
 PATIONS COMPRISED THEREIN IMPORTANCE OF THE PROFESSION AS 
 ESTIMATED BY THE MAGNITUDE AND VALUE OF THE WORKS EXECUTED.
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 THE SUBJECT of this Memoir was a worthy representative 
 of a class of men to whom we owe, in a large measure, 
 the wealth and prosperity our country now enjoys. 
 
 The progressive improvements of the last hundred 
 years, whether in o.ur means of communication, in the 
 spread of our knowledge, in the position of our science, 
 in our arts and manufactures, in our provisions of war, or 
 in our personal and domestic comforts and enjoyments, 
 have been largely dependent on the work of the engineer. 
 In some cases he has been almost the sole author of the 
 progress made ; in scarcely any would such progress have 
 been possible, unaided by the mechanical design and con- 
 structive art which it is his province to supply. 
 
 The profession of engineering has, indeed, now taken 
 such a high position in the economy of modern life, and 
 its members are called on to exercise such important 
 functions in the community, that the nature of their 
 occupation cannot but be a matter of general interest; 
 and the life and work of an eminent engineer may, 
 in the present day, be deemed, without presumption, as 
 worthy of being put upon record as were the lives and 
 works of heroes or statesmen in the olden time. 
 
 It will be an appropriate introduction to the Life of 
 Sir William Fairbairn, to give some account generally of 
 the profession to which he belonged. 
 
 The term engineer, as defining an occupation, is an 
 
 B 2
 
 4 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. r. 
 
 old one; but it was originally applied only to persons 
 in the military profession, and does not appear to have 
 been used by civilians until the middle of the last century. 
 It is popularly supposed to be derived from the word 
 engine, this impression being supported by the meanings 
 given by Dr. Johnson, namely: 
 
 1. One who manages engines; one who directs the 
 artillery [i.e. the warlike engines] of an army. 
 
 2. A maker of engines. 
 
 In reality, however, the derivation lies much farther 
 away. The root of the term is found in the Sanscrit jan, 
 to be born, from which came the Greek form yev, and 
 the Latin gen, the latter being embodied in the old verb 
 genere, with its compound ingenere (changed into in- 
 gignere), to implant by birth, and in the later substantive 
 ingenium, an innate or natural quality. 
 
 By some obscure process, this word came to be used, 
 like the Greek fn^ayij, to s ig n ify an instrument or 
 machine (in the same manner as ars gave rise to the 
 word artillery) ; and so it became transmuted into the 
 old French engin, which has given rise to our engine, but 
 which, in its own country, has become obsolete, being 
 supplanted by the more modern word machine. 
 
 The term engineer comes more directly from another 
 old French word in the form of a verb s'ingenier. The 
 meaning of this was ' chercher dans son genie, dans son 
 esprit, quelque moyen pour reussir.' 1 All authorities, 
 our own great lexicographer included, agree that this 
 word is to be taken as the true origin ; and thus we 
 arrive at the interesting and certainly little known fact, 
 that an engineer is, according to the strict derivation of 
 the term, not necessarily a person who has to do with 
 engines, but anyone who seeks in his mind, who sets 
 his mental powers in action, in order to discover or devise 
 
 1 Littr4, Dictionnaire de la Langm Franqaise,
 
 THE TEEM ENGINEER. 5 
 
 some means of succeeding in a difficult task he may have 
 to perform. 
 
 It would be impossible to give a nobler or more 
 appropriate description than this, of the manner in which 
 our greatest engineering works have been produced, or 
 the nature of the qualifications by which the greatest men 
 in the profession have acquired their renown. 
 
 The first form of the term applied to a person was 
 the low Latin ingeniator ; then came the Provencal en- 
 ginhaire, or enginhador, and then the old French en- 
 gigneur, which became modernised into ingenieur^ and so 
 we get engineer. 
 
 The following are examples of the early French use 
 of the word : 
 
 Twelfth Century. ' II fait creuser souz terre, a pic et & 
 martel a ses angigneors dont ot pris maint chastel.' 
 
 Thirteenth Century. ' Li engignieres fiit moult sage.' 
 ' Le Koy fit faire xviii. engins, dont Jocelin de Connant 
 estoit mestre engigneur.' 
 
 Fifteenth Century. ' D'autre part il-y-avait dedans Mor- 
 taigne un maistre engigneur qui avisa et considera 1'engin de 
 ceux de Valenciennes et comment il grevait leur forteresse.' 
 
 1 Un maitre engigneur d'appertise (un homme qui fait les 
 tours de force) avait attache une corde, laquelle corde corn- 
 prenait moult loin et par dessu? la maison.' 
 
 {Sixteenth Century. ' Ce que nos plus subtils ingenieux 
 d'aujourd'hui appellent flancs-fiches.' 
 
 * La mecanique ou art des ingenieurs.' 
 
 In 1588 a curious work was published, in Italian and 
 French, by a Capitano Agostino Eamelli, who styled 
 himself ' Ingegniero del Christianissimo Ee di Francia e 
 di Pollonia.' It is a description of various ingenious con- 
 structive devices for both military and civil use ; and 
 here, therefore, we have an early identification of the
 
 6 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. T. 
 
 term engineer with precisely the kind of work that 
 modern engineers are engaged in. 
 
 The Italians and Spanish, in adopting the term, have 
 adhered more closely to the Latin form of the original 
 in their ingegnere and ingegnero. The Germans adopt the 
 French word. 
 
 The use of the term in England can be traced back to 
 the thirteenth century. In the wardrobe account of King 
 Edward I., A.D. 1300, occur the following passages : 
 
 To Master Eeginald, engineer, for going by the King's 
 order from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, to 
 the Sheriff of Northumberland, to procure and chuse timber for 
 the making of machines for the castle of Berwick, for seventy- 
 eight days' expenses in going and returning, and for hackneys 
 for riding, &c., 21. 8s. Od. (Another article charges his pay at 
 6d. per diem.) 
 
 Brother Thomas, of Bamburgh, and brother Eobert de Ulm, 
 master engineers, retained in the King's service for the Scottish 
 wars, with Alan Bright, carpenter ; Eobert at 9d. per diem, 
 Alan at 4cZ. 
 
 Gerard de Mayek, engineer, and Gaillard Abot, carpenter, 
 employed by the King to make the pele of Dumfries at 6d. per 
 diem each. 1 
 
 In 1344, it would appear that 321 artificers and 
 engineers were borne on the books of the Ordnance in 
 time of peace. 2 
 
 Coming down to Queen Elizabeth's time, we find the 
 term used twice by Shakspeare. Writing about 1602, he 
 makes Hamlet say : 
 
 1 Grose's Military Antiquities, vol. i. 1786. 
 
 2 Major Duncan's History of the Royal Artillery, vol. i. 1872. 
 
 James's Military Dictionary gives 1650 as the earliest date when this 
 title was used, but this is proved by the extracts in the text to be an error. 
 
 For this interesting information as to the origin and early use of the term 
 engineer, the editor is indebted to the kind aid of Col. Paslev, R.E.
 
 ANCIENT ENGINEERING WORKS. 7 
 
 For 'tis the sport to have the engineer 
 Hoist with his own petard ; and it shall go hard 
 But I will delve one yard below their mines, 
 And blow them at the moon. 
 
 A few years later, in ' Troilus and Cressida,' Thersites 
 is made to say : 
 
 Then there's Achilles, a rare enginer. If Troy be not 
 taken till these two undermine it, the walls will stand till they 
 fall of themselves. 
 
 These passages would seem to show that the word 
 was a familiar one in Shakspeare's time. 
 
 The latter orthography is found in other places ; 
 Johnson quotes one, and in Cotgrave's 'French and 
 English Dictionary,' 1611, the word ingenieur is translated 
 'enginer, engine- maker, fortifier.' 
 
 An engineer therefore was a person in military ser- 
 vice, whose business it was not only to direct warlike 
 engines or weapons (a duty transferred at a later period 
 to the artillery officer), but to undertake the design and 
 construction of fortifications, siege works, roads, bridges, 
 buildings, machinery, and all other works for military 
 service which required knowledge, experience, and skill, 
 in the arts of construction. 
 
 Down to a recent period the title engineer was un- 
 known in any application except its military one. It 
 was not applied to the' constructors of similar works in 
 civil life. And yet the construction of such works gene- 
 rally has existed from time immemorial. One of the 
 earliest fables of antiquity the destruction of the Hydra 
 by Hercules is supposed to have referred to what we 
 should now call the engineering work of draining the low 
 lands of Argos, and damming up the sources of the inun- 
 dations. And when we come to the more trustworthy 
 records of history, we find that the most ancient civilised
 
 8 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. i. 
 
 nations occupied themselves practically with works of an 
 engineering character, and on a very large scale. 
 
 In Mesopotamia there must have been, thousands of 
 years ago, men who possessed considerable mechanical 
 knowledge and much constructive skill, and traces of 
 their occupations still remain. The Phoenicians, too, con- 
 structed harbour and other engineering works with great 
 ability. 
 
 The ancient works of Egypt are celebrated, not only 
 for the colossal magnitude of the buildings, but also for 
 the ingenious and useful character of the hydraulic 
 arrangements. It is in Egypt that we find the inven- 
 tion of the arch, the first rudiments of which may 
 be traced back, it is said, to the time of Amunoph the 
 First, 1540 B.C. The original canal across the Isthmus 
 of Suez was made under an Egyptian dynasty. 
 
 The Greeks, independently of their skill in building 
 generally, must, from the extent of their coasts, have 
 been well occupied in hydraulic constructions ; but it is 
 to their successors, the Eomans, we may turn for the 
 most remarkable examples of ancient engineering. 
 
 The immense extent of roads constructed by this 
 nation, their durability, and the skill shown in sur- 
 mounting the obstacles of marshes, lakes, and mountains, 
 have excited astonishment and admiration. Twenty- 
 nine great military roads centred in Koine, some of 
 which were carried to the extreme points of the vast 
 empire ; and the whole of the roads were estimated 
 as measuring 52,964 Eoman miles. 1 Many of the 
 more important of these were admirable specimens of 
 construction, abounding in excellent detail. The bridges, 
 built in great numbers, and many of great size, were 
 remarkable for their solidity. Trajan's Bridge over the 
 
 1 See a very full account of ancient engineering works in Cresy's 
 Encyclopedia of Civil Engineering. 1856.
 
 EARLY ENGINEERS. 9 
 
 Danube, built about A.D. 120, was the most magnifi- 
 cent in Europe ; it consisted of twenty arches, each 180 
 feet span. 
 
 In hydraulic constructions the Komans also excelled. 
 The works for supplying water to cities were often of 
 great magnitude, and laid out with much skill. For 
 Borne alone many conduits were used, one of which, the 
 Aqua Claudia, was nearly fifty miles long. The quantity 
 of water brought into the city was very large, and in 
 addition to the great and numerous public fountains, 
 the houses had water laid on. 
 
 Aqueducts of Koman construction still exist in many 
 parts of Europe ; among these, the Pont du Gard, near 
 Nismes, is one of the most celebrated. It is 560 feet 
 long and 160 feet high, and is supposed to have been 
 executed by Agrippa, who was governor of Nismes in 
 the time of Augustus, and was declared curator perpetuus 
 aquarum. The aqueduct of Segovia, in Spain, is 2,220 
 feet long, and was built by Trajan. That of Lisbon has 
 thirty-five arches, and is 263 feet high. 
 
 Canal works were common in ancient Italy. The 
 Etruscans had cut many for drainage purposes, and one 
 in the Pontine Marshes was executed by the Eomans 
 162 B.C. Pliny mentions several ' useful and magnificent ' 
 works of the kind constructed by Trajan. 
 
 The drainage of Lake Albano, 400 B.C., and that of 
 Lake Fucino, A.D. 52, were great works, showing high 
 skill and enterprise. 
 
 The town drainage of Eome, by the Cloaca Maxima, 
 was also an engineering achievement that deserves mention. 
 
 From the nature of these works we may be fully 
 convinced that they were designed by men well ac- 
 quainted theoretically with the principles of natural 
 philosophy current in their era ; and, as a matter of.
 
 10 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. i. 
 
 practice, how excellently they were done is testified by the 
 manner in which they have stood the ravages of time. 
 We may indeed predict that there are few engineering 
 works of our day which will, at the end of thousands of 
 years, make as favourable an appearance as those of the 
 ancients do now. 
 
 We have not much information as to who were the 
 actual designers of such works ; probably, however, the 
 architect, who has in all ages been a well-defined prac- 
 titioner, took on himself the responsibility of building 
 constructions generally. Brunelleschi, who built the 
 great dome of Florence, and Michael Angelo, who de- 
 signed St. Peter's at Eome, acted as architects, but really 
 did also the work of engineers. 
 
 There is a curious reminiscence of a very ancient 
 office, somewhat of an engineering character, in the title 
 of the Pope of Eome, namely, * Pontifex,' or the Bridge 
 Builder. It applied to an order of priests said to have 
 been founded by Numa, the second king of Eome, and it 
 was transferred to the Pope probably on the very foun- 
 dation of his chair. What the origin of this title was has 
 been a matter of dispute even among the Eomans them- 
 selves ; but the general opinion is that it related to bridges 
 in some way, and Plutarch expressly says that the Pontiffs 
 were commissioned to keep the bridges in repair, as one 
 of the most indispensable parts of their holy office. 
 
 After the fall of the Eoman Empire, we still find 
 occasional examples of fine constructive works, as, for 
 example, the great aqueduct of Spoleto, which was built 
 by Theodoric King of the Goths A.D. 741. It has ten 
 large Gothic arches, each seventy feet span, and is 328 
 feet high above the valley it crosses. It remains to this 
 day hi good condition, and still supplies water to the 
 town.
 
 HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING. 11 
 
 About the twelfth century attention became strongly 
 directed, in France, to the improvement of the internal 
 communications of the country, and an association was 
 formed under the name of the ' Freres Pontiers ' (Brethren 
 of the Bridge), with the object of building bridges wher- 
 ever rivers were dangerous or difficult to ford. This 
 society, really a society of civil engineers, extended its 
 branches over all parts of Northern Europe, and executed 
 great numbers of important works, some of which are still 
 in existence, as, for example, the Old Bridge at Lyons, 
 and the celebrated one over the Ehone lower down, at 
 St. Esprit, which was nearly half a mile long. The first 
 stone London Bridge was also erected about the same 
 date by the same body. The Ponte Vecchio at Florence, 
 having three segmental arches of ninety-five feet span, 
 was built in 1345, and the first stone bridge in Paris 
 dates 1412. The Eialto at Venice, with a single arch 
 ninety-seven feet span, was built by Michael Angelo in 
 1578. 
 
 The construction of works connected with water, or 
 as they are termed hydraulic works, has always formed 
 an important branch of engineering. 
 
 The establishment of the city of Venice, on artificial 
 foundations, and the great embankments and canal 
 communications of the Low Countries, all executed at 
 early periods, showed great skill in such works ; and we 
 know that in the ninth and tenth centuries canals and 
 river works for facilitating inland navigation were in 
 course of construction. Charlemagne, for example, com- 
 menced a canal uniting the Ehine with the Danube. 
 
 The Italian Eepublics in the twelfth century, when 
 they revived the arts and sciences, took measures to 
 regulate and open the navigation by rivers long neglected, 
 and many important works of this kind were executed in
 
 12 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. i. 
 
 Northern Italy, particularly on the course of the Po and 
 the Mincio. 
 
 About the fifteenth century much was done by irri- 
 gation canals in the neighbourhood of Milan, in which 
 Leonardo da Vinci eminent for his constructive as well 
 as his artistic talent took a considerable share. The 
 important system of locks was invented by two brothers 
 Domenico of Viterbo, in 1481, and was introduced by 
 Leonardo in the Milanese canals. 
 
 About the commencement of the seventeenth century 
 the great rivers of the north of Italy appear to have re- 
 lapsed into a bad state, and the consequences were felt in 
 disastrous and extensive inundations. The inhabitants of 
 the districts became alarmed, the attention of the govern- 
 ment was roused, and the most learned scientific men of 
 the day were consulted as to how the evils might be 
 remedied. To this impulse we owe a series of valuable 
 theoretical and experimental studies which have formed 
 the basis of modern hydraulic science and practice, and 
 the authors of which may be esteemed the fathers of 
 hydraulic engineering. A great mass of Italian literature 
 was devoted to the subject, but a concise summary of the 
 most useful information was put on record in a more 
 accessible shape by the publication in France, in 1737 
 and 1753, of the four quarto volumes of Belidor's 'Archi- 
 tecture Hydraulique,' a magnificent work deservedly 
 esteemed, and which may be considered the earliest work 
 on modern engineering. 
 
 The knowledge thus acquired spread rapidly through- 
 out Europe, and gave a great impulse to hydraulic 
 operations. But now arose a want of competent men to- 
 execute them. The architects, who had formerly under- 
 taken constructive works generally, found these new
 
 CIVIL ENGINEERS. 13 
 
 studies somewhat foreign to their own business, and were 
 moreover already well occupied in their more legitimate 
 employment. Hence a new class of practitioners became 
 necessary, who should devote their attention to hydraulic 
 constructions, with all their necessary mechanical arrange- 
 ments ; and with these soon became associated the erec- 
 tion of buildings of a massive and unartistic character. 
 Thus the new class of men undertook to design not only 
 river and hydraulic works, but roads, bridges, docks, 
 harbours, mills and machinery, and so on. 
 
 Such a class required a new name ; and this was 
 easily found. It was noticed that the kind of work 
 undertaken by these practitioners was exactly analogous 
 to that allotted to the ' engineers ' of the military service, 
 and the new profession adopted the same title, prefixing, 
 however, -the word ' civil,' to indicate that they were 
 civilians, and so to distinguish them from their military 
 brethren. 
 
 Hence the origin of the present term ' civil engineer ; * 
 its true meaning being a person who devotes himself 
 to occupations of the kind originally practised by military 
 engineers, but who belongs to the civil and not to the 
 military community. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow the spread of civil engi- 
 neering throughout Europe farther than to notice the 
 formation in France, early in the last century, of two 
 official government corps of engineers of civil status, the 
 * Ingenieurs des Fonts et Chaussees,' and the ' Ingenieurs 
 des Mines.' The members of these corps have been 
 employed throughout the Empire in government or 
 private civil engineering works, and have gained them- 
 selves high reputation, not only for their practical ser- 
 vices, but for their scientific labours in the advancement 
 of their profession.
 
 14 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. r. 
 
 It will be interesting now to say a few words on the 
 progress of civil engineering in our own country. 1 
 
 The earliest English engineering works of importance 
 were the great systems of drainage and reclamation car- 
 ried out on the east coast. The embankments of Rom- 
 ney Marsh and of the River Thames are so ancient 
 that no authentic records exist as to their construction ; 
 but the great drainage of the fen districts in Lincoln- 
 shire was executed about the middle of the seventeenth 
 century by Cornelius Vermuyden, a Dutchman, and his 
 countrymen were employed on similar works in other 
 districts. 
 
 The first great engineering work done by an English- 
 man was the construction, in 1609-13, of the New River, 
 to supply London with water from the springs of Hert- 
 fordshire. Hugh, afterwards Sir Hugh Myddelton, to 
 whom this noble work is due, was brought up as a gold- 
 smith and merchant ; and it is not easy to understand 
 how he acquired the practical and scientific knowledge 
 necessary to design and construct a work of this kind ; for 
 it does not appear that he had any technical help worth 
 notice, and the Italian hydraulic investigations were not 
 then begun. He never called himself ' engineer,' for 
 that title had not yet been applied to civilians ; but he 
 has nevertheless been rightly styled the father of the 
 English profession. After the completion of the New 
 River, he carried out another great and useful work 
 in the embankment of Brading Haven, in the Isle of 
 Wight. 
 
 Bridge-building appears subsequently to this to have 
 had some attention. In the middle of the seventeenth 
 century we find the celebrated architect, Inigo Jones, 
 
 1 The author has to acknowledge having obtained many data, in this 
 and the following Chapter, from Mr. Smiles's excellent works, the Lives of 
 the Engineers and Industrial Biography,
 
 BRINDLEY AND SMEATON. 15 
 
 occupied in this class of work ; and in 1739 a Swiss engi- 
 neer, Labelye, designed the second bridge over the Thames 
 Westminster Bridge using therein new methods of 
 foundation showing considerable ingenuity. Shortly after- 
 wards a clever, self-taught Welshman, named Edwards, 
 acquired considerable fame in the same line. 
 
 It was, however, about the middle of the eighteenth 
 century before engineering in England may have been 
 said to begin in earnest, by the employment of James 
 Brindley to construct a large system of canals in Lan- 
 cashire. Brindley was by trade a wheelwright and 
 millwright, and, having naturally a mechanical turn of 
 mind, he had acquired great skill in millwork and mecha- 
 nical construction generally. The Duke of Bridgewater, 
 having obtained in 1759 an Act empowering him to 
 make a canal to convey his coals from Worsley to Man- 
 chester, about ten miles, and having heard of Brindley's 
 ingenuity, resolved to employ him. In a few years the 
 canal was completed, and Brindley afterwards executed 
 many more, in that district as well as in other parts of 
 the country, altogether about 360 miles in length, and 
 involving engineering works of considerable magnitude 
 and variety. He died in 1772. 
 
 Brindley has been usually held in great honour as 
 an engineer; but it must be recollected that his works 
 appear of higher merit because of the extremely back- 
 ward state of engineering knowledge and practice in this 
 country at that time. Hydraulic constructions, including 
 the formation of canals and all appertaining works, were 
 really in an advanced state on the continent before 
 Brindley's day, and there was probably little done by 
 him that had not been anticipated there. But he was an 
 uneducated man, and even if the hydraulic information 
 published by the Italians and French had penetrated to 
 this country (which is very doubtful), it could hardly
 
 16 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. i. 
 
 have been intelligible to him. Hence, he deserves credit 
 for having, by his own unaided and unlettered practical 
 intelligence and skill, accomplished so much in the face 
 of what were no doubt great difficulties. 
 
 Another eminent man, who lived about the same time, 
 John Smeaton, was in a very different position; as, to 
 practical talents not inferior to Brindley's, he added the 
 advantages of a good education and considerable scientific 
 knowledge. He was, like Brindley, occupied at first with 
 mechanical pursuits. He was apprenticed to a mathema- 
 tical instrument maker, and afterwards went into that 
 business on his own account. But he was fond of science, 
 and he made several communications to the Eoyal 
 Society, who, in 1753, elected him a Fellow, and in 1759 
 awarded him their gold medal. In 1756, the Eddystone 
 lighthouse having been destroyed by fire, Smeaton was 
 applied to, on the recommendation of the President of the 
 Eoyal Society, to rebuild it. He had just before made 
 a careful study of the great engineering works of Holland 
 and Belgium, during a tour in those countries, and he 
 felt confidence in undertaking the task. The new light- 
 house was completed in 1759, and its construction, ably 
 described by himself, has commanded universal admi- 
 ration. 
 
 Smeaton was afterwards engaged, down to his death 
 in 1792, in many other engineering works river and 
 canal navigations, drainage and reclamation of lands, 
 harbours, roads, bridges, water supplies, pumping-engines, 
 and machinery. His reports, which have been collected 
 and published, are admirable models of what such docu- 
 ments should be. He did not execute any works of the 
 gigantic character which has more lately so impressed the 
 popular mind ; but considering his accurate and exten- 
 sive scientific knowledge, his good education and position 
 in society, his great practical skill and experience, his
 
 MYLNE, RENNIE, TELFORD. 17 
 
 literary ability, his logical and sound judgment, and the 
 zealous and conscientious care and attention he bestowed 
 on whatever he undertook, he is admitted by all com- 
 petent judges to hold the very highest rank as an 
 engineer. 
 
 It is probable, too, that he was the first civil practi- 
 tioner, at least in England, who formally adopted that 
 title, and used the compound term 'civil engineer.' 
 A report he made dated July 11, 1761, on a canal in 
 Staffordshire is entitled, ' Eeport by John Smeaton, 
 Engineer, concerning the Practicability &c. of a navi- 
 gable Canal .... as projected by Mr. James Brindley, 
 Engineer.' He awards the same title to his coadjutor, but 
 there is no evidence that Brindley himself had previously 
 used the term. The prefix ' civil ' was sometimes added 
 by Smeaton on state occasions, but he usually styled 
 himself simply ' engineer.' 
 
 The profession being thus fairly launched and named, 
 and an impulse given to the demands upon it by the 
 improvements in the communications and trade of the 
 country, many practitioners followed, among whom are 
 several honoured names. 
 
 James Watt was a contemporary of Smeaton, but his 
 part in engineering will be treated of more fully in the 
 next chapter. 
 
 Eobert Mylne, another contemporary, who, after the 
 manner of the ancients, combined the professions of archi- 
 tect and civil engineer, built the third bridge over the 
 Thames, at Blackfriars, in 1770. 
 
 John Eennie (1761-1821) designed Waterloo Bridge, 
 South wark iron Bridge, and new London Bridge, as well as the 
 London Docks, the Plymouth Breakwater, and many other 
 large and important engineering works of various kinds. 
 
 Thomas Telford is celebrated for the construction of 
 c
 
 18 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. i. 
 
 the beautiful Menai Suspension Bridge, the great Holy- 
 head and Highland Boads, the Ellesmere and Caledonian 
 Canals, and many other works of importance. He died 
 in 1834, which brings us to the time of the Stephensons 
 and Brunels, and the commencement of the era of rail- 
 ways, since which the progress of engineering has been 
 so well known that it is unnecessary here to follow further 
 the general history of the profession. 
 
 It may be desirable now to define with some precision 
 what engineering means, and what kind of occupations 
 are comprised in the profession or employment of a civil 
 engineer. 
 
 The exact definition of engineering has always been a 
 matter of some difficulty. 
 
 The meaning already drawn from the original deriva- 
 tion of the word, that an engineer is one ' qui cherche 
 dans son genie quelque moyen pour reussir,' though 
 applicable enough, is too comprehensive for a strict defi- 
 nition, as it would apply to many occupations which are 
 not engineering. 
 
 Similarly, another definition which has been offered, 
 namely, that engineering is ' the application of scientific 
 principles to the art of construction,' is too large. Few 
 things involve more science in their design than a chro- 
 nometer or a microscope ; yet the makers of these are 
 not called engineers. 
 
 A very old Engineering Society, founded by Smeaton, 
 has adopted two mottoes. One is Greek 
 
 We conquer by Art the difficulties offered by Nature. 
 
 which is certainly highly characteristic of the operations 
 of the engineer. The other is Latin 
 
 Omnia in numero, pondere, et mensura.
 
 
 WHAT ENGINEERING COMPRISES. 19 
 
 which gives the idea, also correct as far as it goes, that 
 one of the principal functions of the engineer is the 
 practical application of the science of quantity in the esti- 
 mation of forces, resistances, velocities, and magnitudes. 
 
 The more modern Institution of Cjvil Engineers de- 
 fine their profession as 
 
 The art of directing the great sources of power in nature for 
 the use and convenience of man. 
 
 which would seem at first sight to apply more especially 
 to the mechanical branch, but which is doubtless intended 
 to comprise works of construction generally, in which the 
 great powers of nature come into play. 
 
 Civil engineering may now be understood legitimately 
 to comprise the art of constructing any large works, for 
 civil purposes, in the design of which the mechanical 
 sciences are applied. 
 
 Thus the practitioners in this art may have to do with 
 many classes of works ; for example : 
 
 1. Works for facilitating and improving internal com- 
 munication ; as roads, railways, inland navigation by canals 
 and rivers, bridges, and the electric telegraph. 
 
 2. Works connected with the seacoast, and for faci- 
 litating communication between the sea and the land ; 
 such as harbours, docks, piers, breakwaters, sea walls, 
 lighthouses, &c. &c. 
 
 3. Works for the reclamation, irrigation, or drainage 
 of land ; the improvement of rivers as arterial drains ; 
 the prevention or regulation of floods &c. 
 
 4. Municipal works ; such as the drainage, the water 
 supply, the lighting, and the street arrangements of 
 towns. 
 
 5. Large and massive buildings generally (excluding 
 their artistic features, which belong to the architect,) and 
 all scientific and mechanical arrangements belonging 
 thereto. 
 
 c 2
 
 20 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. i. 
 
 6. The operations of mining, so far as they involve 
 the application of mechanical science. 
 
 7. The design and construction of the mechanical 
 prime movers ; as steam-engines, water-wheels and other 
 hydraulic motors, windmills, and other sources of power. 
 
 8. The design and construction of machinery and 
 mechanical appliances of all kinds, excluding the more 
 minute specialities, such as clock and watchwork &c. 
 
 9. The design and manufacture generally of all large 
 and important structures in iron. 
 
 This is a comprehensive catalogue of duties ; and it 
 we consider the quantity of work that has been done 
 under these various heads, during the last century, and 
 contemplate the effect that this work has had on trade, on 
 commerce, on finance, on government, on every branch 
 of industry, and indeed on every possible aspect of human 
 interests, we cannot hesitate to admit that the profession 
 of engineering has become .truly a great power. 
 
 It would be interesting to know the amount of money 
 which has been laid out during the last century in works 
 constructed by engineers ; but this it is not possible to 
 ascertain. In Eailways alone, the expenditure in Great 
 Britain has been 620,000,000^ And if to this we could 
 add the outlay on municipal, coast, harbour, dock, river, 
 canal, road, mining, and telegraph works, as well as the 
 enormous sums invested in steam vessels, ironworks, 
 manufactories, mills, engines, and machinery in endless 
 variety, we should obtain an almost fabulous amount ex- 
 pended, in one small country alone, under the direction 
 of this one profession. So far as the importance of a class 
 of men can be estimated by the money value of the work 
 they have to do, there has been no parallel with the engi- 
 neering profession since the foundation of the world.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
 
 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING A BRANCH OF CIVIL ENGINEERING. AND 
 NOT DISTINCT FROM IT EARLY HISTORY OF PRACTICAL MECHANICS 
 
 ARCHIMEDES HERO VITRUVIUS WORKS ON MECHANICS ME- 
 CHANICAL ENGINEERING IN ENGLAND PETER MORICE'S WATER MA- 
 CHINERY MILLWRIGHTS BRLNDLEY SMEATON THE IRON MANU- 
 FACTURE WORKS IN SUSSEX DUD DUDLEY ; DARBY, AND COIEBROOK 
 DALE THE IRON BRIDGE OVER THE SEVERN PUDDLING CORl's 
 IMPROVEMENTS WELSH IRON WORKS SCOTCH IRON WORKS THE 
 CARRON COMPANY SMEATON WATT AND THE STEAM ENGINE- 
 CONNECTION WITH ROEBUCK AND BOULTON SOHO WORKS THE RO- 
 TATING ENGINE ALBION MILLS RENNIE GREAT STIMULUS TO 
 MANUFACTURING PROGRESS. LATER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- 
 FACTURE OF IRON THE HOT BLAST CLEVELAND AND LANCASHIRE 
 IRON DISTRICTS STATISTICS IMPROVEMENTS IN WORKSHOP PRO- 
 CESSES, TOOLS, AND APPLIANCES EARLY DIFFICULTIES, AND HOW 
 THEY WERE SURMOUNTED FOUNDING, FORGING, RIVETING, SHAPING 
 
 TURNING, AND IMPROVEMENT IN LATHES MAUDSLAY BORING ; 
 WILKINSON PLANING ; CLEMENT SHAPING AND SLOTTING MACHINES 
 SCREWING AND SCREW THREADS WHITWORTH's IMPROVEMENTS 
 DEVELOPMENT OF AUTOMATIC TOOLS LARGELY DUE TO STRIKES AMONG 
 THE WORKMEN DECAY OF THE MILLWRIGHT CLASS LARGE STRUC- 
 TURES IN IRON IRON BRIDGES, CAST AND WROUGHT IRON SHIPS 
 IRON ARMOUR PLATES AND FORTS HEAVY GUNS FAIRBAIRN AS A 
 MECHANICAL ENGINEER.
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 IN the list of occupations of the civil engineer, given at 
 the end of the preceding chapter, the three last, referring 
 to the design and manufacture of engines and machinery, 
 and of structures in iron, constitute what is now con- 
 sidered a special branch of the profession, 1 called MECHA- 
 NICAL ENGINEERING. 
 
 1 There has been a disposition growing up lately to separate ' mechanical ' 
 from ' civil ' engineers, appropriating the latter title only to those who 
 practise in works of building and earthwork construction, as railways, 
 roads, harbours, docks, river-improvements, and so on. 
 
 There is not a vestige of authority or warrant either in precedent, ety- 
 mology, or common sense for such a limitation of the title. The term civil 
 engineer merely means an engineer who is a civilian, as contrasted with 
 a military engineer who belongs to the army. Hence an engineer who 
 designs a steam-engine, a power-loom, or a threshing-machine, is (if not 
 a soldier) as properly a 'civil' engineer as the designer of a railway or a 
 harbour. 
 
 In the Koyal Charter granted to the Institution of Civil Engineers, on 
 its foundation in 1828, the ' Profession of a Civil Engineer ' is declared to be : 
 ' The art of directing the great sources of power in nature for the use 
 and convenience of man ; .... as applied ; 
 
 < In the construction of roads, bridges, aqueducts, canals, river navi- 
 gation, and docks ; 
 
 ' In the construction of ports, harbours, moles, breakwaters, and light- 
 houses ; 
 
 ' In the art of navigation by artificial power ; 
 ' In the construction and adaptation of machinery ; and 
 ' In the drainage of cities and towns.' 
 
 It is perfectly clear, therefore, that the founders of this Institution con- 
 sidered the mechanical branch as legitimately included in Civil Engi- 
 neering. 
 
 The earlier ' Society of Civil Engineers,' founded by Smeaton, held a 
 similar view ; as Watt, and other persons who devoted themselves to mecha- 
 nical practice, were admitted without question. 
 
 Nothing could be more incorrect, or in worse taate, than to assume for the
 
 24 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. rr. 
 
 This branch has now become of immense extent and 
 importance, and practitioners in it usually devote to it 
 their whole attention. The number of mechanical en- 
 gineers is very large, many being men of high attain- 
 ments; and the late Sir William Fairbairn was one 
 of the most esteemed of them. On this account it 
 becomes desirable to give some special notice of the pecu- 
 liarities of this branch of the profession, with which, in 
 the following pages, we shall have more particularly 
 to do. 
 
 An acquaintance with the art of working in metals 
 has always been considered one of the signs of dawning 
 civilisation, and machinery of some kind for the simplest 
 wants of life, such as raising water, grinding corn, and so 
 on, must have been in use in the earliest ages. But a 
 few centuries before the Christian era we come upon a 
 great man who is undoubtedly entitled to be called the 
 father of mechanical engineers, namely, Archimedes of 
 Syracuse. He combined great theoretical knowledge of 
 geometry and other sciences with singular inventive and 
 constructive skill, and his mechanical contrivances have 
 acquired for him a lasting renown. 
 
 After his day, many mechanical constructions were in 
 use which derived their origin from his discoveries, as, for 
 example, the clepsydras or water clocks of Egypt, which 
 are said to have first contained that now universal element 
 of machinery, the toothed wheel. Hero, about 250 B.C., 
 wrote treatises describing various mechanical contri- 
 vances ; and the erection, about the same time, of the 
 great Colossus of Ehodes, showed much power in metal 
 work. 
 
 The Romans largely used mechanical appliances. 
 
 building engineer any superiority~over the mechanical one, either in the 
 importance of his work or in its scientific and intellectual character.
 
 EARLY MECHANICAL ENGINEERING. 25 
 
 The celebrated Roman writer on architecture, Vitruvius 
 (B.C. 50), enumerates earlier writers on machinery, and 
 enters fully into the mechanical principles and arrange- 
 ments applicable to constructive purposes. He mentions 
 an officer called a machinarius, who had charge of 
 machines, and who was, in fact, the mechanical engineer 
 of the time. 
 
 We know also that in these ages mills worked by 
 water power were in use for grinding corn, and these 
 must have involved some complexity and ingenuity of 
 design. 
 
 After the revival of learning in Europe the mathema- 
 tical and mechanical sciences began to be more culti- 
 vated, and practical mechanics became a favourite study 
 with ingenious men. Many works are extant which 
 show this ; among them one by Agricola (Georg Land- 
 mann), in Germany, who died in 1555 ; another by 
 Jacques Besson, in France, 1573; and a third, better 
 known, entitled 'Diversi ed artificiose Macchine,' by 
 Capitano Agostino Eamelli, published in 1588. 
 
 The curious work ' Les raisons des forces mouvantes, 
 avec diverses machines tant utiles que plaisantes, par 
 Salomon de Caus, Ingenieur et Architecte du Roy,' 
 originally published in 1615, is celebrated as containing 
 tolerably clear notions about the nature and power of 
 steam. The Marquis of Worcester's well-known ' Century 
 of Inventions,' published in 1659, may also be mentioned ; 
 as well as the splendid work of Belidor of 1737-53, 
 1 Architecture Hydraulique,' already alluded to, which 
 contains copious descriptions of the hydraulic machine 
 known in his day. 
 
 In England, before the eighteenth century, the most 
 important articles of machinery, such as windmills, water
 
 26 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 mills, &c., were brought from the continent, principally 
 from the Low Countries. The celebrated pumping 
 apparatus fixed at London Bridge in 1582, for supply- 
 ing London with water, was erected by Peter Morice, a 
 Dutchman. 
 
 As, however, such contrivances became more used, a 
 class of native artificers sprang up, who made it their 
 business to attend to them. They were called mill- 
 wrights. They designed and erected windmills and water 
 mills for grinding corn, pumping apparatus, and all the 
 various kinds of rough machinery in use in those days. 
 
 It is probable these men were the first who, as a civil 
 class, devoted themselves specially and exclusively to 
 engineering work. They were therefore the earliest civil 
 engineers, and their successors have descended to the 
 present day in an unbroken line as practitioners in the 
 mechanical branch of civil engineering. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, who was educated strictly as a mill- 
 wright, and was never ashamed of calling himself by 
 that name, gives the following account of this class of 
 men: 1 
 
 The term millwright has long been a household word, and at 
 no distant period conveyed the idea of a man marked by every- 
 thing that was ingenious and skilful. 
 
 The millwright of former days was to a great extent the sole 
 representative of mechanical art, and was looked upon as the 
 authority on all the applications of wind and water, under 
 whatever conditions they were to be used, as a motive power for 
 the purposes of manufacture. He was the engineer of the dis- 
 trict in which he lived, a kind of Jack-of-all-trades, who could 
 with equal facility work at the lathe, the anvil, or the car- 
 penter's bench. In country districts, far removed from towns, 
 he had to exercise all these professions, and he thus gained the 
 character of an ingenious, roving, rollicking blade, able to turn 
 
 1 Mills and Millwork, Preface.
 
 THE MILLWRIGHT. 27 
 
 bis hand to anything, and like other wandering tribes in days of 
 old, went about the country from mill to mill, with the old song 
 of ' kettles to mend,' re-applied to the more important fractures 
 of machinery. 
 
 Thus the millwright of the last century was an itinerant 
 engineer and mechanic of high reputation. In the practice of 
 his profession he had mainly to depend on his own resources. 
 Generally, he was a fair arithmetician, knew something of 
 geometry, levelling, and mensuration, and in some cases pos- 
 sessed a very competent knowledge of practical mathematics. 1 
 
 He could calculate the velocities, strength, and power of 
 machines ; could draw in plan and section, and could construct 
 buildings, conduits, or watercourses, in all the forms and under 
 all the conditions required in his professional practice. 
 
 His attainments as a mechanic and his standing in the useful 
 arts, were, however, apt to make him vain, and with a rude in- 
 dependence he would repudiate the idea of working with an 
 inferior craftsman or even with another as skilful as himself, 
 unless he was ' born and bred a millwright.' 
 
 Such was the character and condition of the men who 
 designed and carried out most of the mechanical work of this 
 country up to the middle and end of the last century. 
 
 I have deemed it necessary to give this brief account of the 
 habits and character of a body of men whose skill and spirit of 
 perseverance have done so much for the advancement of applied 
 science, and whose labours have had a large influence on the 
 industrial progress of the country. I am perhaps better qualified 
 for this task than most others, from having been associated 
 with them from early life, so that an experience of some fifty 
 years must be my excuse for having imposed this narrative upon 
 the reader. 
 
 1 Millwrights wore, however, not always so well educated. The editor 
 of this work recollects that when he was serving his apprenticeship in a 
 manufacturing establishment, he saw an old millwright, in fixing some letters 
 on a piece of machinery, place one of them upside down. The looker-on, 
 with youthful zeal, ventured to correct the mistake, but was met with the 
 contemptuous remark that 'a regular millwright' must surely understand 
 his own trade !
 
 28 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 It is significant that the first Englishman, after Hugh 
 Myddelton, who distinguished himself in the more general 
 practice, Brindley, was properly and originally one of 
 this class. He was apprenticed to a wheelwright and 
 millwright, and afterwards worked on his own account in 
 the same trade. He erected corn mills, paper mills, silk 
 mills, pottery flint mills, and engines generally. It was 
 his success in these things that caused him to be first 
 employed on canals, and his mechanical skill and expe- 
 rience stood him in good stead in many ways during their 
 construction. 
 
 Smeaton, though not a millwright by trade, had great 
 aptitude for mechanical construction, and was well versed 
 in mechanical science. His paper on Wind and Water 
 Mills, which gained him the gold medal of the Eoyal 
 Society in 1759, was an admirable and useful essay, 
 founded on many years' experiments, and is still referred 
 to as of high authority. His published reports show that 
 he was largely engaged on mechanical engineering, as they 
 refer to the construction of steam-engines, waterworks, 
 pumps, boring machines, corn and oil mills, forges, and 
 other machinery of various kinds. 
 
 It was about Smeaton's time that mechanical engineer- 
 ing took an enormous step in advance by the improve- 
 ments which were effected in the manufacture of iron ; 
 and in explanation of this great element of the question 
 it is necessary to say something here of the history of the 
 iron manufacture. 
 
 The two great properties of iron, fusibility and 
 malleability, which enable it to be either cast into shape 
 by melting or worked into shape by hammering (thus 
 forming what are now called cast and wrought iron- 
 work respectively) appear to have been known at an 
 early period. In the thirteenth century nails, horse-
 
 THE IRON MANUFACTURE. 29 
 
 shoes, and other wrought articles were largely supplied 
 from Sussex, and cast cannon were founded there in 
 the sixteenth century. The manufacture in this district 
 reached its height towards the close of the reign of Eliza- 
 beth, when the trade became so prosperous that England 
 began to export iron in considerable quantities. It 
 gradually fell off, however, by the failure of the wood fuel 
 employed ; one of the last extensive contracts executed 
 there being the casting, about 1700, of the iron rails 
 which enclose St. Paul's Cathedral. 
 
 In 1620 the first step of the modern iron manufacture 
 was taken, in the invention by Dud Dudley of iron 
 smelting by coal. The inventor set up works in the 
 midland counties, where he made in this way both 
 malleable iron and castings ; and in the civil wars 
 occurring in the middle of the century he not only sup- 
 plied the king with iron war implements and stores, but 
 followed the army and acted as a military engineer. 
 
 Whether it was from the inferior quality of Dudley's 
 iron, from prejudice against it, or from difficulties in 
 the working, his system does not seem to have made 
 immediate way ; for the iron manufacture declined rather 
 than advanced until the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century, when Abraham Darby, a mechanic and mill- 
 wright of Bristol, introduced from Holland a new method 
 of making iron castings, chiefly hollow ware for domestic 
 use, by moulding them in fine dry sand. He established, 
 in 1709, iron works at Colebrook Dale in Shropshire, 
 and his casting trade there was successful. At first he 
 used charcoal for fuel, but coal being plentiful in the 
 neighbourhood, he adopted it by previously making it 
 into coke, and at a later period about 1760 the coal 
 was used raw. 
 
 In 1766 another great improvement was made by 
 producing malleable iron, with pit coal as fuel, in a
 
 30 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAI>. n. 
 
 reverberatory furnace, it having previously been pro- 
 duced on a 'refinery' hearth with charcoal. This 
 was the invention of two foremen at Colebrook Dale, 
 named Cranege, and was carried out by Kichard Rey- 
 nolds, the manager there at the time. 
 
 By the exertions and enterprise of three generations of 
 Darbys the Colebrook Dale works had become greatly 
 enlarged, and had widely extended their operations ; they 
 had formed establishments in London, Bristol, and Liver- 
 pool, and had erected workshops for the manufacture 
 of machinery generally, many of the atmospheric, or 
 Newcomen's steam-engines being made there, to be used 
 in mines in various parts of the kingdom. The Darbys 
 were the first to substitute, in 1767, iron for wooden rails 
 in the tram roads along which coal and iron were con- 
 veyed from one part of the works to the other, thus 
 initiating the modern system of iron railways. 
 
 The Colebrook Dale works have also the credit of 
 having erected the firsfe iron structure of any magnitude, 
 namely, a cast-iron arch bridge of large span. Some 
 proposals and attempts at using iron for bridges had been 
 previously made, but the material was prohibited by the 
 great cost and even impossibility of obtaining it in suffi- 
 ciently large masses. 
 
 Abraham Darby the third, when he entered the busi- 
 ness as a young man, saw the necessity of forming a 
 communication between the steep banks of the river 
 Severn, to accommodate the large population which had 
 sprung up on both sides. Emboldened by his improve- 
 ments in iron manufacture, he designed an iron arch 
 of 100 feet span, which was cast at the works, and was 
 opened for traffic in 1779. It still stands as firm as ever, 
 and Mr. Eobert Stephenson said of it : ' If we consider 
 that the manipulation of cast iron was then completely 
 in its infancy, a bridge of such dimensions was doubtless
 
 HENRY CORT. 31 
 
 a bold as well as an original undertaking, and the effici- 
 ency of the details is worthy of the boldness of the con- 
 ception/ 
 
 After the successful example of Colebrook Dale, 
 other iron works became established in different parts of 
 the country, particularly in Staffordshire, Wales, and 
 Scotland. 
 
 In 1783 a man named Peter Onions, working in the 
 Welsh district, made a valuable improvement in the manu- 
 facture of malleable iron, by combining with the reverbe- 
 ratory furnace (introduced by the Craneges some years 
 before) the peculiar process called ' puddling,' which has 
 since been the universal mode employed. 
 
 At the same date some very important improve- 
 ments were introduced by Henry Cort. In the course of 
 his business as a navy agent or contractor, he had occasion 
 to see the inferiority of English malleable iron to that 
 imported from Eussia and Sweden ; he entered on a series 
 of experiments with a view to its improvement, and he 
 took out two patents in 1783 and 1784. They related 
 in the first place to the mode of producing the malleable 
 iron from the pig, and, secondly, to the mode of giving 
 it certain merchantable forms. 
 
 In regard to the first of these, he adopted the rever- 
 beratory puddling furnace of Cranege and Onions, and 
 does not seem to have added to it any novel feature of 
 striking originality ; but he so altered and improved the 
 details of working as to produce a very much better 
 quality of iron. 
 
 His other invention was more original. In the first 
 place he took advantage of the welding power of malleable 
 iron, when in a highly heated state, in order to form 
 masses of larger size than had been previously made. He 
 piled several pieces together, heated the whole in a 
 furnace to a white heat, and then subjected the pile to
 
 32 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 the blows of a heavy hammer, whereby it became welded 
 and consolidated into one integral mass, which could be 
 forged into any shape desired, as to make anchors and so 
 on. But having a view to the more general usefulness of 
 malleable iron in the shape of long parallel bars, he pro- 
 posed to make these by forming his piles of a long shape, 
 and effecting the consolidation, not by hammering but 
 by passing the piles through grooved rollers, so that, 
 using successively grooves diminishing in size, the iron 
 could be drawn into long bars of any dimensions 
 required. 
 
 It was one of Cort's objects, that by the force of 
 the hammering or the pressure of the roll-drawing, not 
 only should the iron be welded and consolidated, but the 
 dross, scoriaB, or ' slag ' should be thoroughly squeezed 
 out, and the iron generally made purer and of better 
 quality. 
 
 The processes described by Cort have been followed 
 by iron manufacturers, with but slight modifications, to 
 the present time. After the lapse of nearly a century 
 the modes of manufacturing bar from cast iron, and of 
 puddling, piling, hammering, and rolling, are all nearly 
 identical with the descriptions he gave. 
 
 Cort expended a fortune of upwards of 20,000/. in 
 perfecting his inventions, but he was robbed of the fruit 
 of his discoveries by the villainy of officials in a high 
 department of government, and he was ultimately left to 
 starve. Mr. Fairbairn, as we shall see in a future chapter, 
 took up warmly the cause of some of his descendants, 
 and by great exertions succeeded in getting something 
 done for them. 
 
 In 1759 the Carron Ironworks were established by 
 Dr. Eoebuck and others, on an excellent site, sur- 
 rounded with coal and ironstone, near Falkirk in Scot- 
 land. Soon afterwards their mechanical arrangements
 
 THE CARRON WORKS. 33 
 
 were taken in hand by John Smeaton, who by many 
 ingenious alterations and improvements enabled the pro- 
 prietors to manufacture cast-iron of a much better quality 
 than before. Smeaton took advantage of this by intro- 
 ducing the use of iron more largely into machinery 
 and mechanical constructions generally. Formerly, the 
 staple material of the millwright had been wood, iron 
 being only used in small pieces, chiefly for binding the 
 woodwork together. Smeaton saw the immense advan- 
 tage it would be to make the parts more extensively of 
 iron, and he was now enabled by the improvements at 
 Carron to do this, applying the material to many new uses. 
 The first cast-iron axis for a water wheel was made 
 there in 1769, and iron cog-wheels and shafts of all 
 dimensions gradually followed, although the use of the 
 new material was yet uncertain, and failures were not 
 unfrequent. The well-known carronades, or light cast- 
 iron guns, so long used in the navy, took their name from 
 the Carron Works, where they were originally made. 
 
 We now arrive at the date of the great improvements 
 in the steam-engine effected by James Watt. 
 
 About 1710 Newcomen had invented the earliest 
 really efficient form of steam prime mover, then called a 
 fire-engine, and subsequently many of these had. been 
 erected for the purpose of raising water in the mines of 
 Cornwall and elsewhere. Brindley, in the course of his 
 millwright's practice, had paid some attention to them, 
 and Smeaton had also much improved their construction, 
 and had, shortly after 1770, erected some that were 
 pronounced the best in existence. The cylinders of the 
 early engines were made of brass, which caused them to 
 be very expensive, but as the manufacture of cast-iron 
 improved, Smeaton substituted this metal with great 
 advantage.
 
 34 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. it. 
 
 Watt took out his patent for the separate condenser 
 in 1769, but he saw, with a truly practical eye, that 
 he could make no progress with his machines till he 
 could ensure their proper manufacture. With this view, 
 finding the Carron Works promising well, he asso- 
 ciated himself with Dr. Eoebuck, proposing to establish 
 his manufactory there. But while Watt was contending 
 with his first difficulties of construction, Dr. Eoebuck 
 became embarrassed, and in 1773 sold his share of the 
 patent to Mr. Matthew Boulton, of Soho. 
 
 The works at this place had been built about 1765, 
 for the general manufacture of various kinds of Birming- 
 ham hardware, and Watt was so well pleased with the 
 manner in which their mechanical arrangements had been 
 carried out, that he desired nothing better than to find a 
 home there for his own inventions. Fortunately his wish 
 was gratified, and the Boulton and Watt partnership en- 
 sured the fulfilment of his most sanguine plans. His first 
 successful engine was made in 1774, and soon afterwards, 
 the merits of the invention being at once recognised, it 
 came into extensive application. 
 
 For some years, however, the new engines were 
 adapted exclusively to rectilinear motion for pumping 
 water, the great field for their employment being the 
 mines of Cornwall. The important change which enabled 
 them to produce rotary motion was not perfected till 
 about 1784, and this is therefore the date when the great 
 prime mover which has since worked such 'wonders may 
 be said to have really come into existence. 
 
 One of the first made was for the Albion Mills, a 
 large establishment erected for grinding corn on the 
 south bank of the Thames, a little to the east of Black- 
 friars Bridge. In the design and construction of the 
 machinery for this mill Mr. Watt was assisted by a 
 young man, afterwards known as one of the most eminent
 
 THE ALBION MILLS. 35 
 
 English engineers, John Eennie. This youth had learnt 
 mechanics under a clever millwright, Andrew Meikle, the 
 inventor of the threshing-machine, and had acquired such 
 a good reputation that Watt entrusted to him a large share 
 of the work. 
 
 The mill was not only novel in its motive power, but 
 the machinery was on a larger scale and of a more ad- 
 vanced character than anything of the kind before con- 
 structed. The use of cast-iron was carried farther than 
 had been done by Smeaton, and with better results, as 
 the experience at Soho had been greater. The parts 
 were more accurately formed, and their strengths better 
 determined. 1 
 
 This first example of modern millwork was set to work 
 in 1788. It proved a great success, and measures were in 
 progress for the extension of the mill, when it was un- 
 fortunately burnt to the ground in March 1791. 
 
 After the ruins were cleared away Mr. Eennie bought 
 a piece of the land, on which he set up a manufactory for 
 engines and machinery ; and it was here that Mr. Fair- 
 bairn had his interview with him described in the fifth 
 chapter. The manufacturing business, on Mr. Eennie's 
 death, passed into the hands of his sons, and is still carried 
 on, on the original site of the Albion Mills, by his grand- 
 sons, George and John Eennie. 
 
 During the century that has elapsed since Watt 
 began his career, mechanical engineering has been 
 ever advancing with rapid and gigantic strides. Every 
 new application of power has stimulated industry and 
 commerce, and this has reacted in calling for extended 
 exertions on the part of the mechanical engineer. It 
 
 1 See Watt's own description in Dr. Robison's Mechanics ; also Farey 
 On the Steam Engine. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 LITE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 would be vain to attempt here to enumerate the wonderful 
 results achieved in this way ; but we may dwell for a 
 little on the advances made, since Watt's time, in the 
 production of iron, and in the processes for applying it 
 to the purposes of mechanical engineering. 
 
 The production of iron has immensely extended. 
 One cause of this has been the introduction, by James 
 Beaumont Neilson, in 1828, of the hot blast, which has 
 rendered available a class of minerals and substances 
 formerly useless. It has, in fact (as Mr. Fairbairn has 
 remarked), effected an entire revolution in the iron in- 
 dustry of Great Britain. 
 
 The iron-producing districts mentioned in a former 
 part of this chapter, namely, the midland counties, Wales, 
 and Scotland, have enormously developed, the latter being 
 greatly extended by the discovery, in 180], by David 
 Mushet, of the ' Black Band ' ironstone. 
 
 In addition to these, other districts have been made 
 available for iron production, the most important being the 
 great iron fields of Cleveland, in the north-east of England. 
 The ironworks established within the last few years in the 
 valleys of the rivers Tees and Wear have an extent and 
 magnitude quite surprising, considering the suddenness 
 with which the industry has sprung up in the neighbour- 
 hood. 
 
 Another large seat of iron manufacture, also very 
 recent, is on the opposite or north-western coast, at 
 Barrow-in-Furness, in Lancashire, where large works have 
 sprung up for the utilisation of a particular kind of ore, 
 the red hematite, found plentifully there. 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Leeds, at Low Moor and 
 elsewhere, large works have also been built, chiefly with 
 the object of making iron of particularly fine quality; 
 and in many other parts of the country where ore has
 
 PRODUCTION OF IRON. 37 
 
 been found, works for its conversion have come into 
 existence. 
 
 The most recent novelty has been the introduction of 
 certain new processes for the production of the higher 
 classes of the material in a way more direct than for- 
 merly. The best known of these is what is called 
 the Bessemer process, by which a metal having the qua- 
 lities of malleable iron is produced by fusion. The metal 
 has been found to possess certain advantages which have 
 acquired for it a large consumption, and the effect has 
 been to stimulate its manufacture on a corresponding 
 scale. 
 
 As an illustration of the increase of iron production, 
 the following figures may be given, partly taken from Sir 
 William Fairbairn's book : 
 
 THE QUANTITY OF IKON ANNUALLY PRODUCED IN GREAT BRITAIN ; 
 
 Tons. 
 
 In 1740 was 17,350 
 1788 68,300 
 '. 1796 
 
 1820 
 1827 
 1857 
 186.5 
 
 108,793 
 400,000 
 690,500 
 3,659,44V 
 4,768,000 
 
 1870 5,963,500 
 1872 6,742,000 
 
 Since this last date it has declined, and is now pro- 
 bably about 6,000,000 tons. 
 
 We have now to speak of the various processes and 
 appliances necessary for working up this material, and 
 for bringing it into the shape and condition required to 
 form machinery and iron structures. The improvements 
 made in this respect during the last century have been 
 most extensive and important. 
 
 When Watt began to carry his improvements into
 
 38 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. n. 
 
 practice he was terribly hampered and delayed by the 
 difficulty he found in getting his work made with the 
 necessary accuracy. 'The machine projected,' says Mr. 
 Smiles, ' was so much in advance of the mechanical capa- 
 bility of the age, that it was with the greatest difficulty it 
 could be executed. When labouring at his invention at 
 Glasgow, he was baffled and thrown into despair by the 
 clumsiness and incompetency of his workmen. Even 
 after he had removed to Birmingham, and he had the 
 assistance of Boulton's best workmen, Smeaton (no bad 
 judge of the state of mechanics in his time) expressed the 
 opinion when he saw the engine at work, that notwith- 
 standing the excellence of the invention, it could never be 
 brought into use because of the difficulty of getting its vari- 
 ous parts manufactured with sufficient precision. Nearly 
 everything had to be done by hand. The tools used were 
 of a very imperfect kind. A few ill-constructed lathes, 
 with some drills and boring machines of a rude sort, con- 
 stituted the principal furniture of the workshop.' 
 
 Watt endeavoured to remedy the defect by keeping 
 certain sets of workmen to special classes of work, and 
 allowing them to do nothing else. Fathers were induced 
 to bring up their sons at the same bench with themselves, 
 and initiate them in the dexterity which they had 
 acquired by experience ; and at Soho it was not unusual 
 for the same precise line of work to be followed by 
 members of the same family for three generations. 
 
 In this way as great a degree of accuracy was arrived 
 at as was practicable under the circumstances ; but, not- 
 withstanding all this care, accurate fitting could not be 
 secured so long as the manufacture was conducted 
 mainly by hand, and hence arose gradual improvements 
 in tools, chiefly with the view of making them act auto- 
 matically. By this means not only was their capability 
 greatly increased, but far greater precision was attained
 
 FOUNDING AND FORGING. 39 
 
 than could ever have been ensured by manual labour. 
 The facilities thus afforded led to a constant progressive 
 improvement in the character of the work done, at the 
 same time constantly diminishing the dependence on mere 
 manual skill. 
 
 The manufacturing processes by which works in iron 
 are constructed may be classed under four great heads 
 founding, forging, riveting, and shaping ; the latter in- 
 cluding operations of many kinds. 
 
 Founding, or the manufacture of articles in cast-iron, 
 is still pretty much as it was left by Abraham Darby. 
 An impression of the object is moulded in sand, and this 
 is filled with molten iron. All since done has been con- 
 fined to details for improved accuracy and facility in 
 moulding, and the formation of larger and sounder cast- 
 ings by peculiar modes of preparing the mould. 
 
 In malleable iron the manufacture of articles by the 
 operation of forging received a great impulse about 1840, 
 through the invention, by James Nasmyth, of the steam 
 hammer. The power of men in wielding hammers was 
 always limited ; and although huge hammers moved by 
 steam were in use for the purpose of iron production, 
 their action was too rough to admit of the formation of 
 accurate shapes, and hence the use of forgings in machi- 
 nery was much restricted. Nasmyth's apparatus, while it 
 enabled the most powerful blows to be given, provided 
 for their regulation and application with the greatest 
 nicety of adjustment, and this at once brought the 
 stronger, tougher, and more trustworthy material into 
 use, for cases of a magnitude and variety unknown before. 
 The gigantic wrought-iron stem and stern posts of iron 
 ships, the huge shafts and axles of engines, and the
 
 40 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 monster wrought- iron guns lately produced, owe their 
 existence entirely to the steam hammer ; and by means 
 of dies, fashioned in a proper way, small articles of 
 peculiar shape can be forged with facility and certainty. 
 
 Other ingenious machines have been introduced for 
 forging bolts, nuts, rivets, and other small articles of 
 large consumption, much facilitating and cheapening their 
 production. 
 
 Riveting is a very useful process by which iron ships, 
 boilers, tanks, and the most ordinary kinds of iron 
 bridges are formed from malleable iron plates of small 
 thickness. Holes being punched or drilled in correspond- 
 ing positions in the edges of two plates, these are placed 
 over each other, red-hot rivets are passed through and 
 clenched over, and thus a strong union is formed. This 
 process is a very old one, but it has been much improved 
 by Fairbairn's invention of the riveting-machine, of which 
 Si notice will be found in a subsequent chapter. 
 
 We may next consider the processes necessary to 
 bring pieces of ironwork, either cast or wrought, into 
 the true shapes they are intended for, with the view either 
 of ensuring their perfect mechanical action, or causing 
 them to fit firmly and closely together. In this shaping 
 we may distinguish four kinds of operations ; namely, 
 turning, boring, planing, and general shaping. Each 
 requires tools of a special nature, and all have received 
 much attention. 
 
 Turning is the most important operation, on account 
 of the great predominance of parts of machinery which are 
 of a circular or a cylindrical shape, or otherwise symme- 
 trical round an axis. The great tool for this purpose 
 the lathe has been in use from time immemorial, and in
 
 THE SLIDE REST. 41 
 
 every engineer's shop the lathe is largely employed. The 
 principle of the lathe is still what it was thousands of 
 years ago ; the article to be turned being caused to 
 revolve about an axis, while a cutter is applied to its 
 exterior, and caused slowly to move or slide so as to 
 produce the desired profile. 
 
 There has been, however, a great improvement intro- 
 duced in the slide rest a very simple but beautiful con- 
 trivance by which the cutter, instead of being held 
 and guided by the hand of the workman, is attached 
 to a holding-frame or rest, which is made to move or 
 slide, either by a handscrew, or automatically by the 
 same power which turns the lathe. The effect of this 
 is not only to save skilled labour, but to give much 
 more accuracy to the work, as well as the power of pro- 
 ducing with the greatest ease effects which, by mere hand 
 motion, would be scarcely possible. 
 
 This invaluable addition to the lathe was invented by 
 Henry Maudslay, one of the men to whom mechanical 
 engineering is largely indebted for its modern advance- 
 ment. Originally a smith, he afterwards went to the 
 shops of Joseph Bramah (the inventor of the hydraulic 
 press, the Bramah lock, the water-closet apparatus, and 
 many other ingenious things), where, about 1794, he first 
 introduced the improvement in question. In 1810, he 
 founded the celebrated engineering establishment in 
 Lambeth, still carried on by the firm of Maudslay, Sons 
 and Field. 
 
 The lathe has received a vast variety of ingenious 
 additions for the purpose of executing fine complicated 
 ornamental turning ; but as used for large purposes in en- 
 gineering work, it remains in nearly its simplest form, with 
 the addition of the slide rest, and some improvements by 
 Joseph Clement to equalise its action. It has, however, 
 been given gigantic dimensions and great power for work
 
 42 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. n. 
 
 of large size, and the most delicate accuracy for small 
 uses. 
 
 Boring is an operation analogous to turning, but, so 
 to speak, reversed, as it is in this case an interior surface, 
 instead of an exterior one, which has to be made true. 
 The cylinder of a steam-engine is one of the best examples 
 of this kind of work. It is made of cast-iron ; but it is 
 necessary that its interior surface should be made accu- 
 rately cylindrical and perfectly true and smooth, so that 
 the piston may slide easily up and down, at the same time 
 fitting perfectly tight in all positions, to prevent waste of 
 steam and loss of power. This accuracy must be given 
 by the operation of boring. 
 
 It was in this particular that Watt found the greatest 
 difficulty, for his machine required greater accuracy than 
 it had been necessary to give to the old fire-engines. His 
 early cylinders were made at the Carron Works, where 
 Smeaton had put up a machine for boring cannon, but 
 they were so untrue that they were next to useless. The 
 pistons could not be kept steam-tight, notwithstanding the 
 various expedients of stuffing with cork, putty, chewed 
 paper, and greased old hat. Watt complained, in regard to 
 one of eighteen inches diameter, that it was so far from 
 circularity, that 'at the worst place the long diameter 
 exceeded the short by three-eighths of an inch ! ' 
 
 The defect of the ordinary boring apparatus was that 
 it was fixed from one end only of the cylinder, as if boring 
 a gun (for which purpose the machine was indeed origi- 
 nally made), and hence was not sufficiently stable in posi- 
 tion to guide the tool accurately in its heavy work of cutting 
 the interior surface. The first efficient boring-machine 
 was contrived, about 1775, by a founder and millwright 
 at Chester, named John Wilkinson. He conceived the 
 happy idea of putting a strong bar completely through
 
 IRON PLANING. 43 
 
 the cylinder, and fixing it firmly at both ends on lathe 
 centres. Hence when this bar, being provided with 
 proper cutters, was caused to rotate by the ordinary lathe 
 motion, great power could be brought on the cutters 
 without endangering their steadiness of position in regard 
 to the axis. The ' boring bar,' as it was termed, has since 
 been the universal tool for such work, having been, like 
 Maudslay's lathe, made automatic, and given other im- 
 provements in detail. 
 
 Planing differs from turning and boring, inasmuch as it 
 requires the metal to be operated on in right lines instead 
 of curves, so as to form plane surfaces perfectly flat and 
 true. It is, in fact, analogous to the well-known opera- 
 tion of the same name in woodwork, where a tool carry- 
 ing a cutter is driven along by the workman's arm, 
 shaving down the surface of the wood till the requisite 
 smoothness is obtained. 
 
 Down to a late period no operation at all analogous to 
 the planing of wood was practised with iron ; for although 
 a good steel tool could be made to cut iron with the aid 
 of a lathe, it was beyond the power of a man to make 
 such a tool take a shaving off iron in a right line. The 
 usual mode of getting plane surfaces was by what was 
 called ' chipping and filing.' The iron was first brought 
 to something like a level form by chipping little bits off it 
 with a steel chisel, and it was afterwards worked down 
 by large files till a smooth surface was gained. It need 
 hardly be said that such a plan was very laborious and 
 troublesome, and also very likely to be inaccurate. 
 
 At length, as tools improved, it seems to have occurred 
 to machinists that it would be possible to construct a 
 sliding frame strong enough to hold and guide a cutting 
 tool in a rectilinear path, so as to make it cut a shaving 
 off a piece of iron underneath ; and then, by repeating
 
 44 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. IT. 
 
 these cuts, to form the plane surface required. The thing 
 was done, and so arose the planing-raachine, a tool of the 
 greatest utility. 
 
 The invention of the planing-machine has been claimed 
 for several eminent mechanics. It is probable that, as 
 the apparatus required considerable contrivance to make 
 it successful, it grew up under several hands, but it is 
 certain that a large share of the credit is due to a man 
 named Joseph Clement. He was, like Maudslay, a work- 
 man of Bramah's, who afterwards went into business for 
 himself as a mechanical engineer on a small scale, and 
 was greatly celebrated for his ingenuity and mechanical 
 skill, particularly in regard to the construction of tools. 
 He was the only person to be found who could make the 
 extremely accurate work required for Mr. Babbage's 
 Calculating Engine. He made a planing-machine before 
 1820, and afterwards established a larger machine which 
 for many years was the only good thing of the kind in 
 existence. He allowed it to be used on hire by other 
 engineers, arid it brought him a considerable income. 
 
 The planing-machine is now extensively used, and of 
 such size as to plane very large surfaces. It is one of the 
 most indispensable tools in a large engineering fac- 
 tory, and its value in promoting accuracy of work has 
 been very great. It is made in two forms : either the 
 article to be planed is fixed, and the tool traverses back- 
 wards and forwards over it ; or the tool is fixed, and the 
 article is made to move underneath it. It is very 
 customary to make the tool reverse after the forward 
 stroke, so as to present its cutting edge in the other direc- 
 tion, and cut also on the return stroke, by which time is 
 saved. In either case an arrangement is added by which 
 the line of the cuts is caused to advance automatically by 
 a small distance at every cut, so as to cover at length the 
 whole surface to be planed.
 
 SHAPING, SLOTTING, SCREWING. 45 
 
 The planing-machine being once established, its prin- 
 ciple was soon carried out more generally in what are called 
 shaping and slotting machines. These are smaller but 
 not less useful instruments, in which a cutter moving in 
 a reciprocating line like that of a planing-machine, but in 
 a path of only a few inches long, can be made to cut 
 away portions of a piece of ironwork in any direction. If 
 the exterior of the article is offered to the tool, it is 
 shaped by the metal being cut away ; or, by bringing 
 the cutter to bear upon a hole already formed by casting 
 or drilling, the hole can be enlarged and given a square 
 or oblong form, or transformed into what is called a 
 slot, whence one of the names of the machine. 
 
 The article to be shaped or slotted is placed on a 
 movable frame, arid made to advance automatically, and 
 by altering its position great varieties of shapes can be 
 produced. 
 
 These shaping and slotting machines are used in large 
 numbers in good shops, and contribute essentially to 
 accuracy and good finish of engineering work. 
 
 There are many minor but very useful improvements 
 in engineering tools which are worthy of mention. 
 
 The mode of making screws, for example, has been 
 much improved. Screws are so largely used in ironwork 
 for connecting the parts together, that their manufacture, 
 in the shape of what are technically called bolts and nuts, 
 is a large trade of itself. The old method of forming the 
 threads, namely the male thread by movable steel cutting 
 * dies,' fixed in a * stock ' or handle, and the female by 
 cutting ' taps,' is still the general one, but the arrange- 
 ments have been much perfected, and the process has 
 been much facilitated by screwing machines taking the ' 
 place of hand labour. As machinery advanced, much 
 inconvenience was found from the varying sizes of the
 
 46 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. u. 
 
 threads, screws of the same diameter differing so much in 
 this particular that it was scarcely possible to match a 
 male and female screw unless they were actually made 
 together. It occurred to Henry Maudslay that standard 
 sizes ought to be adopted throughout the trade, and the 
 idea was afterwards fully carried out by Whitworth, his 
 pupil. In the present day, to form an ordinary screw- 
 thread of any other size than ' Whitworth's standard,' 
 is little less than a crime in the eyes of educated mecha- 
 nical engineers. For large exceptional screws, the lathe 
 with slide rest is used, the automatic sliding motion 
 allowing of such a progression being given to the tool as 
 will form the required spiral in any given proportions, 
 and with absolute perfection. 
 
 Sir Joseph Whitworth has also much promoted me- 
 chanical excellence in other respects ; one for example 
 in the mode of getting perfectly plane metallic surfaces ; 
 another in the establishment of a series of ' standard 
 gauges,' for obtaining great accuracy and uniformity in 
 the dimensions of moving parts in machinery. 
 
 The construction of automatic machine tools has been 
 much stimulated and improved by the ' strikes ' and com- 
 binations of workmen that have taken place from time 
 to time. These have caused so much inconvenience to 
 the trade, that efforts have naturally been made to lessen 
 the amount of manual skill requisite, and to reduce the 
 human labour to a kind which may be performed by less 
 practised hands. Hence every strike has been followed 
 by improved tool machinery ; already, not only has skilled 
 labour been largely superseded, but the quality of the 
 work has been immensely improved, and the price gene- 
 rally reduced also. 
 
 Mr. Whitworth gives an example of this in regard to 
 the planing-machine. The original price for making a
 
 ENGINEERING MANUFACTORIES. 47 
 
 surface of iron true by the old process of chipping and 
 filing was twelve shillings a square foot, whereas now it 
 is done very much better by the planing-machine at a cost 
 for labour of less than a penny. 
 
 The improvements in tools changed the mode of doing 
 mechanical work, by rendering necessary large and care- 
 fully laid out manufactories. The old millwrights had 
 little need of large or expensive premises or plant. A 
 small workshop and a few simple tools were all they 
 required ; but under the improved conditions brought 
 about by Watt's inventions, these no longer sufficed ; 
 it was necessary to have more systematic arrangements, 
 and tools of complicated and often expensive character, 
 and these necessities brought about the establishment of 
 large manufactories, which gradually supplanted the old 
 millwright's trade. 
 
 In these manufactories the designing and direction of 
 the work passed away from the hands of the workman 
 into those of the master and his office assistants. This led 
 also to a division of labour ; men of general knowledge 
 were only exceptionally required as foremen or out-door 
 superintendents : and the artificers became, in process of 
 time, little more than attendants on the machines. 
 
 One important result of the improvements in the iron 
 manufacture has been the use of this material for structures 
 of much greater magnitude than formerly. 
 
 Iron bridges have been the most prominent objects of 
 this kind. The example set at Colebrook Dale in 1779 
 was followed in other places by Telford and other en- 
 gineers, and the cast-iron bridge culminated in the erection 
 by Mr. Eennie, in 1819, of the magnificent South wark 
 Bridge over the Thames, which contains 6,000 tons of 
 iron.
 
 48 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 When malleable iron had come into use, of a quality 
 that could be depended on, it was adopted in the first 
 instance for bridges on the suspension principle, of which 
 the elegant structure erected by Telford over the Menai 
 Straits, in 1826, is the best-known example. 
 
 The introduction of railways soon after this date in- 
 volved the necessity for bridges in large numbers, of a 
 more substantial kind, and sometimes of large dimensions ; 
 and malleable iron being a material very suitable for 
 their construction, from the facility with which it could 
 be fashioned and put together, a great demand for iron 
 bridges set in. No very large structure, however, of this 
 kind existed until the erection of the great Tubular Bridges 
 over the river Conway and the Menai Strait, in regard to 
 which, as will be seen hereafter, Mr. Fairbairn took an 
 active and important part. The Menai Bridge is 1,511 
 feet long, and contains 11,468 tons of malleable iron. 
 
 Other examples of large structures in iron are found 
 in modern iron ships. These have lately assumed great 
 magnitude; the great war frigates of our modern navy 
 often containing many thousands of tons of metal. The 
 celebrated ' Great Eastern.' designed by Mr. Brunei in 
 1858, weighs nearly 20,000 tons. 
 
 The iron armour-plates used on the war frigates are 
 huge masses of malleable iron, the provisions for manu- 
 facturing which are of gigantic character; and the use 
 of this material for defensive purposes has been carried 
 further by the construction of massive iron forts of great 
 strength and solidity. 
 
 The modern rifled wrought-iron guns, of many tons in 
 weight, are not only very heavy forgings, but are fine 
 specimens of accuracy in workmanship, that could only 
 have been brought about by admirable perfection in the 
 tools and mechanical arrangements employed in their 
 manufacture.
 
 AN ENGINEER AND PHILOSOPHER. 49 
 
 From 'the foregoing description the reader will be able 
 to form an idea of the nature and extent of the profession 
 of which Sir William Fairbairn was one of the most dis- 
 tinguished members. 
 
 Having undergone a thoroughly practical apprentice- 
 ship with working millwrights and mechanics, he com- 
 menced business in 1817 by setting up a manufactory at 
 Manchester; and from this date to his death, in 1874, 
 he was in active and constant practice as a mechanical 
 engineer. 
 
 During this long period he was engaged in the design 
 and practical construction of engineering works in great 
 variety, and on a large scale. Steam-engines, water- 
 wheels, millwork and machinery of all kinds, steam navi- 
 gation, the iron and steel manufacture, iron defences, iron 
 bridges, and other large structures in iron, locomotives, 
 and in fact almost every kind of subject embraced in the 
 mechanical branch of the profession occupied his atten- 
 tion, and almost everything that he touched received 
 some improvement at his hands. 
 
 But if he had done nothing more than what occupied 
 him in his business capacity, he would not have ac- 
 quired the name he has left behind him. He was not 
 only an able designer and skilful manufacturer, but he 
 devoted much time to original investigation and to the 
 promulgation of mechanical knowledge. He was not, 
 strictly speaking, an eminent theorist, for his educa- 
 tion had been too plain and practical to allow of his 
 acquiring high theoretical attainments; but he had a 
 scientific mind, a great love of experimental enquiry, an 
 indefatigable perseverance in tracing out mechanical 
 truths, and a gift of expressing clearly the results he had 
 obtained. 
 
 These qualifications prompted him to contribute
 
 50 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. n. 
 
 largely to the spread of knowledge on professional sub- 
 jects. He wrote many complete works, which became 
 very popular ; he sent many able but less known 
 papers to scientific bodies ; he was continually appealed 
 to on intricate or difficult questions ; and he was largely 
 sought after to give public lectures or addresses on sub- 
 jects bearing on mechanical science. 
 
 His ability and public spirit were acknowledged by 
 the award to him of honours of the highest character. 
 He was made a Fellow of the Eoyal Society, and received 
 their gold medal ; he was chosen President for one of the 
 meetings of the British Association ; he received honorary 
 degrees from two British Universities ; he had the great 
 distinction of being elected one of the few foreign members 
 of the Institute of France ; and passing over many other 
 marks of respect of a minor kind, he had, as a crowning 
 honour, the dignity of a Baronetcy graciously conferred 
 on him by Queen Victoria. 
 
 A long life, so spent and so rewarded, cannot fail to 
 be of public interest, and the story of this life it is the 
 object of the following pages to tell.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 FROM BIRTH TO THE END OF RESIDENCE AT KELSO 
 
 AGE, TO 14. 
 1789-1803 
 
 E 2
 
 DATE AND PLACE OP BIRTH PEDIGREE FATHER AND MOTHER 
 FIRST SCHOOLING ATHLETIC EXERCISES FAMILY CIRCUMSTANCES 
 CONNECTION WITH SIR WALTER SCOTT AND HIS FAMILY CHARACTER 
 AND ABILITIES OF WILLIAM'S MOTHER SPINNING COMPETITIONS 
 FARM AT MOY DIFFICULT AND TRYING JOURNEY TO THE HIGHLANDS 
 INGENIOUS METHOD OF CLEARING THE LAND FARM IMPROVEMENTS 
 EFFECT OF RESIDENCE AT MOY EARLY INDICATIONS OF TASTE FOR 
 MECHANICAL PURSUITS RELINQUISHMENT OF THE CONDUCT OF THE 
 FARM MULLOCHY SCHOOL ; ITS DISCIPLINE FURTHER EDUCATION 
 WITH HIS UNCLE AT GALASHIELS THE PSALMS OF DAVID RETURN 
 TO KELSO EMPLOYMENT ON AN ENGINEERING WORK SERIOUS 
 ACCIDENT.
 
 CHAPTEE HI. 
 
 WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN was born in the town of Kelso, in 
 Roxburghshire, on February 19, 1789. 
 
 His father, Andrew Fairbairn, was descended, on the 
 male side, from a humble but respectable class of small 
 Lairds, or, as they were called ' Portioners,' who farmed 
 their own land, as was the custom in Scotland in those 
 days. 
 
 On the female side the pedigree may have been of a 
 higher character, for Andrew's mother was said by him 
 to have claimed descent from the ancient Border family 
 of Douglas. This lady's maiden name was Anderson ; 
 she was a tall, handsome, commanding woman, and lived 
 to a great age. 
 
 William writes thus of his father : 
 
 My father was never brought up to any business, and simply 
 learned to read when very young at Smailholme. At the early 
 age of twelve, my father's parents considered it time that he 
 should be doing something for himself. His brother William, 
 then only fifteen, was teaching a school at Holy Island ; and my 
 father was accordingly hired out to a neighbour as an assistant 
 on the farm. In this humble situation he learned to be an 
 expert ploughman, and one of the first agricultural operatives 
 in that part of the country. The commencement of my father's 
 career as a practical agriculturist was at the time when the new 
 systems of draining, deep ploughing, and rotation crops were 
 making some noise in the country. It was a new era in the 
 history of agriculture, and one that has produced, and is yet 
 producing, very extraordinary results. With these new pro-
 
 54 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. in. 
 
 cesses my father became perfectly familiar, and the knowledge 
 subsequently served him in the development of those resources 
 which exhibited themselves some years afterwards in Eossshire. 
 He afterwards went to reside near a seaport in England, 
 where, during the American war, he was pressed on board a 
 frigate, from which he was drafted into a ship of the line, and 
 served under Lord Howe at the destruction of the Spanish fleet 
 off Gibraltar. At the close of the war, the fleet was ordered 
 round to Spithead, where he was when the 'Eoyal George' sank 
 (August 29, 1782), and assisted in saving the survivors. On 
 receiving his discharge he returned to Scotland, and married 
 shortly afterwards. 
 
 William's mother was a Miss Henderson, the daughter 
 of a tradesman in Jedburgh, and the direct descendant of 
 an old Border family of the name of Oliver, for many 
 years respectable stock-farmers in a pastoral district at 
 the northern foot of the Cheviots. 
 
 At four years of age William was sent to a small day 
 school, not so much for the purpose of learning as to 
 keep him out of mischief, As, however, his chief re- 
 collections at this time refer to the frequency and severity 
 of the punishments he received, it would not appear that 
 even this object was successfully attained. The first real 
 steps in. education he describes as follows : 
 
 From Mr. Ker's seminary I was in due time transferred to 
 the parish school, kept by Mr. White, a man of considerable 
 talent, and a good English scholar. Mr. White had a large 
 school, with an usher, Mr. Phail, a young man of some learning, 
 but irritable in his temper, and with knuckles harder than flint, 
 which he applied with a peculiar jerk to the cranium ; he was 
 by nature unfit for a teacher. His superior, Mr. White, was 
 quite the reverse : with a fine open benevolent countenance, he 
 enjoyed the reputation of being an agreeable companion and a 
 man of great goodness of heart. He was one of those men of 
 whom there are many in Scotland, who love their profession ; he 
 was fall of enthusiasm, a strict disciplinarian, and took great 
 delight in exhibiting his pupils not only in the various
 
 
 ATHLETIC EXERCISES. 55 
 
 branches of learning, but more particularly in their powers of 
 declaiming selections from our best poets, such as Dryden's 
 Alexander's Feast, the orations of Cicero, Paul before Agrippa, 
 &c. All these used to be favourite exercises, and great prepa- 
 rations were made for the annual examinations, which took place 
 every autumn before the ministers and the influential people of 
 the town. 
 
 I learned to read, in Scott and Barrow's collections, pieces 
 selected from some of our best poets and prose writers, amongst 
 whom may be enumerated Addison, Fielding, Swift, De Foe, 
 Hume, Goldsmith, Robertson, Johnson, &c. If to these be 
 added a course of arithmetic as far as Practice and the Rule of 
 Three, they will constitute the whole of my stock of knowledge 
 up to my tenth year. 
 
 He was early fond of athletic exercises. He records 
 that when very young he succeeded, after many fruitless 
 attempts, in climbing a high boulder-stone with polished 
 sides and a conical top ; but, falling off, he cut a gash in 
 his forehead, the mark of which remained all his life. 
 
 While at school he kept up his skill by running races 
 and so on, and he adds : 
 
 I also learned to improve my climbing propensities by per- 
 forming with a number of others certain feats of ascent to the 
 top of the mouldering turrets of the old Abbey at Kelso, which, 
 next to Melrose, still remains as one of the finest specimens of 
 the Norman Gothic in Scotland. 
 
 With every tower, arch, and cranny I was familiar, and the 
 great feat used to be which of us could reach the bells over the 
 western window in the shortest time, starting altogether by 
 different routes from the kirkyard. At that time the ruins 
 were open to any intruder, and in too many cases they were the 
 receptacle of stray cattle, ' cuddies,' donkeys, and all the filth of 
 that part of the town. 
 
 He gives an animated description of the family cir- 
 cumstances in his early youth : 
 
 During the time I was at Mr. White's school, my father 
 lived in Kelso, at the foot of the Woodmarket, in the same
 
 56 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIBBAIRN. CHAP. iir. 
 
 house with Mrs. William Curl, the aunt of the late Sir Walter 
 Scott. My father was on terms of intimacy with the Scotts of 
 Sandy Knowe. His father was the gardener there, as well as 
 for another family at Meliston, and, although inferior in station 
 to the family at Sandy Knowe, he was, nevertheless, highly re- 
 spected by every member of it, and more particularly by Mrs. 
 Curl and Miss Scott. Both families lived at Smailholme Tower, 
 and my father, although a few years older than Sir Walter, was 
 well acquainted with him, and, as a boy, used often to carry 
 him when unable to walk from the dislocation of the hip-bone, 
 which made him a cripple for life. All these circumstances of 
 early association promoted a degree of intimacy with the family 
 which was kept up with Mrs. Curl and Miss Scott till their 
 deaths. 
 
 My mother, although exceedingly active, never enjoyed 
 good health. She had a very limited income on which to 
 maintain and bring up her family ; and the efforts she was 
 called upon to make in her domestic duties, and her desire to 
 assist in the education and maintenance of five small children, 
 by extraordinary exertions in spinning upon the long and small 
 wheel, exhausted her strength and frequently incapacitated her 
 for the performance of the ordinary duties of the family. I 
 remember that those extraordinary efforts were a constant cause 
 of anxiety to my father, whose strong attachment for his wife 
 caused him to remonstrate on the folly and impropriety of her 
 conduct. 
 
 His attempts were, however, fruitless, as absence from home 
 during six days in the week furnished abundant opportunities 
 for keeping the spinning-wheel constantly in motion and in- 
 creasing the evils of which my father complained. By these 
 exertions it must, however, be borne in mind that the whole of 
 my father's clothes and those of all the children, till I was four- 
 teen years of age, were spun and manufactured by my mother. 
 She bought the wool and the flax, spun it into yarn, reeled it 
 into hanks, and gave it out to the weaver to be manufactured. 
 When the \voollen cloth came home it was carefully measured, 
 and sent to the fulling-mill to be dressed and finished ; and 
 when the linen web was finished she bleached it herself; and 
 many were the times I was set to watch and water the web. For
 
 FAMILY ENCUMBRANCES. 57 
 
 nearly twenty years, from 1785 to 1804, I believe the whole, 
 or nearly the whole of the woollen clothes, shirting, sheets, 
 and blankets, were spun and manufactured by my mother. In 
 addition to these industrial resources, which always formed a 
 prominent feature in my mother's character, there were her 
 knowledge and skill in the useful arts. She was thoroughly 
 acquainted with dyeing and bleaching ; when my father resided 
 in the Highlands of Scotland, she made his coats, waistcoats, 
 and breeches, as well as all the jackets and trousers for her sons. 
 She was also an adept at dress-making, and used not only to 
 make for herself and daughters, but frequently cut out for the 
 neighbours, and she encouraged the same system of economy in 
 other families as she practised in her own. 
 
 My father, on the other hand, possessed a strong and 
 muscular frame, an excellent constitution, and could undergo 
 any amount of fatigue. He was a hard worker, a great reader, 
 and a man of unblemished integrity of character. No exertion 
 was too much for him ; and the respect in which he was held by 
 all the more wealthy and intelligent classes was a great source of 
 pride and gratification to my mother. To each other they 
 entertained the most tender affection, and excepting only the 
 words which occasionally passed between them on the subject of 
 the long wooden wheel, they were a happy couple. In politics 
 my father was a Liberal, or what was considered in those days a 
 staunch Whig, with a tendency to Jacobinism ; but he was never 
 violent, as my mother, who was more Conservative, exercised 
 considerable influence over him, and retained him within the 
 bounds of moderation. 
 
 In their religious tenets they were both of the Church of 
 Scotland, from which they never deviated, and from which my 
 mother in particular derived great consolation. She was pious 
 and discreet, much more so than my father, who I always 
 thought was tinged with scepticism. 
 
 The writer of the autobiography proceeds with his 
 story, which comprises many interesting incidents : 
 
 I must, however, now return to that part of the narrative 
 where I had been entered at the parish school, and where I had 
 attained some little proficiency in reading, writing, and arith-
 
 58 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. in. 
 
 metic. As near as I can recollect I was about three years in 
 that establishment, and during that time I remember Mrs. 
 Curl's nephew, Mr. Walter Scott, who was then an advocate at 
 Edinburgh, spending some months of two summers at Kelso. 
 I believe he was then collecting materials (or, as his aunt used 
 to say, foolishly spending his time amongst all the auld wives 
 of the country,') for his ' Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.' It 
 was at this time I frequently saw Mr. Scott, who used to hear 
 me read to his aunt, and rewarded me, when I read distinctly, 
 with some little mark of his attention. From the intimacy of 
 those days I cannot recall any indication of those great powers 
 of imagery which afterwards became the delight ol every reader 
 in Europe. 
 
 During the long winter evenings, when my father was from 
 home, which, as already stated, was five nights out of the seven, 
 Mrs. Curl used to bring down her wheel and join my mother at 
 a camp with the ' pirns,' or my mother went up to her, as best 
 suited their convenience. They were both good spinners, and 
 used to engage in a friendly competition as to the quantities 
 each could turn off in a given time. My mother was generally 
 the winner, as she spun with the double rock and both hands, 
 whilst Mrs. Curl never attempted more than the single ' pirn.' 
 Eighty years ago spinning was common in all the farm-houses 
 of Scotland during the winter months ; at Mervinslaw, where my 
 mother was brought up, all the lasses were engaged at the wheel, 
 and, in order to encourage the rivalry and lighten the task, the 
 Border songs were chanted in no unmeasured time, and with a 
 pathos and good feeling that not unfrequently touched the heart. 
 The same rivalry was carried on between the two friends during 
 the winter months of the residence of the family at Kelso. 
 
 In the autumn of 1 799 the pleasing monotony of this quiet life 
 was materially changed by new prospects which were held out to 
 my father in Eossshire, when he was offered the charge of a farm 
 of 300 acres. The farm was to be the joint property of himself 
 and his brother, Mr. Peter Fairbairn, for many years a resident 
 in that country and secretary to Lord Seaforth, of Castle Brahan. 
 The farm was leased from his lordship, on the express condition 
 that one half of the stock, and one half of the proceeds, should 
 belong to my father. It was situated at Moy on the banks of
 
 THE MOY FAEM. 59 
 
 the river Conan, about five miles from Dingwall, and although 
 possessing a few fertile spots, the greater portion was overgrown 
 with whins and brushwood, and covered with stone . and rocks, 
 some of them of great magnitude. 
 
 The stocking of the farm was a heavy business, as my uncle 
 had a large family, with a limited income, and a very scanty 
 capital. My father had none ; but he was to find skill and 
 industry in the management; and having purchased a good 
 assortment of carts and ploughs, and all the necessary imple- 
 ments, as used in the best farms in the south, our little estab- 
 lishment at Kelso was broken up, very much to the regret of 
 Mrs. Curl and my mother. To effect the transport my father 
 bought an old horse, and having bent some canvas over one of 
 the carts, he left Kelso in October with a delicate wife and a 
 family of five children, the youngest only six weeks old, on a 
 journey of upwards of two hundred miles through a wild country, 
 at a most inclement season of the year. It will not be neces- 
 sary to recount the difficulties we had to encounter, with a 
 broken down and restive horse, under rain and sleet, at that in- 
 clement season, over the Grampians. Suffice it to observe, that 
 my mother was so ill as to be lifted in and out of the cart every 
 night and morning. 
 
 At length we arrived at our destination, but unfortunately 
 the house intended for our residence on the farm was not 
 finished, and we had reluctantly to take up our quarters in a 
 temporary hovel very inferior to the comfortable abode we had 
 enjoyed for so many years at Kelso. Early in the spring the 
 house was completed, and my father set vigorously to work on a 
 series of improvements, which, in less than two years, com- 
 pletely changed the face of the farm. 
 
 I have already observed that the whole surface of the farm 
 was nearly covered with whins and rocks, and to remove these 
 my father adopted an ingenious method. Having cut down the 
 brushwood and piled it upon the large blocks of whinstone, the 
 fuel was ignited, and, the stones becoming heated to almost a red 
 heat, the ashes were cleared away, and a small stream of water 
 being applied from a bottle, the rapid condensation, or rather 
 contraction, caused a fracture of the rock in any required 
 direction.
 
 CO LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. in. 
 
 This to. the surrounding and wondering neighbours was an 
 extraordinary performance, which some of them did not hesitate 
 to attribute to an agency much more powerful and dangerous 
 than the little bottle which effected such wonders. 
 
 Two years were employed in this way, and the farm began 
 to exhibit, in place of whins and rocks, fine crops of turnips and 
 barley ; and from the introduction of a good system of draining, 
 which was practised by deep trenching, several fields were thus 
 reclaimed that had never before felt the coulter of the plough. 
 
 The failure of the crops in 1800 -and 1801 did great damage, 
 and ruined most of the farmers, and amongst others it bore 
 severely upon the owners of the Moy farm, which had incurred 
 an expensive outlay without yielding any return. That was not, 
 however, the greatest evil that the family had to endure, as my 
 uncle, whose company as well as services had become indis- 
 pensable to Lord Seaforth who was deaf and dumb had 
 engaged to go out with his lordship as secretary on his appoint- 
 ment to the Grovernorsliip of Barbadoes in the West Indies. 
 This appointment made a total change in the prospects of both 
 families. My father was urged to continue his improvements on 
 the farm until my eldest cousin became of age, and I was 
 selected, as the eldest of my father's family, to go out to India, 
 through the influence of his "lordship, as a cadet. 
 
 Tliis arrangement, had it been carried out, would 
 have changed the whole course of William's life ; but it 
 was frustrated by unforeseen difficulties, and he remained 
 at the farm with his father. 
 
 The effect of the residence at Moy on William's 
 education and prospects is described as follows ; and here 
 we get the first indications of that taste for mechanics 
 which moulded his future career : 
 
 The residence of the family at Moy was entirely lost as re- 
 gards the education of my brother Tom and myself. One of the 
 conditions of the agreement with my uncle was that a tutor 
 should be engaged for both families, and that we should have 
 the benefit of a good education along with my cousins. For 
 some reason or other, which I could never clearly understand,
 
 
 EARLY TASTE FOR MECHANICS. 61 
 
 this was never accomplished ; and the whole two years spent at 
 Moy proved a serious loss to myself, as well as the other 
 branches of the family. Attempts were made by both my 
 father and mother to rectify the error, but the laborious engage- 
 ments to which my father was subjected in carrying forward the 
 improvements, and the assiduous duties of my mother in keeping 
 us all right and tight at home, were as much as they could 
 accomplish, and, with the exception of an occasional lesson, and 
 the reading on Sundays, I may with safety affirm, that this time 
 was for the most part unprofitably spent and produced no good 
 or lasting impressions. 
 
 It will readily be seen that a boy of eleven years, with all 
 the activity and bustle of youth, if not engaged in some useful 
 pursuit, is likely to do mischief. Fortunately my inclination 
 took a different turn. After the first year's residence at Moy, 
 my younger brother, Peter, then a child of fifteen months old, 
 required a great deal of nursing, and as that duty devolved upoa 
 my eldest sister and myself, I managed, in order to relieve 
 myself of the trouble of carrying him on my back, to make a 
 little waggon with four wheels, and by attaching a piece of old 
 rope, used to drag him in all directions, sometimes to a consi- 
 derable distance from the farm. The construction of the 
 waggon was, however, a formidable undertaking, as I had no 
 tools but a knife, a gimblet, and an old saw. With these im- 
 plements, a piece of thin board, and a few small nails, I 
 managed to make a respectable waggon, which, though fre- 
 quently out of repair, was nevertheless much better than could 
 be expected. The greatest difficulty was the wheels, which I 
 surmounted by cutting sections from the stem of a small alder 
 tree, and with a red-hot iron burnt the holes in the centre to 
 receive the axle. 
 
 The success which attended this construction led to others 
 of greater importance, which I continued to practise, and which 
 my father encouraged during the whole time we were in the 
 Highlands. In the formation of boats and ships I became an 
 expert artificer, and was at once a ' Jack-of-all-trades,' having to 
 build, rig, and sail my own vessels. From ship-building, I pro- 
 ceeded to construct wind and water-mills, and attained sucli 
 proficiency that I had sometimes five or six mills in operation at
 
 62 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. m. 
 
 once They were all made with the knife. The water-spout 
 was composed of the bark of a tree, and the mill-stones were 
 represented by round discs of the same material. It is not for 
 me to offer an opinion as to the influence these exercises had 
 upon my future fortunes, I may leave others to form their own 
 judgment. 
 
 Shortly after the departure of the uncle for the West 
 Indies, it appears that family differences arose as to the 
 management of the farm, and Andrew, who could not 
 brook what he considered improper interference, relin- 
 quished his post at Moy, and engaged himself as steward 
 to Mackenzie of Allangrange. where he removed with his 
 family. 
 
 William's prospects of education then brightened, as 
 he was sent to a school at Mullochy, a mile and a half 
 away ; he says : 
 
 The Mullochy school was conducted by a Mr. Donald Fraser, 
 a good classic and severe disciplinarian. Under this gentleman's 
 tuition I made great progress in reading, writing, and accounts, 
 but learned neither Latin or Greek, confining my studies, 
 according to my father's orders, to a plain English education. 
 The want of a good grammatical course, and a slight knowledge 
 of the classics, has always been to me a serious loss. I have 
 repeatedly found the want of it, and to the present day I am 
 unable to determine whether I write or speak correctly. Mr. 
 Fraser was a gentleman well qualified to impart this knowledge, 
 but it was not only considered as not essential, but as standing 
 in the way of the more practical and useful branches of study, 
 to which it was necessary I should apply. The classics were 
 therefore al once abandoned for arithmetic, book-keeping, and a 
 smattering of mensuration, which, with the exception of three 
 months with my uncle at Gralashiels, constituted the whole 
 extent of education I ever received. 
 
 Whilst noticing the Mullochy school, I may mention that it 
 consisted of about forty boys and twenty girls, a considerable 
 number of them coming barefooted, and without bonnets or
 
 THE TAWSE. 63 
 
 caps, from a considerable distance. The boys were all dressed 
 in tartan kilts, and the winter always entailed severe trials 
 upon the wearers. What with poor feeding and thin clothing, 
 the greatest sufferings frorn cold were endured, often at the ex- 
 pense of the health, and sometimes endangering the lives, of the 
 children. I have before observed that Mr. Fraser was a severe 
 disciplinarian, and in order to enforce the system he had 
 adopted for the regulation of the school, he called a muster roll 
 every Thursday at three o'clock, and having ascertained the 
 defaulters in attendance, negligence, &c., for the week, the 
 whole list was cleared off by the usual application of the 
 ' tawse ' which never failed to effect a demonstration on that 
 part of the person which may be described as being the most 
 sensitive, and the least liable to injury. I must, however, do 
 Mr. Fraser the justice to say, that my brother and myself (being 
 differently dressed and wearing the Saxon costume) in some 
 degree escaped the severity of this application, from the diffi- 
 culty and trouble incurred in the unbuttoning and removal of 
 the tight trowse. This did not, however, enable us entirely to 
 escape, and a transfer was occasionally made from those parts to 
 the palm of the hand, which never failed to ensure pain and 
 preserve a glowing heat for a considerable time afterwards. 
 These were some of the drawbacks upon the system which at 
 that time was pursued throughout Scotland, but in other 
 respects, it must be admitted that Mr. Fraser was an excellent 
 teacher, and made several scholars who afterwards distinguished 
 themselves. 
 
 Andrew Fairbairn remained only two years in bis 
 steward's place. 
 
 My father was never satisfied with the Highlands, as the 
 whole of his time had been spent in laborious improvements, 
 which enriched others, but presented to himself and family no 
 result. Thoroughly disgusted with the people and the country, 
 he accepted an offer made to him by Sir William Ingleby to 
 remove to Yorkshire and take the management of his farm at 
 Ingleby Manor, near Knaresborough. This arrangement made 
 a total change in the condition and prospects of his family, and
 
 64 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBA1RN. CHAP. in. 
 
 having sold off everything in the shape of furniture, our 
 necessaries were packed up, and in three days we embarked at 
 Cromarty. 
 
 After a tedious voyage we landed at Leith on the King s 
 birthday, June 4, 1803, and what caused me to recollect the 
 date were the rejoicings which we witnessed at Edinburgh on 
 the evening of the same day. A few days more replaced us at 
 Kelso, where we found on enquiry that Mrs. Curl had left the 
 old house at the foot of the Woodmarket, and we were therefore 
 content to take up our residence in a small cottage in another 
 part of the town. Having settled the family, my father lost no 
 time in preparing for his departure for the scene of his future 
 labours in Yorkshire. 
 
 Previously, however, to leaving Kelso, William, his eldest 
 brother at Galashiels, proposed to take me for a few months, in 
 order to improve my arithmetic, and give me a short course of 
 book-keeping and land-surveying. These offers were gladly 
 accepted by my father, and I forthwith started on foot for my 
 new destination. My uncle had been at the head of the parish 
 school for nearly thirty years. He was a good English scholar, 
 an excellent land-surveyor, and a person of considerable attain- 
 ments as a practical mathematician. Like other members of 
 his family, he was self-taught, and he had exercised the vocation 
 of a schoolmaster from fourteen years of age till the day of his 
 death, which was occasioned by a severe cold caught during his 
 surveys in the autumn of 1809. To my uncle I was indebted 
 for some knowledge in land-surveying, but he was a severe task- 
 master. I think too much so, as he exacted from his pupils 
 lessons which to me were exceeding disagreeable, such as verses 
 from the Psalms of David, which he insisted should be com- 
 mitted to memory every Sunday. I laboured incessantly at the 
 119th Psalm, until I got thoroughly disgusted with the whole 
 book ; and such was my antipathy to the task that, to the pre- 
 sent day, I never look into it without thinking of the unpro- 
 fitable labour to which I was at that time subjected. At 
 Galashiels I, however, made some progress, but the time was so 
 short only three months that I was only beginning to under- 
 stand what I was about when I was removed.
 
 SERIOUS ACCIDENT. 65 
 
 William being now a tall lad of fourteen, it was con- 
 sidered desirable lie should render some assistance to- 
 wards the support of his younger brothers and sisters ; 
 and, in August 1803, he was taken away from school, 
 and sent back to Kelso. He goes on : 
 
 In a few days, through the influence of some of the 
 neighbours, I got employment at the New Bridge, which was 
 then building under the direction of the late Mr. Eennie, 
 and a more chaste and beautiful structure, with the exception, 
 probably, of the Waterloo and new London Bridges, does not 
 exist. I was only a few days in this employment, to which I 
 took a great dislike, when I met with an accident which nearly 
 crippled me for life. Those who noticed the methods in use at 
 that time for carrying the materials for buildings would observe 
 that the smaller stones were carried on handbarrows by two 
 men, one before and another behind. On this occasion I was 
 the leader, and during the process of carrying the stone, one 
 much beyond my strength, with a coarse, unfeeling fellow behind, 
 I sank under the load, and the stone fell over upon my right 
 leg, making a fearful gash, which effectually barred my claims 
 for the honourable distinction of a mason's clerkship. Nearly 
 three months' confinement was the result of this accident ; and 
 a hard struggle we had for it, as the money my father was 
 enabled to send from Yorkshire was a mere trifle. My earnings 
 were only three shillings per week and to increase the diffi- 
 culties, my father's money was badly paid, which caused him to 
 throw up his appointment, and return again to Kelso. All 
 these hardships were endured with resignation by my mother. 
 What added to the misery, and increased the troubles under 
 which she laboured, was the loss of my youngest sister, Eliza, a 
 beautiful child of two years of age. This was the heaviest blow 
 my poor mother had yet received. She appeared to sink under 
 her affliction, and I well remember the intensity of her grief 
 when she saw her eldest boy, almost a confirmed cripple, take 
 the place of his father in the position of chief mourner. My 
 sister's funeral, doctor's bills, and the limited remittances re- 
 ceived from Yorkshire, entailed a great deal of suffering upon 
 the family, and before the following November, when my father 
 
 F
 
 66 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. in. 
 
 returned, we had expended the last shilling and were almost in 
 a state of destitution. His return was most welcome to my 
 distressed mother, whose health had suffered from the anxieties 
 attendant upon the loss of her child and the exhausted state of 
 the funds upon which she depended for support.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 FIRST EMPLOYMENT AND APPRENTICESHIP 
 
 AGE 14-21 
 18O3-181O 
 
 F 2
 
 APPOINTMENT OP ANDREW AT PERCY MAIN COLLIERY, NORTHUM- 
 BERLAND WILLIAM JOINS HIM PROSPERITY AMONG THE PITMEN 
 
 AND SAILORS; ITS CONSEQUENCES BOXING MATCHES; WILLIAM'S 
 
 FIRST VICTORY BOUND APPRENTICE TO A MILLWRIGHT ENDEAVOURS 
 TO IMPROVE HIS MIND PROGRAMME OF STUDY FIRST LOVE ATTACH- 
 MENT ; ITS INFLUENCE ON HIS LITERARY ABILITIES FREDERICK AND 
 FELICIA MATHEMATICS, HISTORY, AND POETRY MECHANICAL PUR- 
 SUITS DESIGN FOR A CLOCK-ORRERY; ITS FAILURE MUSIC AND 
 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS THE STORY OF A FIDDLE HOME-BREWED 
 MUSIC TAKES CHARGE OF THE STEAM-ENGINE AND PUMPS OF THE 
 COLLIERY SEVERE AND TRYING NATURE OF THE DUTIES SUBSCRIP- 
 TION TO THE KEG ITS CONSEQUENCES COMPLETION OF HIS TERM OF 
 APPRENTICESHIP GEORGE STEPHENSON.
 
 69 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE unhappy state of things so pathetically described at 
 the end of the last chapter did not last long ; for Andrew 
 Fairbairn was a man of energy and strong will, and 
 having now a growing family, he determined to exert 
 himself to the utmost to put them in better circum- 
 stances. 
 
 Soon after his return he succeeded in getting another 
 appointment at Percy Main Colliery, near North Shields, 
 as steward of a farm belonging to the coal-owners. The 
 pay put him in comparative comfort, and he retained the 
 appointment for upwards of seven years. 
 
 The family remained for some time at Kelso, but 
 William followed his father as soon as he was able. He 
 says : 
 
 As soon as the bargain was fixed, my father again started 
 for his new destination, and early in the following February, 
 1 804, my leg being healed, I was packed off by the carrier to 
 join my father at the colliery, and here commences a new and 
 probably the most important part of my history. 
 
 Percy Main Colliery is situated within a distance of two 
 miles of North Shields, which at that time and during the whole 
 of the late war was one of the most flourishing seaports in the 
 kingdom. These were days of prosperity for both coal and ship- 
 owners. Bounties and wages were high. The colliers were 
 demanding from ISl. to 201. binding money, and the able- 
 bodied seamen were in receipt of eleven to twelve guineas per 
 voyage (to London and back), and some of them, if they had 
 the good fortune to escape the press-gang, made as many as ten
 
 70 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. it. 
 
 voyages in the year. Wages were high and men were scarce ; 
 but I doubt much whether periods of extreme prosperity are not 
 on the whole injurious. This occasion was marked by the 
 greatest excesses, and, although the Methodists exercised a 
 salutary influence over a considerable number of the pitmen, yet 
 the sailors were fairly adrift, without rudder or compass, on a sea 
 of reckless dissipation. The great majority of the colliers were 
 almost beside themselves ; and from that day to this I never 
 witnessed the same extent of demoralisation as I did at that 
 time. Pitched battles, brawling, drinking, and cock-fighting, 
 seemed to be the order of the day, and there was no excitement, 
 however coarse, but what was seized upon by the majority of the 
 recipients of the 181. bounty. Amongst the 'pit lads,' boxing 
 was considered a manly exercise and a favourite amusement, and 
 I believe I counted up no less than seventeen battles which I 
 reluctantly had to fight before I was able to attain a position 
 calculated to ensure respect. Naturally I was averse to these 
 encounters, but I had no alternative, as, immediately on my 
 arrival from Kelso, I was placed in a position where I had to 
 lead coals in a one-horse cart from behind the screen to the pit- 
 men's houses, and what with my Scotch accent and different 
 manner, I became the mark of every species of annoyance, which 
 I frequently returned with interest, but not before I was soundly 
 drubbed by some selected pugilist much stronger and older 
 than myself. 
 
 These attacks were very discouraging, and I was several 
 times on the point of abandoning the work altogether rather 
 than undergo the buffeting to which I was almost every day a 
 martyr, when an occurrence took place which effectually turned 
 the scale on my adversaries. This was an attack made upon me 
 by the son of one of the ' sinkers,' and his companion, a young- 
 engine- wright, who for several months had watched every oppor- 
 tunity for carrying on the persecution. One afternoon, when I 
 was at work as usual behind the screen, a volume of water was 
 squirted down behind my neck, and immediately after the 
 attack the perpetrator took to his heels. I lost no time in the 
 pursuit, and picking up a brick, I let fly at him with all my 
 force, and cut him in the heel to the bone. His companion 
 came to his assistance, and, after using the most abusive
 
 BOUND APPRENTICE. 71 
 
 epithets, he retired, supporting his helpless assistant. The 
 occurrence of the brick relieved me from further attacks, but it 
 did not rest there, as the associate of the wounded lad, a noted 
 boxer, was determined I should pay the penalty for my temerity. 
 Accordingly, some time afterwards, I was challenged to fight 
 him under circumstances which I repeatedly declined, but one 
 of the men perceiving the insults to which I was subjected, took 
 my part, and the kindly feelings of the stranger operated so 
 powerfully upon me as to renew my courage, and the battle 
 began. For the first five minutes I had the worst of it, and 
 the heavy blows I received on the stomach not only exhausted 
 my breath, but caused me to feel sick, and I was ready to drop, 
 when one of the lookers-on called on us to stop, which gave me 
 time to breathe till the contest again commenced. In this 
 round I was driven to desperation. I laid out right and left at 
 his face and nearly blinded him, in fact, I threw my head first, 
 and then my whole body upon him with such force, that it 
 brought us both to the ground, and I was declared the victor. 
 That was the last of my battles. 
 
 During this time it would appear that William only 
 acted as helper in some way to his father ; but he was 
 shortly put into a better and more definite position by 
 entering regularly on his course of education as a 
 mechanical engineer. On March 24, 1804, he was, at 
 the instance of the owners of the colliery, bound appren- 
 tice to a Mr. John Eobinson, described in the indenture 
 as ' of Percy Main, in the county of Northumberland, 
 millwright.' The indenture was for seven years, and he 
 was to receive wages beginning with five shillings per 
 week, and increasing to twelve shillings. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn continues : 
 
 Mr. Eobinson, who held the appointment of engine-wright, 
 and had the charge of all the machinery and engines, was the 
 person appointed to give me instruction. Mr. Eobinson had 
 been nominated to the office by the late Mr. Buddie, one of the 
 most eminent coal-viewers in the North of England, the friend
 
 72 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHIP. IT. 
 
 and supporter of Sir Humphrey Davy, and a gentleman highly 
 distinguished in his profession. To Mr. Buddie we are indebted 
 for many improvements in the art of mining, both as respects 
 the nature of the working and the principle of ventilation, to 
 which he directed his attention with considerable success. 
 Mr. Kobinson was considered a good colliery engineer, with a 
 rough, passionate temper, but in other respects an easy, good- 
 hearted man. As was the fashion in those days he indulged in 
 what was considered amongst a certain class an ornament of 
 speech, profane swearing, and this was carried to such an excess 
 amongst the leading men of the colliery, that an order was 
 scarcely once given, or a sentence uttered, unless accompanied 
 by an oath. At the present day such language would not be 
 tolerated in any society, even in that of bargemen or navvies. 
 
 I had entered upon my fifteenth year, when I commenced 
 the business of an engineer. I had good wages, which, with 
 extra work in making wooden wedges and blocking out seg- 
 ments of solid oak for walling the sides and drawing off the 
 water of a new pit, which was sinking at Howden Pans, gave me 
 an opportunity of making some money which was of great use 
 to the family. I sometimes doubled the amount of my wage, 
 and rendered great assistance to my parents, who were still 
 struggling against a very limited income, and the increasing 
 expenses of my younger brothers and sisters whose school fees 
 had to be paid. 
 
 For three years I continued to work in this manner, and, 
 during the winter evenings, when I did not work overtime, I 
 entered upon a course of study, which I have since, under the 
 blessing of Divine Providence, turned to moderately good 
 account. My limited knowledge, and the very few opportunities 
 which, up to that period, had presented themselves for improve- 
 ment, operated forcibly upon my mind. I became dissatisfied 
 with the persons I had to associate with at the shop, and feeling 
 my own ignorance, I became fired with ambition to remedy the 
 evil, and cut out for myself a new path of life. I shortly came 
 to the conclusion that no difficulties should frighten, nor the 
 severest labour discourage me in the attainment of the object 
 I had in view. Armed with this resolution, I set to work in 
 the first year of my apprenticeship, and, having written out a
 
 COURSE OF STUDY. 73 
 
 programme, I commenced the winter course in the double capa- 
 city of both scholar and schoolmaster, and arranged my study as 
 follows : 
 
 Monday Evenings for Arithmetic, Mensuration, &c. 
 Tuesday , Reading History and Poetry. 
 
 Wednesday 
 
 Thursday 
 
 Friday 
 
 Saturday 
 
 Sunday 
 
 Recreation, Reading Novels and Romances. 
 
 Mathematics. 
 
 Euclid, Trigonometry. 
 
 Recreation and Sundries. 
 
 Church, Milton, and Recreation. 
 
 These were the exercises of the week, which I kept up with 
 wonderful constancy and with few interruptions, considering the 
 temptations and attempts at ridicule which occasionally I had 
 to combat from some of my shopmates, an annoyance of little 
 moment, as I very soon altered their tone and turned the tables 
 upon them, probably as much for their benefit as my own. 
 What, however, led to my perseverance was the line of conduct 
 I had laid down for my guidance and improvement, and the 
 kindness of my father, who bought me a ticket in the North 
 Shields subscription library. 
 
 Here the writer gives an account of an attachment he 
 formed to a young girl who attended the same place of 
 worship. As this had no result influencing his future 
 life, it would be unnecessary to notice it here, were it not 
 that it led him to practise literary composition by a 
 somewhat odd process which he thus describes : 
 
 It led me into a course of letter- writing which improved my 
 style, and gave me greater facilities of expression. The truth is, 
 I could not have written on any subject if it had not been for 
 this circumstance, and my attempt at essays, in the shape of the 
 papers which I had read with avidity in the 4 Spectator,' may be 
 traced to my admiration of this divinity. 
 
 In the enthusiasm of my first attachment it was my good 
 fortune to fall upon a correspondence between two lovers, 
 Frederick and Felicia, in the ' Town and Country Magazine ' for 
 the year 1782, Nos. 3 and 4. This correspondence was of some 
 length and was carried from number to number in a series of
 
 74 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIEBAIRN. CHAP. tv. 
 
 letters. Frederick was the principal writer, and although 
 greatly above me in station, yet his sentiments harmonised 
 so exactly with mine, that I sat down at Frederick's desk and 
 wrote to my Felicia with emotions as strong as any Frederick in 
 existence. Frederick by his writing was evidently a gentleman, 
 and in order to prepare myself for so much goodness as I had 
 conjured up in Mary, I commenced the correspondence by first 
 reading the letter in the magazine, and then shut the book for 
 the reply, and to write the letter that Frederick was supposed to 
 have written. I then referred to the book, and how bitter was 
 my disappointment at rinding my expressions unconnected and 
 immeasurably inferior to those of the writer. Sometimes I could 
 trace a few stray expressions which I thought superior to his, 
 but, as a whole, I was miserably deficient. In this way did I 
 make love, and in this way I inadvertently rendered one of the 
 strongest passions of our nature subservient to the means of 
 improvement. 
 
 He did not, however, let this agreeable occupation 
 trench upon his other studies. He goes on : 
 
 For three successive winters I contrived to go through a 
 complete system of mensuration, and as much algebra as enabled 
 me to solve an equation ; and a course of trigonometry, naviga- 
 tion, heights and distances, &c. This was exclusive of my 
 reading, which was always attractive, and gave me the greatest 
 pleasure. I had an excellent library at Shields, which I went to 
 twice a week, and here I read Gibbon's i Decline and Fall of the 
 Roman Empire,' Hume's 'History of England,' Robertson's 
 ' History of Scotland,' ' America,' ' Charles the Fifth,' and many 
 other works of a similar character, which I read with the utmost 
 attention. I also read some of our best poets, amongst which 
 were Milton's * Paradise Lost,' Shakespeare, Cowper, Goldsmith, 
 Burns, and Kirke White. With this course of study I spent 
 long evenings, sometimes sitting up late ; but, having to be at 
 the shop at six in the morning, I did not usually prolong my 
 studies much beyond eleven or twelve o'clock. 
 
 During these pursuits I must in truth admit that my mind 
 was more upon my studies than my business. I made pretty
 
 DESCGN FOR AN ORRERY. 75 
 
 good way in the mere operative part, but, with the exception of 
 arithmetic and mathematics, I made little or no progress in the 
 principles of the profession ; on the contrary, I took a dislike to 
 the work and the parties by whom I was surrounded. 
 
 The possession of tools and the art of using them renewed 
 my taste for mechanical pursuits. I tried my skill at different 
 combinations, and like most inventors whose minds are more 
 intent upon making new discoveries than acquiring the know- 
 ledge of what has been done by others, I frequently found my- 
 self forestalled in the very discovery which I had persuaded 
 myself was original. For many months I laboured incessantly 
 in devising a piece of machinery that should act as a time- 
 piece and at the same time as an orrery, representing the sun 
 as a centre, with the earth and moon and the whole planetary 
 system revolving round it. This piece of machinery was to be 
 worked by a weight and a pendulum, and was not only to give 
 the diurnal motions of the heavenly bodies, but to indicate the 
 time of their revolutions in their respective orbits round the 
 sun. All this was to be done in accordance with one measure 
 of time, which the instrument, if it ever could have been com- 
 pleted, was to record. I looked upon this piece of mechanism 
 as a perfectly original conception, and nothing prevented me 
 from making the attempt to carry it into execution but the 
 want of means, and the difficulties which surrounded me in the 
 complexity and numerous motions necessary to make it a useful 
 working machine. The consideration of this subject was not, 
 however, lost, as I derived great advantage in the exercise 
 which it gave to the thoughts. It taught me the advantage of 
 concentration, and of arranging my ideas, and of bringing the 
 whole powers of the mind with energy to bear upon one subject. 
 It further directed my attention to a course of reading on 
 mechanical philosophy and astronomy, from which I derived 
 considerable advantage. 
 
 Finding the means at my disposal much too scanty to 
 enable me to make a beginning with my new orrery, I turned 
 my attention to music, and bought an old Hamburg fiddle, for 
 which I gave half-a-crown. This was a cheap bargain, even for 
 such a miserable instrument, and what with new bracing of 
 catgut and a music-book, I spent nearly a week's wages, a sum
 
 76 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. IT. 
 
 which I could ill afford, to become a distinguished musician. I 
 however fresh rigged the violin, and, with a glue-pot, carefully 
 closed all the openings which were showing themselves between 
 the back and the sides of the instrument. Having completed 
 the repairs, I commenced operations ; and certainly there never 
 was a learner who produced less melody or a greater number of 
 discords. The effect was astounding, and after tormenting the 
 whole house with discordant sounds for two months, the very 
 author of the mischief tumbled to pieces in my hands, to the 
 great relief of every member of the family. 
 
 I was not, however, to be frustrated in my attempts to 
 become a musician, and the old fiddle proving useless, I set to 
 work with inflexible determination and made a new one. This 
 operation cost me five weeks' hard labour, chiefly at nights ; 
 and having made the necessary tools out of old hand-saw files, I 
 completed the violin, which, to my astonishment, emitted tones 
 as loud and sonorous as an organ. The transfer of the strings 
 and bridge of the old instrument to that of the new one was to 
 my mind a day of secret rejoicing, which confirmed me still 
 more in my determination to persevere in acquiring the neces- 
 sary knowledge and skill to play. For the attainment of these 
 objects I once more commenced my studies, and proceeded to 
 acquire a knowledge of the notes and to finger them, in which I 
 found little or no difficulty ; yet I never could attain a good 
 bow-hand, which I afterwards found was one of the essentials for 
 becoming a good musician. Eepeated discomfitures at last con- 
 vinced me that nature never intended me for a fiddler ; and, 
 impressed with this opinion, I consulted an old man who played 
 at weddings and other merry-makings, as to what I should do. 
 He advised me to become his pupil, and to bring my violin 
 with me on the following night, when he had no doubt he could 
 after a few lessons make me an accomplished performer. Follow- 
 ing this advice, I repaired to his house, and after two or three 
 lessons he offered twenty shillings for my violin, and advised me 
 to abandon all thoughts of ever rising in the profession. After 
 some consideration I declined the offer ; and having paid him 
 for my instruction, I departed, under the conviction that in case 
 the instrument was worth twenty shillings to a person who con- 
 sidered himself an artist, it must be of the same, if not more,
 
 HOME-BREWED MUSIC. 77 
 
 value to myself. Impressed with this conviction, the violin 
 became my constant travelling-companion for a number of years. 
 I could play half-a-dozen Scotch airs, which served as an occa- 
 sional amusement, not so much for the delicacy of execution as 
 for the sonorous energy with which they were executed. For 
 several years after my marriage, my skill was put to the test for 
 the benefit of the rising generation ; and although duly appre- 
 ciated by the children, the fiddle was never taken from the shelf 
 without creating alarm in the mind of their mother, who was in 
 fear that some one might hear it. A dancing-master, who was 
 giving lessons in the country, borrowed the fiddle, and, to the 
 great relief of the family, it was never returned. Some years 
 after this I was present at the starting of the cotton-mill for 
 Messrs. Gros, Deval & Co., of Wesserling, in Alsace, where we 
 had executed the water-wheel and mill work (the first wheel on 
 the suspension principle in France). After a satisfactory start, 
 a great dinner was given by Mr. Gros on the occasion to the 
 neighbouring gentry. During dinner I had been explaining to 
 Mr. Gros, who spoke a little English, the nature of home-brewed 
 ale, which he had tasted and much admired in England. In 
 the evening we had music, and perceiving me admire his per- 
 formance on the violin, he enquired if I could play, to which I 
 answered in the affirmative, when his instrument was in a 
 moment in my hands, and I had no alternative but one of my 
 best tunes, the ' Keel Eow,' which the company listened to 
 with amazement, until my career was arrested by Mr. Gros 
 calling out at the pitch of his voice, ' Top, top, monsieur, by 
 gad, dat be home-br&ived music.' 
 
 The construction of [the violin brings me to that part of my 
 story which eventually led to a new epoch in my history, and 
 that was my removal from the workshop to take charge of the 
 pumps and steam-engine of Percy Main Colliery, which required 
 to be kept constantly at work in order to clear the mine of 
 water. This department was much more to my taste than the 
 mere operative part of the work. I was more independent, 
 and so long as I kept the engine and pumps in order, I was 
 entirely my own master. Besides, I had ever a mortal anti- 
 pathy to be rung in and out by bells ; force work was to me the 
 most irksome duty I had to perform. Now I was free ; and
 
 78 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIKX. CHAP. TV. 
 
 having attained a responsible trust, I made up my mind to 
 discharge it with the greatest fidelity. 
 
 The duties were at times exceedingly severe and trying to 
 the constitution, particularly in winter ; and from the nature of 
 the water, which contained much salt and sand, the wear and 
 tear upon the pumps were very great. I, however, devised every 
 possible means to keep the pumps in good repair ; but much 
 depended upon the quality of the leather used for the buckets 
 and clacks, as in some cases I have known a bucket wear to 
 pieces in half-an-hour, whilst others would last for a couple of 
 days. The depth of the pit was 150 fathoms, with four sets of 
 pumps ; and what with broken pump-rods and other casualties, 
 I have frequently been suspended by a rope during the winter 
 nights, with the water pouring upon me, for seven to eight 
 hours at a stretch, until every limb was numbed with cold. 
 This often repeated, and being roused out of bed at all hours, 
 and having to descend the shaft (which was a cold downcast 
 draught) with a flannel shirt and trousers, a leather hat, 
 and buckskin to protect the head and neck from the water, 
 which descended like a shower-bath, the whole duty on these 
 occasions was one of great severity, in fact, so severe as seriously 
 to injure the health of one, and destroy the life of another, 
 of my fellow-assistants. These trials, and many others 
 of nearly equal severity, I have, with the blessing of God and 
 a strong constitution, overcome, for which I have ever felt most 
 grateful. 
 
 The great and important advantage of this new office was, 
 however, the number of days and hours of leisure which I had 
 at command. To fill up these hours usefully, I applied myself 
 assiduously to reading. I frequented the library at Shields 
 every other night, and being a favourite with the librarian's 
 daughter, a young quakeress, I was enabled to procure a perusal 
 of nearly all the new publications before they were sent into 
 circulation. Thus with a book in my pocket, I could stroll 
 into the fields ; and having erected a tall flag-staff over the 
 sheers of the pit, I extended my excursions for two or three 
 miles in every direction, so as not to lose sight of the signal- 
 staff; this I found of great convenience, as the moment any- 
 thing was wrong, up went the flag, and I hurried home.
 
 GEORGE STEPHENSON. 79 
 
 During these intervals of leisure, I had several local adven- 
 tures, which, although productive of no results, nevertheless 
 exhibited the moral condition of a certain class of workmen. 
 It used to be a custom in the shop where I was employed 
 to club together once or twice a week, and to subscribe for 
 what was denominated the keg. This keg was a nine gallon 
 barrel of ale, which on particular days was brought by an un- 
 frequented and circuitous route from the Howden Pans Brewery, 
 about a mile and a half distant. It generally arrived about two 
 o'clock in the afternoon, and was placed upon the bench with one 
 of the apprentices to ' watch hawks,' and to give notice by a loud 
 whistle when any appearance of danger was likely to threaten 
 the community. The result of these indulgences was a beastly 
 state of intoxication, in which the elder men had to be led home 
 after dark by myself and other apprentices, who enjoyed the 
 amusement of landing them in a wet ditch before they were 
 delivered up to their wives. This practice, during the five 
 years I was at Percy Main, was pursued with a perseverance which 
 ended in making most of the young men confirmed drunkards, 
 and ruined the reputation and health of those whose duty it was to 
 set a better example. I was afterwards often thankful at having 
 escaped the contagion of those irregularities, which at a more 
 matured period told with tenfold force, and hastened the ruin of 
 some of my contemporaries. 
 
 William remained in this situation till he was of 
 age, and had completed his seven years' apprenticeship, 
 the indenture being duly and honourably cancelled by 
 Mr. Eobinson on March 26, 1811. 
 
 During this time he made the acquaintance of George 
 Stephenson, who had then charge of an engine at Wil- 
 lington Ballast Hill, only a mile or two from Percy Main 
 Colliery. The two young men, who were nearly of the 
 same age, and were both earnest in their love for me- 
 chanics, here formed a friendship which lasted through 
 life. It is on record l that in the summer evenings Fair- 
 
 1 Smiles, Lives of the Engineers, vol. iii. p. 41.
 
 80 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. iv. 
 
 bairn was accustomed to go over to see his friend, and 
 would frequently attend to the Ballast Hill engine for 
 a few hours, in order to enable Stephenson to take a 
 two or three hours' turn at heaving ballast out of the 
 collier vessels, by which he earned a small addition to 
 his regular wages. George Stephenson had recently 
 married, and established a humble but comfortable home 
 in a cottage at Wellington Quay, where his friend was a 
 frequent visitor. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, in after life, often alluded with pride 
 and satisfaction to his early intimacy and close friendship 
 with the great founder of the railway system.
 
 CHAPTEK V. 
 REMOVAL TO LONDON-EMPLOYMENT THERE 
 
 AGE 21-24. 
 181O 1813
 
 SEARCH FOR EMPLOYMENT WORK AT NEWCASTLE DAVID HOGG 
 THE FUTURE MRS. FAIRBAIRN DISCUSSION SOCIETY THE THEATRE 
 THE POET OF PLESSEY CASTLES IN THE AIR EMBARKS FOR LONDON 
 PERILS OF THE VOYAGE ARRIVAL IN THE THAMES THE CAPTAIN'S 
 WALK ON SHORE MIDNIGHT MURDERS DIFFICULTIES APPLICATION 
 TO MR. RENNIE THE MILLWRIGHTS' SOCIETY COLD AND HUNGER 
 NEW USE OF A BEDSTEAD REFUSAL OF PERMISSION TO WORK WITH 
 MR. RENNTE WALK TO HERTFORD DISCOURAGEMENT SUNSHINE 
 CHE8HUNT WINDMILL SUPPER RETURN TO LONDON TRADES' UNIONS 
 THE INDEPENDENT SOCIETY EMPLOYMENT AND RESIDENCE IN 
 LONDON MR. HALL.
 
 83 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRX continues his story : 
 
 I had now reached my twenty-second year, and having 
 finished my apprenticeship, I left reluctantly the scene of my 
 trials and many friendships, and went in search of other employ- 
 ment. Some of the other young men did the same ; two of 
 them went to sea as ship's carpenters, and another married and 
 turned out a confirmed drunkard, and a prize-fighter. As 
 regards myself, I went to Newcastle, where I got employment as 
 a millwright, at the erection of a saw-mill in the Close. Here I 
 worked for a few weeks, where I made the acquaintance of a 
 young man named David Hogg, from Tweedmouth. Hogg was 
 about my own age, a very powerful man, and good-looking. He 
 was a good workman, and had more experience in that descrip- 
 tion of work than myself. At the saw-mill we had 20s. per 
 week, but a gentleman from Sunderland, of the name of Norval, 
 who wanted hands to go to Bedlington, engaged us at 24s. per 
 week, and we accordingly left Newcastle and went to Bed- 
 lington, where I spent the summer very agreeably. 
 
 Here I first met my future wife, who then lived with Mrs. 
 Barker, an elderly lady, to whom she was much attached, and 
 from whose house she was married five years afterwards. I was 
 then in the vigour of youth, I had a good wage, few cares, and 
 was alive to every impression. In a word, all nature smiled around 
 me. I was happy, and in love with the world and all mankind. 
 With these feelings I was more inclined to gaieties than study, 
 and although I kept up my reading by subscribing to a circu- 
 lating library at Morpeth, I must admit I did not read with the 
 same assiduity as I did at Percy Main. The summer evenings 
 were generally spent in short excursions into the country ; I 
 o 2
 
 84 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP, v 
 
 became the leader in a Discussion Society, and patronised the 
 players. The manager, Mr. Brady, was very poor, which caused 
 me to exert myself to procure him a house, and occasionally to 
 assist behind the scenes. Another way of assisting Brady was to 
 induce Mr. William Waddle, the poet of Plessey, 1 to recite some 
 of his pieces. The poet liked his drink, and on the nights of 
 representation we seldom failed to give him as much as would 
 steady his nerves and enable him to go through his part with 
 eclat. Unfortunately Willie did not always suit the action to 
 the word ; but that was of little consequence, as his friends were 
 always ready, by way of encouragement, to come down with a 
 shower of plaudits, calculated to please the performer, but not 
 always successful in concealing the defects of the performance. 
 
 The whole summer was passed over in this manner, and 
 what with these amusements, and occasional visits to Mrs. 
 Barker's, I spent one of the most agreeable half-years of my 
 life. Mrs. Fairbainrs maiden name was Dorothy Mar, the 
 youngest daughter of Mr. John Mar, a respectable burgess of 
 Morpeth, who had for many years occupied a farm on the 
 Wansbeck, which went by the name of Mar's Banks. To these 
 banks I used to resort as a sort of pilgrimage, to contemplate 
 the spot which had formerly been the residence and playground 
 of the object of my affections. In this and many other things 
 I entertained wild and romantic notions, and my reveries on 
 these occasions were such as to form ideal plans, build castles in 
 the air, and picture to myself a paradise, in which my imagina- 
 tion realised all the forms of domestic happiness and many 
 enjoyments which I promised myself in our little house. It 
 was to have a neat parlour, every corner filled with books, and 
 I painted my smiling wife, with a couple of pledges of our 
 mutual love, as prominent objects in the foreground, to give 
 force and colouring to the picture. 
 
 How exceedingly vain and proud I was of my future habitation 
 and its inmates which, considered merely as a dream, was not 
 without its influence upon my future fortunes. The impression 
 that I must have such a retreat, with such a wife, never forsook 
 me; and I never lost sight of these charming objects, first 
 
 1 Waddle bad published a small volume of Poems, in imitation of Burns, 
 so much in vogue at that time.
 
 COLLIER-SHIPS. 85 
 
 traced in imagination on the banks of the Wansbeck, and after- 
 wards realised by perseverance elsewhere; 
 
 It is stated by one of the ancient sages that * there is 
 nothing new under the sun,' and with equal propriety I may 
 observe that there is nothing permanent, as the month of 
 November, which generally deprives nature of its gayest attire, 
 al?o changed the aspect of my affairs. The works at Bedlington 
 were finished, and, as was frequently the case in the North, I 
 was thrown out of employment with a very distant hope of 
 obtaining another situation during the winter. Business was 
 flat, and work scarce, and no other prospect appearing but a 
 dreary winter before me, I carried into execution a long- 
 projected plan of leaving that part of the country to try my 
 fortunes in some other district, where the chances and facilities 
 for advancement were greater than appeared to exist at New- 
 castle. Impressed with this resolution, I took leave of Miss 
 Mar, after an interchange of promises of unalterable affection, 
 and with half-a-dozen new shirts, a new suit of clothes, a watch, 
 and four pounds in my pocket, I embarked on board a collier, 
 on December 11, 1611, at North Shields, for the metropolis. 
 This may be considered as another epoch in my history. 
 
 The war with France, and our great naval victories, had 
 drained the coasting trade of its able-bodied seamen to such an 
 extent that the collier ships from Shields and Sunderland were 
 left almost destitute of men. The result of this reduction proved 
 seriously injurious to the service, as every winter during the 
 war increased the number of wrecks, and many lives were lost for 
 want of hands to work the ships. In the ship in which I had 
 taken a passage (with my old friend and companion Hogg, who 
 agreed to accompany me), there were only three old men, with 
 the captain, the mate, and three boys ; altogether they num- 
 bered eight hands, whereas, in the midst of winter, twelve was 
 the complement. Under these circumstances, we were no sooner 
 at sea than I had to render assistance throughout the voyage, 
 and to work like any of the sailors to keep the ship afloat. 
 Hogg should have done the same, but he was prostrated with 
 sea-sickness, and never showed face above deck but once during 
 the twelve days which elapsed before we reached the Nore. It 
 would be endless to recount the difficulties we hud to encounter
 
 86 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. v. 
 
 in a ship sunk to a few inches from the deck, badly manned, 
 with a strong gale from the north-east which lasted for nearly 
 a week. The vessel rolled like a tub, with the sea sweeping the 
 decks in every direction, and for nearly eight days we were 
 constantly drenched with water. One night, when at anchor in 
 the Swin, 1 and riding out the gale till daylight, the ship dragged 
 her anchors, and we had the greatest difficulty to bring her up 
 and prevent her drifting on the breakers which were close upon 
 our stern. We, however, succeeded, through the exertions of 
 the mate, the captain being unfortunately in that state which 
 rendered his services of little value. Two days more and we 
 reached the Nore, and I shall never forget the sensations I felt 
 when I passed close to the North Fleet, in all the pomp and 
 splendour of an armament which had proved invincible, the only 
 drawback to its beauty being the sight of one of the seamen 
 undergoing the punishment of being flogged. 
 
 In working up the river to Gravesend, Woolwich, and Black- 
 wall Reach, where we anchored, I was deeply interested in 
 everything I saw, and here my reading became useful, as I had 
 made myself acquainted with Gravesend, Tilbury Fort, the 
 Woolwich Docks, and all the places of historical interest on the 
 Thames ; for to a foreigner, or even to a native who has never 
 before visited the capital, by far the most imposing approach is 
 by the river. 
 
 We arrived at Blackwall early in the afternoon, and 
 towards dusk the captain, who was anxious to save a tide, made 
 preparations for walking up to Wapping ; and conceiving there 
 would be no objection, I asked permission to accompany him, 
 to which, after some hesitation, he consented. We accordingly 
 started through Blackwall, and along the road to the West India 
 Docks, but I soon found, as we went along, that the captain had 
 been making free with the bottle before he started, and instead 
 of making his way through Limehouse, we sauntered through 
 the upper streets of Shadwell in the direction of Stepney Church 
 or Whitechapel. It was in vain that I remonstrated with him, 
 and told him I was sure we were leaving the river ; he persisted 
 
 Merchantmen at that time had to take the inner and more dangerous 
 channel between the sands, on account of the number of privateers hovering 
 about the coast and the outer channel.
 
 MIDNIGHT MURDERS. 87 
 
 that I knew nothing about it ; until, at last, I made enquiries, 
 and found to my mortification that we were wandering in a 
 totally wrong direction. Laying hold of my companion, I 
 dragged him along, till we at length reached our destination, 
 two hours too late for delivering the papers. The captain, how- 
 ever, ordered supper, and after supper followed large potations 
 of spirits and water, until the evening wore late, when the 
 captain, after repeated applications, at last consented to return 
 to Blackwall. We accordingly sallied forth, but were again 
 brought to anchor in a pot-house up a narrow lane, where there 
 was a tremendous noise of screaming, singing, and dancing. I 
 refused to enter this den, and left him with the intention of 
 making my way to the ship. It was now twelve o'clock, and 
 rinding no chance of reaching Blackwall, I enquired of the 
 watchman where I could obtain a lodging for the night. He 
 walked with me to a house in a narrow street, where I got a 
 bed, and was soon in a profound sleep, which continued till 
 morning. At break of day I was suddenly awakened by a loud 
 noise in the street, and having hastily dressed, I found that 
 some persons had been murdered in a house the next door, or 
 next but one I forget which to where I had slept. After 
 paying the landlord I went into the street, but the crowd was 
 so great that I could not reach the door. I found I was in a 
 street called New Gravel Lane, and that a whole family of the 
 name of Williamson (who also kept a public-house), including 
 the servant girl, had been murdered during the night. These 
 acts of violence, and a similar murder which had taken place a 
 fortnight before on a family of the name of Mar, in Batcliflfe 
 Highway, gave me a most unfavourable impression of London ; 
 I even began to doubt my own safety, and having made the 
 best of my way back again to the ship, I entered on board with 
 feelings of thankfulness for my escape. 
 
 On my arrival at Blackwall I found the captain had not 
 made his appearance, and the ship, which should have moved 
 up to the Pool by the morning tide, was left at anchor, the 
 mate declining to take the responsibility during the absence 
 of his superior. At two, the skipper made his appearance, 
 having, as I afterwards found, been charged before the Police 
 magistrate with disorderly conduct during the night. Thus
 
 88 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. v. 
 
 occurred my first entrance into London, which we reached in 
 safety on the following day. 
 
 After settling for the passage, and bidding adieu to the 
 captain (without much regret), Hogg and I took a lodging in 
 a garret in Duke's Court, St. Martin's Lane, until we could 
 obtain employment. We counted our money, and found that 
 Hogg had 31. and some odd shillings left, and I had 21. 7s. 6d., 
 together about 6., to provide for our lodging and maintenance 
 till we could obtain work. Hogg had some friends ; a brother, 
 Mr. Wm. Hogg, and a sister, Mrs. Brown, living in Burr Street, 
 where St. Catherine's Dock now stands. I had no friends but a 
 cousin of my mother's, who was married to Mr. Stewart, a 
 joiner and builder, and lived in St. Martin's Lane. To them I 
 applied for advice, and they recommended the lodging in 
 Duke's Court, of which we took immediate possession. 
 
 In London we found things totally different from what we 
 had been accustomed to in the country. Provisions and fuel 
 were exceedingly dear, a keen frost had set in, and, living close 
 to the tiles, we found our quarters exceedingly cold and dis- 
 agreeable. We further discovered that unless we used the most 
 rigid economy there was no chance of our money lasting above 
 a fortnight or three weeks. We had to purchase everything, 
 even to a bundle of chips for lighting the fire, and the girl 
 whose duty it was to wait upon us, finding it not likely to be a 
 profitable employment, left us to our own resources, and forced 
 us to perform the various duties of housemaid, and others of an 
 equally onerous description. The landlord, who was a tailor, 
 appeared to encourage the slut ; but we subsequently revenged 
 ourselves in a way he little expected. 
 
 Having fixed our residence, we started the next morning 
 in search of work, and the first person we applied to was the 
 late Mr. Rennie, at Blackfriars Bridge. 1 Mr. Rennie at that 
 time had just commenced the building of the Waterloo Bridge, 
 and so highly was he spoken of, both as an engineer and a mill- 
 wright, that amongst the workmen he went by the name of the 
 
 1 . e. At his manufactory near Blackfriars. See ante, p. 35. The present 
 Messrs. Rennie tell me that the tradition of this application has remained 
 in their establishment, and that the room was identified in which the inter- 
 iew took place. ED.
 
 MR. KENNIE. 89 
 
 ' almighty Eennie.' I was most anxious to see the great engi- 
 neer, and accordingly we went there direct. It was arranged 
 that I should be the spokesman, and having enquired for 
 Mr. Kennie, we were admitted to the office, where we found 
 him seated at a desk, with a small model in his hands. After 
 we had stated the object of our visit, he enquired where we came 
 from, what description of work we had been accustomed to, and 
 the reason of our leaving Newcastle at that inclement season of 
 the year. To these enquiries we replied that we had no alter- 
 native, there was nothing doing at Newcastle, and we had come 
 to try our fortune in London. After a strict examination he 
 desired us to go to Walker (the foreman), and he would give us 
 work. With light hearts, and grateful acknowledgments, we 
 proceeded in search of Mr. Walker, who informed us that we 
 might commence on the following Monday ; but, he said, ' You 
 will have to see the Millwrights' Society (a body who mono- 
 polised the right of determining who should be employed in 
 that and other shops in London) before you can start work.' 
 
 Mr. Walker desired us to call at the club-house, and we 
 should receive all the necessary information for our admission. 
 We accordingly waited upon the secretary, who informed us 
 that a general meeting of the members would be held on the 
 first Tuesday of the following month, when our claims would 
 be taken into consideration, but not before. This was a damper 
 to our hopes, as the last monthly meeting had taken place only 
 two days before, and the question now was, how we were to live 
 on 51. for that length of time ? There was, however, no alter- 
 native. 
 
 Having ascertained the terms of admission, and other 
 facts connected with this most important body, we returned to 
 Duke's Court, and starved ourselves for a month, and what with 
 the cold garret, empty stomachs, and sharp appetites, we spent 
 one of the most uncomfortable months of our existence. It is 
 true we made up for our six meagre days by a capital dinner 
 on Sundays, as I always had an invitation at St. Martin's 
 Lane. Hogg went to his brother's, whilst I was creating the 
 greatest alarm in the mind of Mrs. Stewart as to my powers of 
 digestion, which she was afraid would suffer by what, good 
 woman, she considered a dangerous habit. I entertained no 
 fears of this sort.
 
 90 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. OHAP. v. 
 
 Our scanty meals were not worse than the cold which we 
 suffered at the top of the house. We slept two in a bed one 
 of Goldsmith's' A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day ; ' 
 and this was fortunate for our comfort, as we never could have 
 escaped being frost-bitten but for the natural warmth which we 
 imparted to each other. Fuel was so dear that we collected 
 papers from every bill-holder that we passed in the streets, in 
 order to save the expense of the matches we had to buy for 
 lighting the fire. We carried on this practice for some time, 
 till one day, rummaging under a back-stair that led to the 
 roof, and where we kept our coals, I run my hand against some 
 pieces of wood, which we found to be an old bedstead ; and to 
 square accounts with the tailor and his daughter, we set to 
 work and slit up every bit of it except the beech posts, which 
 we could not accomplish with the knife. When half of the 
 curtain-frame was demolished we got alarmed, and the follow- 
 ing ten days kept us in misery for fear the landlord might want 
 his bed, and find it cut up. To prevent discovery, however, we 
 purchased a bundle of lighters, which we took care to exhibit 
 every morning in passing through the shop, and we were 
 fortunate in making our escape before the bed was wanted. 
 
 At the end of the month the two men presented 
 themselves again before the junta of the Millwrights' 
 Society ; but from some informality in their qualifications 
 (in regard to the nature of which the autobiography is 
 obscure, and appears somewhat inconsistent,) their claims 
 were rejected, and they were refused permission to work 
 for Mr. Eennie. 
 
 The narrative continues : 
 
 Having made sure of obtaining employment, we had given 
 up our lodgings in Duke's Court, and had deposited our clothes 
 with Mrs. Stewart in St. Martin's Lane ; we were therefore free 
 from incumbrance ; and having called on Mrs. Brown, where 
 we slept on the carpet, we started before daylight next day for 
 the country, and taking the north road, travelled as far as 
 Hertford, through rain and sleet, and over roads nearly im- 
 passable. We reached Hertford wet to the skin, without food, 
 and with only thirteen pence in our pockets.
 
 CLOUDS AND SUNSHINE. 91 
 
 At this town we were directed to a master millwright who 
 wanted hands ; but we found that he had only a prospect of 
 obtaining a new mill to build as soon as the days were a little 
 longer. I told him how we had been treated in London, that 
 our funds were exhausted, and that we should be glad of even 
 two or three days' work. He appeared interested in our story, 
 said we were two nice young men. and offered us half-a-crown 
 to help us on our way. At this kind offer my pride took alarm, 
 and though we were without money, and almost fainting for 
 want of food, very much to the annoyance of Hogg, who pressed 
 hard in whispers for me to take it, I peremptorily refused the 
 half-crown, and whilst passing through the churchyard, Hogg 
 seated himself on a wet tombstone, burst into tears, and obsti- 
 nately refused to move an inch further. I used every endeavour 
 to pacify him, but the only reply was a cutting remonstrance at 
 my having refused to accept the money. I sat down beside 
 him, and the weather having in some degree cleared up, the 
 sun burst from under a dark cloud, and seizing the occasion, I 
 remarked that we were perfectly safe, as the beams of the 
 setting sun thus bursting upon us were a sure omen of our 
 ultimate success. We moved on at a slow pace towards the 
 outskirts of the town, and had not proceeded far, when arriving 
 at a wheelwright's shop I stopped to enquire if he knew of any 
 place where we could obtain employment. The master entered 
 freely into conversation, and after some further enquiries he 
 recommended us to make the best of our way to Cheshunt, 
 about ten miles off, where a person from Chelmsford was 
 building a windmill, and was, he believed, in want of hands. 
 
 With renewed hopes we moved on at a rapid pace, almost 
 ankle-deep in melted snow, till we reached Cheshunt, nearly 
 exhausted with hunger and fatigue. .We took up our quarters 
 at a little public-house, and on the faith of more encourage- 
 ment for the morning, I had promised my friend that he should 
 have an excellent supper, whether it was paid for or not. 
 Accordingly, as soon as we were seated, the landlady, a good- 
 tempered middle-aged woman, laid before us the remains of a 
 cold leg of mutton, a large loaf, and a quart of ale. Nearly 
 the whole disappeared to the bare bone before she returned 
 from some domestic duties she had to attend to in another part
 
 92 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. v. 
 
 of the house ; when, casting her eyes on the table, she ex- 
 claimed, in a good-natured tone, ' Bless your hearts, but you 
 must have been hungry.' We smiled in the affirmative, on 
 which she handed out the cheese, with which we finished our 
 repast, and then retired to rest. Early next morning we pre- 
 sented ourselves at the mill, and to our great joy procured 
 employment for a fortnight. During that time we remained 
 inmates with our kind friend, the landlady of the Black Bull. 
 
 Our engagement being temporary, we received our wages 
 at the expiration of the time, and with nearly three pounds in 
 our pockets, were again on the road. We parted reluctantly 
 from our kind friend at the Black Bull, and directing our 
 steps towards London, we had time to consult as to our next 
 movements, when, after some deliberation, we concluded to try 
 London once more, and if unsuccessful there, to proceed for- 
 wards to Portsmouth, where we proposed to embark on board 
 some ship, and work our passage to America. Our second entry 
 into the metropolis was, however, more fortunate than the first ; 
 as my friend David met an old shopmate and schoolfellow from 
 Coldstream, who ridiculed our ignorance of the trade and the 
 ways of the town. He told us he had been only eighteen 
 months in London, had only served three years to the business, 
 had good employment at seven shillings a day, and made from 
 nine to ten days in the week. Moreover, he was secretary to 
 the Independent Millwrights' Society, ' a society,' as he 
 stated, ' founded on liberal principles, and greatly superior to 
 the vagabonds at Little Eastcheap.' 
 
 From this man, whose name was Dewer, we learned that 
 there were three Societies in London, viz., the old Society, the 
 one at which we had been rejected ; next, the new Society, and 
 lastly, the Independent Society, who were less stringent in 
 their rules than the other two. All of them, however, took 
 cognizance of the hours of labour, which at that time were from 
 light to dark in winter, and from six to six in summer, with 
 two hours for refreshment. They also regulated the rate of 
 wages, and no man was allowed to work for less than seven 
 shillings a day, and as soon as he entered the Society he was 
 bound by the rules to maintain the rights and privileges of the 
 trade in their full integrity. This system of dictation and ex-
 
 TRADES' UNIONS. 93 
 
 clusiveness was kept up in London for the whole of the last and 
 part of the present century by a body of men, most of whom 
 had never served any time to their business, and whose moral 
 character was far from exemplary. The natural result of such 
 a combination was to create disgust in the minds of their 
 employers, and to raise a powerful opposition amongst a class 
 equally meritorious as workmen, and infinitely superior in 
 moral worth. From their excesses, and from the unwarrantable 
 demands made by the Societies on the employers and the 
 employed, the clubs in London may date the decline of their 
 power, and the almost ultimate extinction of the name of mill- 
 wright as a distinct profession. Previously to that time it was 
 held in great respect in almost every part of the United King- 
 dom. The members were generally men of talent, and ranked 
 amongst them the celebrated names of Brindley, Smeaton, and 
 Eennie. 
 
 To return, Dewer moved our admission as members of 
 the Independent Society. This was accordingly done, and 
 two days afterwards we were enrolled as members. Having 
 been thus legalised, we shortly afterwards got employment 
 at a Patent Ropery belonging to a Mr. Grundy at Shad- 
 well, where both Hogg and I continued till the completion 
 of the works, about eighteen months after we commenced. At 
 the close of Mr. Grundy's work, I went for a few weeks to 
 Wandswortb, and then to Mr. Penn, of Greenwich, where I con- 
 tinued till the spring of 1813, when business became slack, and 
 I left the great metropolis in search of information and 
 employment in another quarter. 
 
 I cannot pass over two years of the most important period 
 of my life without referring to the pleasures and advantages 
 which I derived from my residence in London. During the 
 greater portion of the time I had constant employment, and an 
 income which varied from two to three poujads a week. I lived 
 moderately, renewed my reading and studies, and subscribed to 
 a library in Ratcliffe Highway, where I had a moderately good 
 choice of books. I further got acquainted with some friends 
 at the West End, attended the theatres once or twice a week, 
 visited the Westminster Forum, and heard Major Cartwright 
 and Gale Jones declaim. In a word my hat covered my family, 
 and I had never before been so happy or so independent.
 
 94 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. v. 
 
 During the whole of my residence in London I seldom 
 missed dining on the Sundays with my relatives in St. Martin's 
 Lane. They had a small shop in front, and a workshop behind. 
 The first floor was the family residence, and a clergyman of the 
 name of Hall occupied the chambers above. Mr. Hall was a 
 regular Sunday guest at Mrs. Stewart's table, as well as myself ; 
 he was a great projector, had taken out a patent for making 
 hemp from beanstalks, and was a writer in ' Tilloch's Philoso- 
 phical Magazine,' and in several other periodicals of the day. 
 He was a native of Perth, eccentric in his manners, somewhat 
 loose in his religious principles, but a powerful reasoner, and 
 intimately acquainted with most of the literary and scientific 
 men of the day. Through Mr. Hall I was introduced to the 
 Society of Arts, to Mr. Tilloch, and to several distinguished 
 persons, and the advantages which I derived from this connec- 
 tion were greater than I could have expected, considering the 
 position in which I was placed as a common workman.
 
 CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 FURTHER EMPLOYMENT 
 MARRIAGE AND SETTLEMENT IN MANCHESTER 
 
 AGE 24-28 
 1813-1817
 
 STUDIES IN AGRICULTURE STEAM PLOUGHING THE SOCIETY OF 
 ARTS AND THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE SAUSAGE-MAKING MACHINE 
 VISIT TO BATH REMINISCENCES OF THE NOVELISTS BRISTOL 
 SOUTH WALES DUBLIN BREAKFAST WITH DUKE HUMPHREY FES- 
 TIVITIES IN THE PHCENIX PARK EMPLOYMENT WITH MR. ROBINSON 
 NAIL-MAKING MACHINERY PASSAGE TO LIVERPOOL FIRST ARRIVAL 
 AT MANCHESTER EMPLOYMENT WITH MR. PARKINSON ATTACK OF 
 SCARLET FEVER MR. HOUTSON HIS BROTHER THE AFRICAN TRA- 
 VELLER BELZONI PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE SAVING MONEY 
 THE FIDDLE AGAIN HABITS OF THE LANCASHIRE OPERATIVES MAR- 
 RIAGE LN 1816 DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS MRS. FAIRBAIRN's ILL- 
 NESSACCIDENT BY FIRE THE NEW BLACKFRIAR3 BRIDGE AT MAN- 
 CHESTER MR. HEWES RESOLUTION TO START BUSINESS ON HIS OWN 
 ACCOUNT.
 
 <J7 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 MR. FAIRBAIEX continues I- 
 For some time before the termination of my engagement at 
 the Patent Eopery, I had frequent conversations with Mr. Hall 
 on agriculture and spade husbandry. He had written an essay 
 on this latter subject, describing its superior advantages ; and 
 it had occurred to him that a machine might be made which, if 
 worked by steam, would answer all the purposes of digging 1 by 
 hand. To this scheme I saw many objections ; but, like all 
 men of a sanguine disposition and a speculative turn of mind, 
 he overruled them ; and after many persuasions I was at last 
 induced to make a model of the machine ; it being left to me 
 to devise the means and arrange the parts according to my own 
 judgment. It was finally agreed that we should bear equal 
 shares in the expense of the model. He was to write a paper in 
 our joint names for the Society of Arts, and in case it should 
 prove successful we were to take out a patent, and make our 
 fortunes. Such were the inducements held out to me by my 
 speculative friend. The model was accordingly made, and 
 along with it a miniature field of sand, wherein it was to dig. 
 This model showed some ingenuity in its structure, and rolled 
 along upon a movable tramway, with three spades worked by 
 cranks on one side, which enabled the machine to move on the 
 unbroken portion of the field, while it left the portion dug up 
 perfectly open to the action of the atmosphere as it left the 
 spades. The machine was exhibited before the Duke of Norfolk, 
 then President of the Society of Arts, but it met with consider- 
 able opposition from some of the council ; both Mr. Hall and I 
 defended it, but unsuccessfully, as the argument was against us, 
 and objections were raised which on mature consideration I 
 found it difficult to combat. 
 
 II
 
 98 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. VT. 
 
 The objections raised against the principle, as well as the 
 practical application of the machine, confirmed my previous 
 doubts ; but not so with Mr. Hall, who maintained a contrary 
 opinion, and insisted on exhibiting the model to the Board of 
 Agriculture, whose practical experience would enable them to 
 discover its merits, and recommend its application. I was, 
 however, sufficiently convinced of its inutility, and declined any 
 further interference. It was subsequently sent to the Board of 
 Agriculture, and for anything I know to the contrary, may be 
 still found amongst the relics of that institution. 
 
 The construction of this machine, and the want of employ- 
 ment, made a serious inroad upon my funds. I had saved up- 
 wards of 20Z., but it all went in the purchase of materials and 
 labour ; and on application to Mr. Hall for his share of the 
 expenses, I found he was in no better condition than myself ; 
 and therefore I made an agreement with a pork-butcher in 
 Tottenham Court Road to make him for 33Z. a machine for 
 chopping meat for sausages. 
 
 This machine was constructed with a fly-wheel and a double 
 crank and connecting rods on each side, which worked a cross 
 head, containing a dozen knives crossing each other at right 
 angles, enabling them thus to mince or divide the meat on a 
 revolving block. The machine did its work admirably, and I 
 had reason to be proud of it, as it was the first order I had on 
 my own account. 1 
 
 The pork butcher paid me handsomely for the machine, 
 and finding no chance of obtaining any more work in London 
 for some time, I resolved to make a tour in the south of Eng- 
 land, and with 71. in'my pocket I took an outside place, on the 
 evening of April 13, 1813; for Bath. It was a keen frost 
 
 1 I should here mention that the chopping-machine was only part of the 
 apparatus ; there was also an iron cylinder which turned upon centres like 
 the trunnions of a gun, filled with the minced meat, and having a conical 
 end with a tube, on which the tripe was drawn ready for filling. At the 
 other end was a piston worked by a rack and pinion, which pressing upon 
 the meat in the cylinder discharged the sausages from the tube, well filled, 
 in lengths from six to eight feet. The pumping process completed the 
 operation, excepting only tying them into lengths, which was afterwards 
 done by girls, the sausages being hung up in the shape of chains with round 
 links.
 
 TOM JONES. 99 
 
 when the coach started from the Golden Cross, and we had 
 scarcely crossed Hounslow Heath when a fall of snow came on, 
 and being thinly clad, without a great-coat, I suffered dread- 
 fully from cold during the night. We, however, reached Bath 
 at seven the next morning, when a good washing and a warm 
 breakfast completely restored me. 
 
 At Bath I found myself quite at home, as I had read the 
 whole of Smollett's works and Fielding's ' Tom Jones.' I 
 remembered the Pump Room, and the famous Master of the 
 Ceremonies of a former period, Beau Nash, and entered into all 
 the reminiscences of those days, and made myself familiar with 
 all the haunts of the town. I went to the theatre to hear 
 Incledon sing in the opera of the ' Lord of the Manor,' and on 
 the following morning, Sunday, I entered a sedan-chair, and 
 directed two Welshmen to carry me to the Pump Room. I 
 would not have incurred this unnecessary expense, but I had 
 two reasons for doing so ; namely, to ascertain the motion of a 
 sedan, and to make myself sure of admission to the rooms. As 
 regards the latter, it was superfluous, and so far as respects the 
 former I should have been much better on my feet. 
 
 In the afternoon I went to Frome on a pilgrimage to the 
 shrine of Molly, immortalised in 'Tom Jones,' who with a 
 thigh-bone from a new-made grave exerted her powers with 
 such effect amongst the rustics of Somersetshire. These visits 
 occupied a period of three days ; and on the Monday following 
 I commenced work at Bathgate, where I remained six weeks, 
 and then moved on always on foot to Bradford and Trow- 
 bridge. Then making a rapid detour to the south I returned 
 by the nearest route to Bristol. Here I remained a few days to 
 look at the town, and then moving onwards I visited South 
 Wales, spent a few days at Newport and Cardiff, and having 
 inspected the cathedral at Llandaff, I sailed on the following 
 day in a small sloop bound for Dublin, where I arrived after a 
 voyage of four days. 
 
 My entrance into Dublin was anything but propitious, as 
 after paying the passage money I found my funds reduced to 
 the small sum of three-halfpence. It was early in the morning 
 when we arrived, and having wandered about the city for a 
 whole day, I was at last compelled through hunger to exhaust 
 K 9,
 
 100 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIKN. CHAP. vr. 
 
 the remains of my purse in the purchase of a roll and a few 
 raisins, on which I breakfasted and dined during a promenade 
 along Ormond's Quay. As the evening closed in I went in 
 search of lodgings, and after some trouble I took up my 
 quarters in a small house in a back street near St. Patrick's 
 Cathedral. The following day was a holyday, and finding the 
 people all in motion in the direction of the Phrenix Park, I 
 joined the crowd, and after an hour's walk found myself in the 
 presence of the Duke of Kichmond, then Lord Lieutenant, at a 
 grand review of all the troops in Dublin and the surrounding 
 country. After the evolutions, great numbers adjourned to the 
 tents, where I witnessed all the fun and amusements of an Irish 
 fair, and what with whisky, rags, and rigmarole, the remainder 
 of the day, and if I mistake not the greater part of the night, 
 were spent in a medley of singing, dancing, fighting, and drink- 
 ing. I could not, however, afford to be present during the 
 whole of the revelry, and having no inclination to join in the 
 melee which was fast approaching, I returned to my quarters at 
 Pat Kearney's, where I supped on potatoes and cold beef, and 
 went to bed. 
 
 Next morning I went in search of employment, and after 
 several applications I at last succeeded in making an engage- 
 ment with Mr. Kobinson, of the Phoenix Foundry, to make a 
 new set of patterns for some nail machinery, which he was then 
 introducing into Dublin. These machines had been tried in 
 Birmingham, and were found to answer for some purposes, but 
 the nails proved defective in ductility, and were liable to break 
 when the points were ' clinked,' or bent round upon the board. 
 In other respects they were found, after being carefully an- 
 nealed, to succeed much better, particularly for sprigs and floor- 
 ing nails. The construction of these machines occupied the 
 whole of the summer, and gave me an opportunity of becoming 
 acquainted with Irish character. 
 
 At the lodgings which I occupied at a cottage behind the 
 barracks, I became acquainted with a young man of the name 
 of Meagher. He was a native of Kilkenny, had received a 
 liberal education, and with his assistance I endeavoured to im- 
 prove myself by reading some of the best authors and discussing 
 the style as well as the subject-matter of the writers. Meagher
 
 ARRIVAL IN MANCHESTER. 101 
 
 was an excellent grammarian and an able declaimer; he had 
 words at command, and I was often lost in admiration at the 
 facility with which he could embody his ideas in the choicest 
 language, and convey them to the minds of his hearers in the 
 most pleasing and agreeable form. He was never at a loss, and 
 from what I could learn of his history he had been educated for 
 the bar, but the poverty of his family had deprived him of the 
 means of completing his studies, and he was ultimately com- 
 pelled to leave college and take the humble situation of an 
 usher. 
 
 In the month of October I finished the nail machines, and 
 after taking an affectionate leave of my friend and fellow- 
 lodger, whom I never afterwards heard of, I embarked on board 
 one of the packets for Liverpool. The passage from Dublin to 
 Liverpool occupied two days, which we considered a good pas- 
 sage, as there had been instances when the packets were a week 
 on the voyage. The same distance is now accomplished in ten 
 or eleven hours. 
 
 In Liverpool I remained only two days to look at the town, 
 and then proceeded by coach to Manchester, where I conceived 
 a much wider field was open for the exercise of my profession. 
 In this conception I was not mistaken, for I soon got employ- 
 ment with Mr. Adam Parkinson, with whom I remained for 
 above two years. I was in my twenty-fourth year when I 
 entered Manchester, and being employed at a short distance in 
 the country, I resumed my studies, chiefly in History, Natural 
 Philosophy, the first books of Euclid, and Algebra. In the 
 three first I made some progress, but the last I found difficult, 
 and ultimately I had to give it up. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival in Manchester I caught the scarlet 
 fever, which laid me up for the whole of the winter. It was 
 during the great frost of 1813-14, and it was the end of 
 February before I was able to leave the house and take short 
 walks, which at first did not exceed fifty yards : they gradually 
 extended as I gathered strength, until I was able to walk out 
 every day, when I rapidly recovered. 
 
 During my illness I was frequently visited by Mr. James 
 Houtson, the foreman of the works, whose kindness of heart and 
 hospitality made him everywhere loved and respected. To
 
 102 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. vi. 
 
 Mr. Houtson and his family I was indebted for many acts of 
 kindness; I spent many happy hours in his house, and retained 
 till the day of his death a liberal share in his friendship. 
 
 Part of Mr. Houtson's house was occupied by his brother, 
 Mr. John Houtson, whose unfortunate history was full of events 
 of considerable interest. He was a native of Lawder, in Kox- 
 burghshire. He left his native place when young, and settled in 
 Manchester, first as an assistant in a mercantile house, and 
 subsequently as a master for himself. In Scotland he had 
 exercised the profession of a schoolmaster, whereby he had 
 acquired a taste for reading ; and having a good address, his 
 society was agreeable, and much sought after by his friends and 
 acquaintance. He had a taste for poetry and for literary pur- 
 suits, and was in acquirements above his position in life. 
 
 His career as a merchant was abruptly terminated. As 
 already mentioned, he commenced business as a spinner 
 and manufacturer, but with borrowed money, which not 
 being equal to his demands, he took to the bill system, on 
 which he subsisted for a few years, but at last became bank- 
 rupt. After winding up his affairs and paying ten or twelve 
 shillings in the pound, he engaged to go out with some gentle- 
 men to the island of Fernando Po, to found a colony there, and 
 to restore his fortune by trading in ivory and gold-dust along 
 the African coast. For a few years he was employed in this 
 trade, but the colony turned out a failure ; and having made the 
 acquaintance of Belzoni, the celebrated traveller, he joined the 
 expedition into the interior, where one after another the party 
 fell victims to disease. He was the last man to close the eyes 
 of Belzoni, and after great suffering reached the coast with life, 
 but with a broken constitution. He brought a ring and the 
 dying wishes of the great traveller to his wife, and took his 
 passage to Ava, where he died a few days after his arrival. 
 
 His letters, some of which I read, describing the expedition, 
 were valuable as illustrative of some of the most trying scenes 
 and stirring incidents of the expedition; and one or two of 
 them, giving an account of Belzoni's death, were published in 
 the papers of the day. But they have never been collected in 
 a separate form. 
 
 At Mr. Houtson's house used to assemble a party of kindred
 
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR MARRIAGE. 103 
 
 spirits, and on Sunday, and sometimes on Saturday evening, I 
 used to make one of the party. These meetings were partly of 
 an instructive and partly of a convivial character. The first 
 part of the evening was generally appropriated to literary dis- 
 cussions, but after supper they often ended in singing, or 
 some other genial amusement. Amongst the number who met 
 on these occasions was the late Dr. Hardie, an eminent physi- 
 cian, and another of the party was Mr. Leo Schuster, who 
 afterwards became a well-known successful merchant. 
 
 I remained two years with Mr. Parkinson, and during that 
 time I not only kept up my correspondence with Miss Mar, 
 but I began to entertain thoughts of a settlement, and of 
 making her my wife. Arrangements were made for the union 
 as soon as a little money could be raised for the purpose of 
 furnishing a small house. 
 
 With this view, I made a determination to work hard and 
 spend little. This I steadfastly adhered to, and in less than 
 twelve months I had deposited in the hands of my intended 
 wife and banker upwards of 201. On her side the same economy 
 and industry were observed ; and by the time I had finished 
 some work in the country, of which I had the charge, I was 
 master of nearly 30^., the largest sum I had ever possessed. 
 
 My bachelor days in Manchester were fruitful of many 
 benefits. I had some leisure for study, and made some progress 
 in the first three books of Euclid. I also renewed my attempts 
 on the violin, but in stringing it after an interval of more than 
 twelve months, I found it had been seriously injured on the 
 voyage from Dublin, and I had no alternative but to restore its 
 broken tones by a new belly of the same material and con- 
 struction as before. Having repaired the instrument, I still 
 found it in good voice, but the power to give it expression was 
 as bad as ever, and after some months' rubbing and scraping I 
 was forced to content myself with the old tunes. 
 
 Another amusement in which I took great interest when 
 residing in the country was watching the sports and peculiar 
 habits of the labouring classes of the districts round Man- 
 chester. At that period they were fond of field-sports, such as 
 trail hunts, following the hounds on foot, and other athletic 
 exercises. Drinking and dancing in holyday times frequently
 
 lOt LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. vi. 
 
 led to quarrels a*nd dangerous fights ; but these evils have more 
 lately been suppressed, and now the population of Lancashire 
 may be said to be the best disposed, the most active and 
 laborious people in the United Kingdom. 
 
 I was now able to direct my attention to the fulfilment of 
 my engagement with Miss Mar. We were married at Bed- 
 lington on June 16, 1816, and after a few days' residence at 
 Morpeth and Newcastle, we took our places on the coach for 
 Manchester, where we arrived in a few days. The important 
 event of a marriage, and the altered conditions and circum- 
 stances which it involves, are such as to open a new epoch in 
 every man's history. It did so in mine ; and the responsibilities 
 which it involved operated as a powerful stimulus to carry into 
 effect what I had long before contemplated, namely, an ardent 
 desire to emancipate myself from daily labour, and to acquire 
 that independence of position which I was most anxious to 
 attain. My young wife was lees ambitious, and she appeared 
 content to labour with me in a quiet unostentatious manner ; 
 and I am persuaded her affection would have been more than 
 equal to carry her through the numerous difficulties by which 
 we were surrounded. With an income of only thirty shillings 
 a week, I felt great reluctance to submit her to constant 
 drudgery, and we began by taking lodgings at Macclesfield, 
 where I was employed by the late Mr. T. C. Hewes. We spent 
 several months in that town, and then removed to Manchester, 
 where I took a small cottage of two rooms, and fitted it up in a 
 style of neatness of which we were both of us justly proud. The 
 first articles of furniture which came into the house were three 
 oil paintings and three mahogany knife-cases, which I bought 
 at a sale. These purchases appeared no better in the eyes of 
 Mrs. Fairbairn than the bargain of the green spectacles made 
 by Moses in the Vicar of Wakefield.' They were articles not 
 for immediate use, but they looked handsome, the first on the 
 walls, and the latter on a neat mahogany table. Shortly after- 
 wards the pictures became, and have continued to be, the most 
 favoured articles in the house, and they decorate the walls of 
 my dining-room at the present moment. 
 
 By the early spring I had finished the works at Macclesfield, 
 and returned in time to be at hand during Mrs. Fairbairn's
 
 ACCIDENT BY FIRE. 105 
 
 confinement, which took place on March 30, 1817, when 
 my daughter, afterwards Mrs. Bateman, was born. This event 
 was one which nearly deprived Mrs. Fairbairn of life, and 
 after remaining in the most critical state for ten or twelve 
 days, she began to give indications of recovery from a state of 
 the greatest exhaustion. In this state of affairs, the nurse, who 
 had never left us from the commencement, accidentally set fire 
 to the bed-curtains, which were instantly in a blaze, and both 
 mother and child must have perished if I had not fortunately 
 been in the house ready to render assistance. The screams of 
 the nurse brought me in a moment to the rescue, when I found 
 the bed in flames. It was the work of a moment to snatch both 
 of them from the bed, and having laid them on the floor, I at 
 last succeeded in extinguishing the flames by tearing off the 
 burning curtains, after being severely scorched. 
 
 This unfortunate accident was a severe blow to us, and my 
 wife's long and protracted illness, in addition to the expense 
 incurred in furnishing the house, exhausted the whole of our 
 funds. Many months passed before we surmounted the diffi- 
 culties of this visitation. But my little daughter grew apace. 
 Her mother, through the unwearied skill and attention of 
 Mr. Ainsworth, an eminent surgeon, renewed her strength, and 
 our little cottage was again in order. This was a year of trial, 
 and it required more than ordinary care and economy to make 
 both ends meet. We, however, kept out of debt, with the ex- 
 ception of 5Z., which I borrowed from Mr. Chantry, of Maccles- 
 field, during this long season of illness, and which was afterwards 
 duly paid. 
 
 Manchester is divided from Salford by the river Irwell, over 
 which there were at this time two good bridges, the one called 
 the Old Bridge, and the other the New Bayley Bridge. Another 
 wooden bridge, called Blackfriars, between these two, was so 
 exceedingly inconvenient as to render a new one indispensable, 
 and the authorities offered two premiums of 1501. and IQOl. for 
 the first and second best designs for a bridge calculated to meet 
 a more extended traffic. I was then employed as a draughts- 
 man by Mr. Hewes, and conceiving there could be no objection 
 to my employing my leisure hours in preparing a design for this 
 intended bridge, I set vigorously to work, and completed one of
 
 106 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBA1RN. CHAP. vi. 
 
 a single cast-iron arch before the time appointed for delivering 
 the plans. Fearing, however, that Mr. Hewes might be similarly 
 employed, I considered it my duty to show him the drawings, 
 and to solicit his advice as to the expediency of giving them in. 
 I repaired to his lodgings, and having communicated my inten- 
 tions, he hastily replied that he could not advise me on such a 
 subject without acting in a double capacity, as he was himself a 
 candidate. 
 
 The affair of the bridge (which was ultimately built of 
 stone) rendered my future residence with Mr. Hewes uncomfort- 
 able ; and I consequently gave notice that I should resign my 
 situation at the end of the following week. Disappointed in 
 my hopes of rising in the profession so long as I continued as a 
 workman, and having before me the prospect of an increasing 
 family, I determined no longer to remain the servant of another, 
 but by one bold effort to take an independent position in those 
 departments of practical construction in which I conceived I 
 had some chance of success. I had laboured for five years as a 
 journeyman, and during that time I had acquired a considerable 
 amount of practical knowledge, calculated to develop other re- 
 sources than those to which my attention had hitherto been 
 applied. I was never one of those who take notes, and keep a 
 diary in which to record the construction of every machine, or 
 to notice every event which occurred. I could never act the 
 part of a copyist, and during the whole course of my pro- 
 fessional career I never accomplished any improvement or any 
 discovery of the least value if I attempted it by a slavish imita- 
 tion of my predecessors. It would be presumptuous if by this 
 declaration I attempted to assume a character for originality in 
 my conceptions to which I may not be entitled ; on the con- 
 trary, I must candidly admit that whatever improvements I 
 have effected in practical science have originated in some useful 
 hint which I have applied, when ruminating on the subject, for 
 the purpose I wished to attain. Having once seized an idea, I 
 never lost sight of it till the object in view was accomplished, 
 or abandoned if proved on reflection to be unsound in principle. 
 I believe this to be the case in almost every instance where 
 great discoveries are made, and on a careful review of the- work- 
 ings of the mind it will be found that we are all indebted to
 
 DETERMINATION TO EXCEL. 107 
 
 impressions received from others for many of our most useful 
 inventions. The examples of Franklin, Ferguson, and Watt 
 were always before me, and though I laboured under great diffi- 
 culties as regards education, and had little time at my disposal 
 for study, nevertheless I so far imitated their example as to be 
 able to go on cheerfully and enthusiastically in my endeavours 
 to be useful and my determination to excel.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 COMMENCEMENT OF BUSINESS IN MANCHESTER 
 
 SUCCESSFUL ESTABLISHMENT OF MANUFACTURING 
 
 WORKS 
 
 AGE 28-34 
 18171823
 
 DETERMINATION TO SET UP FOR HIMSELF IN BUSINESS FIRST 
 ORDER UNDERTAKEN PARTNERSHIP WITH LILLIE PATENT CLAIM 
 DIFFICULTIES AND DISCOURAGEMENTS SMALL ORDERS THE IRISHMAN 
 AS A MOTIVE POWER MR. MURRAY ORDER TO REARRANGE HIS MILL 
 MACHINERY THE POVERTY OF THE LAND NATURE OF THE ALTERA- 
 TIONSDEFECTS OBSERVED AND IMPROVEMENTS INTRODUCED THEIR 
 IMPORTANCE AND SUCCESS REPAIRS ON SUNDAYS ABOLISHED NEW 
 MILL FOR M'CONNEL AND KENNEDY REMINISCENCES OF MURDOCH, 
 OF SOHO RISING FAME OF THE NEW FIRM OF FAIRBAIRN AND LILLIE 
 INCREASE OF THE MANUFACTURING ESTABLISHMENT CONSTANT 
 OCCUPATION.
 
 Ill 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN now describes his successful start in busi- 
 ness as a manufacturing engineer : 
 
 My retirement from the service of Mr. Hewes took place in 
 November 1817, at a time when business was slack, and when I 
 could ill afford to be idle even for a single day. Having, how- 
 ever, made up my mind to make an attempt at something better 
 than a weekly wage, I went over to Messrs. Otho Hulme and 
 Sons, at Clayton, near Manchester, for whom I had erected some 
 printing machinery whilst I was with Mr. Parkinson, to consult 
 Mr. J. Hulme, the active partner, what was best to be done. 
 At that time there appeared no chance of obtaining orders for 
 millwork, but he made me the offer to construct an iron conser- 
 vatory which he proposed erecting in the garden, I gladly 
 accepted the offer, and having prepared the drawings, which 
 were approved, I looked round for some clever, active person as 
 a partner to join me in the undertaking. This partner I found 
 in an old shopmate, Mr. James Lillie, to whom I communicated 
 my intentions, and asked him to join me. After some hesita- 
 tion, he consented ; and we commenced a few days afterwards 
 as coadjutors for the construction of the hothouse; and thus 
 arose a connection which lasted for fifteen years. 
 
 In a few weeks the patterns were made, and we had just 
 commenced casting, when the whole of our operations were 
 stopped by a letter from Birmingham giving notice of the in- 
 fringement of a patent which the writer said belonged to him- 
 self. This interdict and the threats which were held out closed 
 our connection with Mr. Hulme, and I was again thrown upon 
 the world without resources and without money. Mr. Lillie, 
 who was no better off in this respect than I myself, after some
 
 112 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. VJT. 
 
 fruitless attempts to get work, expressed a wish to retire, and 
 advised me to abandon what he conceived could not be accom- 
 plished. I however had made up my mind to persevere, and 
 notwithstanding a fortnight's suffering from insufficient food, I 
 urged him to be firm, as I had made up my mind never again 
 to work as a journeyman. This determination, and an offer to 
 allow him to withdraw if he did not like the connection, decided 
 the question, and he renewed his promise either to succeed, or 
 remain with me to the last. This determination increased our 
 energy and gave us fresh vigour. We redoubled our exertions, 
 issued printed cards announcing our intentions, and made a com- 
 plete tour amongst the manufacturers of Manchester and the 
 neighbourhood. Amongst others, I called on Messrs. Adam and 
 George Murray, the extensive cotton-spinners, and taking with 
 me the designs of the bridge, I showed them to Mr. Murray, 
 and requested to know if we could be of service to him in the 
 erection of any millwork he might require. Mr. Murray re- 
 ceived me kindly, and after looking at the drawings, desired I 
 would call on the following day, and bring my partner with me. 
 
 In the interval since the stoppage of our work at Mr. 
 Hulme's, we had, however, got small orders for the erection of 
 a callender in Cannon Street, and a calico-polishing machine in 
 Shakespeare Street. These were small jobs, but sufficient to 
 enable us to make a lathe ; and having hired a miserable shed 
 for about twelve shillings a week, we erected the lathe, and with 
 the assistance of James Murphy, a muscular Irishman, we con- 
 trived to turn and finish the whole of our work in a very credit- 
 able manner. At that time, 1817, even Manchester did not 
 boast of many lathes or tools, except small ones in the machine 
 shops ; ours was of considerable dimensions, and capable of turn- 
 ing shafts of from 3 to 6 inches diameter. For two years after- 
 wards this lathe did the whole of our turning work. 
 
 According to appointment, we waited on Mr. Murray, and 
 having stated to him the objects we had in view, he took us 
 through the mill, and asked if we could renew, with horizontal 
 cross-shafts, the whole of his millwork that turned the mule 
 spinning. We gladly agreed; but before any contract was 
 made, he stipulated that the work must be well done, and said - 
 that he would visit our shop on the following day, and judge for
 
 THE POVERTY OF THE LAND. 113 
 
 himself as to the means we had at command for the attainment 
 of that object. 
 
 This proposition was anything but encouraging, as both of 
 us were aware of the * poverty of the land,' and the risk we 
 should incur by such an exhibition. There was, however, no 
 alternative ; come he would, and immediately on our return we 
 set to work to put the ' house in order ' for his reception. On 
 the following day he came punctually to the time, and after 
 looking round he observed that there was no approach but 
 through an entry about four feet wide, and that having only one 
 tool we should never be able to execute a work of such magni- 
 tude. We earnestly assured him to the contrary ; and having 
 made an agreement with him, we commenced, with glad hearts 
 and willing minds, what we considered our first and best order 
 as men of business. One of the conditions was to execute the 
 alterations without stopping the machinery, or only such portion 
 as we might require for the time being. This we accomplished 
 satisfactorily, and having worked from five in the morning till 
 nine at night, we completed the order within the specified time, 
 and in such a manner as to satisfy Mr. Murray and his friends. 
 
 The alterations effected in Mr. Murray's factory opened a 
 new field for our exertions. Up to that time neither Mr. Lillie 
 nor I were much acquainted with cotton-mills ; our previous 
 employment had been chiefly confined to corn-mills, printing- 
 works, and bleaching-works ; and the operations of spinning 
 being nearly new, we had everything to learn in that extensive 
 department of our national industry. The alterations in Mr. 
 Murray's mill gave us a great deal of insight into the business ; 
 and as my department lay in the designs and erection of the 
 work as sent out by Mr. Lillie from the shop, I had an oppor- 
 tunity of examining with care and attention the whole of the 
 main-gearing, and the machinery of transmission to the remotest 
 parts of the factory. 
 
 In my examination of Mr. Murray's mill, and others to 
 which I had access, I thought I discovered great defects in the 
 principle as well as in the construction of the millwork. All 
 the cotton mills that I had seen were driven with large square 
 shafts and wooden drums, some of them 4 feet in diameter. 
 The main shafts seldom exceeded 40 revolutions per minute ;
 
 114 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. vir. 
 
 and although the machinery varied in velocity from 100 up to 
 3,000 revolutions, the speeds were mostly got up by a series of 
 straps and counter drums, which not only crowded the rooms, 
 but seriously obstructed the light where most required, in the 
 more delicate and refined operations of the different machines. 
 This defect I mentioned to Mr. Lillie, and proposed that we 
 should change the system by the introduction of lighter shafts 
 at double or treble the velocity, and by using smaller drums to 
 drive the machinery at the same speed. I instanced an argu- 
 ment which I had had with a spinner, who contended that the 
 straps would slip on small drums ; but I showed that the front 
 wheels of a carriage, though much smaller than those behind, 
 went over the same ground, and that the quick shafts and 
 smaller drums would not only by their increased velocity do the 
 same, but would do it with a great saving of power. Thoroughly 
 convinced of this, we set to work ; and from that time we may 
 date the revolution which followed, and our own prosperity as 
 the leading millwrights of the district. 
 
 Another defect observed was in the construction of the 
 shafts, and in the mode of fixing the couplings, which were con- 
 stantly giving way, so that a week seldom passed without a 
 break-down. For the first six years we could never calculate 
 on the Sunday as a day of rest ; we were almost constantly em- 
 ployed in repairs ; and when trade was good the loss of a single 
 hour was an object when compared to the difference of cost in a 
 Sunday's repair. Working on Sundays, and on the previous 
 and following nights, had a most injurious effect on the morals 
 and condition of that class to which I belonged. It debarred 
 them from that association with their families, and that im- 
 provement in the domestic circle to which this day of all others 
 is most appropriate, particularly for the working man. The 
 introduction of a new system of qiiick speeds and light shafts, 
 accompanied with a greater degree of accuracy in the workman- 
 ship, led to a change which gradually abolished work on Sundays. 
 
 The completion of Mr. Murray's order gave a new impetus 
 to our business. Our exertions had not been lost upon him, for 
 he immediately recommended us to the attention of Mr. John 
 Kennedy, partner in the firm of Messrs. M'Connel and Ken- 
 nedy, then the largest spinners in the kingdom. They were on
 
 IMPROVED MILL WORK. 115 
 
 the point of building a new mill, and owing to Mr. Murray's 
 recommendation we found no difficulty in making arrangements 
 with Mr. Kennedy. 
 
 I waited upon that gentleman, and followed his instructions 
 with the utmost attention. I laid down all his plans for the 
 new mill to a scale, calculated the proportions and strength of 
 the parts, fixed the position and arrangement of the different 
 machines, and introduced, under that gentleman's direction, a 
 new system of double speeds, which, I believe, was an original 
 invention of his own, for giving an increased quantity of twist 
 to the finer description of mule yarn. The mule, as is well 
 known, was the invention of Crompton ; and it owes a great 
 deal to Mr. Kennedy's improvements, particularly in those con- 
 structions exclusively adapted to the finer numbers. I shall 
 have occasionally to speak of this gentleman in the course of 
 the following narrative, and I feel greatly indebted to him for 
 his early and continued friendship during his long and useful life. 
 
 The erection of M'Connel and Kennedy's new mill was a 
 great step in advance ; we had now become engineers and mill- 
 wrights of some consequence, and the complete and satisfactory 
 execution of the millwork established our characters as young 
 men who were likely not only to do well, but also to introduce 
 improvements in the construction of machinery, millwork, and 
 the general mechanism of other branches of industry. Mr. 
 Kennedy was fully aware of the advantages of these improve- 
 ments, and he not only gave them full encouragement, but 
 recommended us to all his friends. The results of these recom- 
 mendations were a press of orders which poured in upon us from 
 all sides, and an amount of work much greater than we could 
 execute. Our means were but small ; and although we had 
 removed from the shed into an old building in Mather Street, 
 immediately after the completion of Mr. Murray's work, we 
 were nevertheless without a steam-engine, or any other power, 
 except Murphy and three more assistants who turned the lathes, 
 having added to the number since our removal from High Street. 
 With the two first lathes, and a new and a larger one which we 
 erected temporarily at Mr. Kennedy's mill for turning the large 
 shafts, we completed the whole of the millwork in a satisfactory 
 manner, both as regarded solidity and appearance, 
 i 2
 
 HG LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIKBAIRX. CHAP. vn. 
 
 It was during the progress of this work (in 1818) that I 
 became acquainted with Mr. Murdoch, of Soho, a gentleman 
 well known to science and to the public as the inventor of the 
 D valve, the improver of the Cornish pumping-engine, and the 
 author of illumination by carburetted hydrogen gas. Mr. Mur- 
 doch was at this time upwards of seventy years of age, tall and 
 well-proportioned, with a most benevolent and intelligent ex- 
 pression of countenance. He was the oldest mechanical engineer 
 of his day, and, exclusive of his discoveries in practical en- 
 gineering, he contrived a variety of curious maclu'nes for com- 
 pressing peat moss, when finely ground and pulverised, into the 
 most beautiful medals, armlets, bracelets, and necklaces, which, 
 under immense pressure, being stamped and brilliantly polished, 
 had all the character and appearance of the finest marble. Mr. 
 Murdoch was the right arm of the illustrious Watt, and greatly 
 assisted him in his improvements of the steam-engine by in- 
 genious contrivances for casting, boring, turning, and fitting the 
 various parts. The steam-engine is, therefore, in no small 
 degree indebted to the ingenuity and persevering exertions of 
 Murdoch ; as also to another eminent contemporary mechanical 
 engineer, the late Matthew Murray, of Leeds, who was the first 
 to set an example to Boulton and Watt themselves in that 
 superior finish of the steam-engine which has now become 
 general. 
 
 Mr. Murdoch, on the occasion referred to, came down to 
 Manchester to start Mr. Kennedy's 54-horse-power engine, and 
 during his week's residence there I had frequent opportunities 
 of noticing the great intelligence which he evinced on almost 
 every subject connected with his professional avocations. He 
 was, like his friend Mr. Kennedy, full of anecdotes, and could 
 relate all the old Scotch saws and sayings which used to be the 
 delight and amusement of the people of those days. It was then 
 the fashion to tell a good tale, and none could do it better than 
 Mr. Murdoch and Mr. Kennedy. 
 
 The services which we had rendered, and the improvements 
 which were introduced, caused us to be much talked of as good 
 millwrights and ingenious young men. Our business increased, 
 and a large cellar under a factory was added to the shop. I was 
 designer, draughtsman, and book-keeper ; and in order to meet
 
 INCREASING BUSINESS. 117 
 
 all the requirements of the concern, and keep Mr. Lillie's de- 
 partment in the shop constantly going, I had to rise with the 
 sun in the summer, and some hours before it in the winter, in 
 order to make the entries and post the books before breakfast. 
 For the remainder of the day I had either to draw out the work, 
 or to ride fifteen or sixteen miles on a hired hack to consult with 
 proprietors, take dimensions, and arrange the principle and plan 
 on which the work was to be constructed. For many years I con- 
 tinued these exertions ; and, like every other act of persevering 
 industry, the result was a great economy, by saving the expense 
 of clerks, draughtsmen, and all those supernumeraries which 
 can only exist and can only be maintained in a large concern. 
 
 Four or five years passed in this manner; and, though we 
 were always short of money, and had to work from hand to 
 mouth, we were nevertheless in a prosperous way of business. 
 Our tools were increasing in number ; new patterns were made ; 
 and at the end of five years we found ourselves worth (in material, 
 stock, and tools), a sum of 5,OOOL It is true there was no 
 ready money, but, having occasional assistance from Heywood's 
 Bank, we ventured on the purchase of a 1 6-horse-power second- 
 hand Boulton and Watt's steam engine, bought a small plot of 
 land on chief rent, and erected a more convenient and commo- 
 dious workshop. This was a bold undertaking, without a farthing 
 of capital ; but we had good friends and considerate customers ; 
 and we found no difficulty in obtaining money on account for 
 work in hand and in progress of delivery. With this assistance, 
 and the same continued activity, we struggled through ; and in 
 less than two years we found ourselves in possession of the new 
 shop and steam-engine, without any considerable diminution in 
 our funds. 
 
 It will be perceived that a constant and unremitting atten- 
 tion to business precluded all chance of continuing my studies, 
 either by reading or other pursuits. My time was too much 
 engaged to admit of a single hour of leisure ; and the only con- 
 solation which I derived was the reflection that I had previously 
 stored my mind with some useful knowledge, which I was now 
 turning to good account.
 
 CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 WATER-WHEELS AT CATRINE BANK 
 
 CONNECTION WITH ESCHER 
 JOURNE5T TO THE CONTINENT AND WORK THERE 
 
 AGE 34-41 
 1824 183O
 
 ORDER FROM MR. BUCHANAN, OP CATRINE BAKE, FOR NEW "WATER- 
 WHEELS MR. FAIRBAIRN VISITS THE SITE NATURE OF THE OLD 
 MACHINERY IMPROVEMENTS PROPOSED COMPLETION AND SUCCESS OF 
 THE NEW WHEELS CHARACTER OF MR. BUCHANAN APPLICATION FROM 
 MR. ESCHER, OF ZURICH ADVENTURES OF A COTTON MILL DURING 
 THE WAR LAVATER EFFECT OF THE PEACE IN STIMULATING INDUSTRY 
 OX THE CONTINENT ACCOUNT OF MR. FAIRBAIRN's JOURNEY POSTING 
 THROUGH FRANCE LILLE PARIS THE OLD PARTS OF THE TOWN 
 M. FOURNEYRON AND HIS TURBINE STAY AT ZURICH THE MILLS AND 
 THE ALTERATIONS TO THEM PLEASURE EXCURSIONS THE RIGHI 
 SUNRISE INCREASING SUCCESS IN THE BUSINESS MR. FAIRBAIRN 
 JOINS THE INSTITUTION OF CIVIL ENGINEERS,
 
 121 
 
 CHAPTER Vm. 
 
 THE Autobiography continues : 
 
 Six years passed in this manner, each succeeding year adding 
 to the general stock, when in 1824 we had a visit from Mr. 
 Buchanan, of Catrine Bank, in Ayrshire, the partner of Kirkman 
 Finlay, the then member for Glasgow. The object of his visit 
 was to establish an entirely new arrangement of the water-power 
 of the Catrine Cotton Works ; and here again Mr. Kennedy was 
 our friend and adviser. I had been recommended to Mr. 
 Buchanan as a person well able to devise, plan, and execute the 
 work ; and after several meetings and conversations, I was en- 
 gaged to visit Ayrshire and spend a fortnight at Catrine Bank. 
 
 This was an important undertaking. The mills were exten- 
 sive, and the water-wheels and steam-engines then at work were 
 estimated at between 200 and 300 horse-power. 
 
 The Catrine Cotton Works are situated on the banks of the 
 river Ayr, about fifteen miles from the town of that name. The 
 mills were built by the late Mr. Alexander, of Balochmyle, and 
 were worked by him, I believe not very successfully. About 
 1795 they came into the hands of Messrs. James Finlay and Co., 
 Kirkman Finlay being the leading partner of the firm, and Mr. 
 Buchanan took charge of the new works at Catrine. 
 
 The machinery of the mills was driven by four water-wheels, 
 erected by Mr. Lowe, of Nottingham. His work, heavy and 
 clumsy as it was, had in a certain way answered the purpose, 
 and as cotton-mills were then in their infancy he was the only 
 person qualified from experience to undertake the construction 
 of the gearing. Mr. Lowe was therefore in demand in every 
 part of the kingdom where a cotton-factory had to be built.
 
 122 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. vrn. 
 
 The water-wheels at Catrine were ill-constructed, deficient 
 in power, and constantly breaking down or getting out of repair. 
 This was a grievous drawback at a time when trade was good, 
 and to remedy the evil Mr. Buchanan erected two 40-horse- 
 power steam-engines, which for some years kept the works going, 
 but at a considerable sacrifice arising from repeated failures in 
 the water-wheels. The evil at last became so great, that Mr. 
 Buchanan and his partners in Glasgow came to the determina- 
 tion to pull them out, and remodel the whole of their motive 
 power on an improved and more efficient principle. It was in 
 this condition of the works that I was requested to make a 
 journey to Scotland, and arrange matters with Mr. Buchanan for 
 the changes and alterations contemplated. 
 
 In conformity with these views, I was soon on the road to 
 Scotland, and having reached Catrine Bank the day after my 
 departure from Manchester I was most kindly and hospitably 
 received, and the next morning commenced a thorough and 
 complete survey of the whole establishment. It was not long 
 before I discovered the evils under which the concern had 
 laboured, and I did not hesitate to recommend a concentration 
 of the whole of the motive power, and that instead of dividing a 
 fall of forty-seven feet into two, the two falls should be united on 
 two powerful wheels, each fifty feet in diameter, and 120, col- 
 lectively 240, horse-power. This was computed to be equal to 
 the entire resistance of the machinery in all the mills, and by a 
 proper form of bucket, and a judicious application of the water, 
 they were considered amply sufficient to turn the whole of the 
 then existing machinery without the aid of steam. In order, 
 however, to provide for future contingencies and extension of the 
 works, it was considered advisable to make provisions in the 
 watercourses, tail run, and main gearing, for two more wheels of 
 the same power and dimensions as those intended to be made, 
 and thus to provide increased water-power in case of an increase 
 of the machinery. Another inducement to these enlarged views 
 was the existence of an extensive reservoir, which some years 
 before had been constructed on the high grounds near Muirkirk, 
 to regulate the quantity of water in the Ayr, and afford supplies 
 in dry seasons. 
 
 Having arranged the preliminaries, I set to work ; and in the 
 course of a week I had the whole laid down to a scale, and in
 
 THE CATRINE WATER-WHEELS. 123 
 
 less than a month from that date the order was given, and the 
 work was in progress at Manchester. 
 
 The construction of the Catrine wheels, apart from the 
 profits arising from the transaction as a matter of business, was 
 one of the most interesting and most gratifying circumstances I 
 ever experienced in the whole of my professional career. My 
 plans were approved, the prices proposed were accepted, and the 
 works were completed in a manner highly satisfactory, not only 
 to Mr. Buchanan and myself, but to every other person of the 
 firm. The two first waterwheels were started in June 1827 ; 
 they have never lost a day since that time, and they remain, 
 even at the present day, probably the most perfect hydraulic 
 machines of the kind in Europe. Mr. Buchanan was a true 
 citizen of the world ; noted for simplicity, benevolence, and good- 
 ness of heart. He was the poor man's friend, the good 
 Samaritan, the father of his people. To these qualifications he 
 united an excellent flow of spirits, an inexhaustible fund of anec- 
 dotes, and a dry broad humour that enlightened every counte- 
 nance, and often kept the table in a roar. He was moreover 
 well educated, a great reader, and possessed of an extraordinary 
 budget of miscellaneous and useful information. 
 
 Simultaneously with the construction of the Catrine water- 
 wheels, we had other works of importance to attend to ; and as 
 an instance I may here give an account of a journey which I 
 made in the autumn of the year 1824 to Switzerland, for the 
 purpose of erecting and remodelling another mill, and erecting 
 two water-wheels for Mr. Gr. Escher, of Zurich. That gentleman 
 -visited Manchester for the first time in 1814, and again in 1824 
 when I first made his acquaintance. In early life he studied 
 architecture in Italy, and for some time he served in the 
 Austrian Artillery under the Archduke Charles, who commanded 
 along with the Kussian Greneral Suwarrow, the combined armies 
 against the French under Massena. At the commencement of 
 the present century he built a small cotton-mill on one of the 
 bastions of the fortifications of Zurich, and during the revolu- 
 tionary wars it was alternately in the hands of the French, the 
 Austrians, and the Kussians. When the town was bombarded 
 the mill escaped injury, with the exception of a single shot, 
 which did little or no damage. On one occasion, it was, how- 
 ever, on the point of being reduced to ashes by a battery erected
 
 124 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIKBAIRN. CHAP. vin. 
 
 an the other side of the Limmat, for the purpose of dislodging a 
 strong force of Eussians who were in possession of that part of 
 the town, when Mr. Escher, to save the only mill in Switzerland, 
 presented himself at head-quarters, and obtained a promise from 
 the French general that the mill should be respected, which 
 promise was faithfully kept, notwithstanding a tremendous 
 cannonading which took place on other parts of the bastion only 
 a few yards distant. The following day found the French in 
 possession of the town, and the Austrian and Russian armies in 
 a new position in the valley of the Limmat. some miles distant. 
 
 Such were the early attempts at cotton-spinning in Switzer- 
 land, and such were the troubles my friend had to contend with 
 in a country which for many years was the seat of war. The 
 celebrated physiognomist, Lavater, lost his life on the occasion 
 referred to above, either in his endeavours to interfere in a des- 
 perate conflict between some French and Russian soldiers, or, 
 according to some accounts, by an accidental shot when walking 
 in his own garden. 
 
 The constant alarm and exposure to destruction seriously 
 affected the peaceful operations of Mr. Escher's mill ; and it was 
 not till some time after the retreat from Moscow, and the battle 
 of Leipsic, that Mr. Escher could calculate on security, either 
 for life or property. The whole of the manufactures on the 
 frontiers were in a similarly precarious condition : and I believe 
 one large establishment in Alsace was for some weeks occupied 
 as a barrack, and nearly the whole of the machinery seriously 
 injured. The abdication of Napoleon in 1814 liberated and 
 enlarged the views of the spinners and manufacturers of the 
 Continent. Mr. Escher and many others visited for the first 
 time the far-famed mart of industry, Manchester, and arrange- 
 ments were then made for extending those branches of industry 
 in every department where it had located itself on the line of 
 the Rhenish frontier. My firm had the good fortune to be 
 selected for that purpose, and the first of our business connec- 
 tions took place with Mr. Escher on the occasion of his visit to 
 Manchester in 1 824. 
 
 Mr. Escher, now that the peace of Europe was finally settled, 
 contemplated an extension of his cotton-mills, and in order to 
 prepare his son, Mr. Albert Escher, then seventeen years of age,
 
 SWISS INDUSTRY. 125 
 
 to be his successor, he brought him to Manchester to perfect his 
 education on the English system as a spinner and manufacturer. 
 In addition to a knowledge of cotton and yarn, I undertook to 
 allow him free admission to our works, and to give him such 
 instruction in practical mechanics as my limited time would 
 allow. I further agreed to return with Mr. Escher to Zurich to 
 inspect his establishment on the Limmat, and devise means for 
 increasing his water-power, and for driving a new mill which he 
 had erected the previous year immediately adjoining the old 
 one, which had survived the conflicts of contending armies, and 
 which was then in active and successful operation. 
 
 The industry of all nations was then bursting into new life, 
 and the prospects of a good understanding and a long peace 
 amongst nations gave renewed energy to the industrial resources 
 of every country in Europe. Switzerland was rising into notice, 
 and both France and Germany, in resting from the labours and 
 expense of raising armies, and from all the distressing and con- 
 flicting elements of war, were settling down into a state of 
 repose extremely favourable to the cultivation of the useful 
 arts and the development of manufactures. These results were 
 just beginning to show themselves, when in 1824 I first visited 
 the Continent, and having made excursions to most of the 
 manufacturing establishments in Alsace and the department of 
 the Vosges, I had an opportunity of witnessing a spirit of enter- 
 prise and a prosperity to which these countries had for many 
 years been strangers. It was highly gratifying to my fellow- 
 traveller and friend, Mr. Escher, as well as to myself, to be 
 received with the greatest good-will and hospitality by every 
 manufacturer in France. The name of Fairbairn and Lillie was 
 known to them before my arrival, and they were glad to avail 
 themselves of my experience as a mechanical engineer and a 
 person intimately connected with the manufactures, and to 
 receive such instructions and suggestions as I was able to furnish. 
 
 The result was several extensive orders for water-wheels, 
 mill-gearing, &c., on our new principle of construction. As 
 this journey was fraught with interest, and affords the most 
 pleasing recollections, I may recall a few of the incidents and 
 early impressions of my first journey to France. 
 
 In travelling through France, at that time the cheapest and
 
 126 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. TITJ. 
 
 most expeditious plan for more than one person was to buy a 
 carriage and post. The regulations were good, charges mode- 
 rate, and horses always ready when you arrived at the end of the 
 stage. Mr. Escher, having his son with him, had posted with 
 his own carriage from Zurich to Calais, where we found it on 
 our arrival at the hotel, on our landing from the packet on the 
 8th of August. 
 
 Our journey lay through St. Omer to Lille, where we 
 remained for a day, and called on some of the leading manu- 
 facturers of the place. Here, again, everything was new to me ; 
 the fortifications, drawbridges, ramparts, and esplanades, and 
 the peculiar dress of the military, were all new and attractive. 
 I am a great lover of old towns, such as can only be seen in 
 France ; full of historical recollections of the numerous contests 
 in which that singular people have been engaged. 
 
 The following day brought us to Paris, and we entered this 
 brightest of cities shortly after sunrise. 
 
 On reaching the capital I found much of it known to me 
 from my previous reading. The Tuileries, the Louvre, the 
 Palais Koyal, the Champ de Mars, the Champs Elysees, and 
 many other places, were familiar ; and I soon found my way on 
 foot through almost every part of the city. The old parts of 
 the town, beyond the Pont Neuf, were particularly inviting, as 
 I found I could identify some of the lodgings of the poor 
 students, and of some of my own countrymen who used to be 
 located here during the days of the Cavaliers, and the Scotch 
 College, then the principal seat of education for the better 
 classes in that country. There is something of the sublime and 
 venerable creeps over the stranger as he saunters through the 
 narrow streets of this part of Paris ; the very filth smells of 
 antiquity ; and even to this day I never revisit the gay city 
 without strolling amidst the narrow streets and tall houses of 
 the Paris of former days. 
 
 A week's sojourn in Paris enabled me, through the kind 
 assistance of my friend, to see everything worthy of note ; and 
 the Monday succeeding our arrival found us again on the road, 
 via Troyes, Vesoul, and Belfort, to Switzerland. We travelled 
 night and day, but made a short detour in order to visit some 
 manufacturing works in the neighbourhood. We also visited
 
 SUSPENDED WATER-WHEELS. 127 
 
 some ironworks to look at a new horizontal water-wheel, since 
 so well known as the Turbine. Here I was introduced to Mr. 
 Fourneyron, the inventor, who was then only known as an in- 
 genious mechanic, but whose persevering labours have pro- 
 cured for his invention a lasting name in the annals of science. 
 
 The following morning found us at breakfast at the Three 
 Kings Hotel, Basle, where I first saw the Rhine. 
 
 From Basle we took the German side of the Rhine, crossed 
 Massena's military wooden bridge, and passed through the bat- 
 tered walls of Rheinfeld ; we hurried on through the little town 
 of Brugg, at the confluence of the Aar and the Limmat, and 
 next evening we reached Mr. Escher's delightful country resi- 
 dence on the banks of the Lake of Zurich. 
 
 Three weeks were spent in this delightful country, partly 
 in devising the necessary alterations and improvements for the 
 cotton-works, and partly in short excursions on the Lakes Wal- 
 lenstadt, Lucerne, and Zurich. At the mill there was a great 
 deal to do, and for ten days I was constantly employed in 
 surveys of the river, and in making arrangements of the ma- 
 chinery, milhvork, &c., for driving the new, and renovating 
 the old, mill. This latter was driven by two old wheels, which 
 in certain seasons, when the snows were melting on the Alps, 
 and in winter, when the water was low, were scarcely able to 
 drive the machinery. We had now two mills to drive by the 
 same water, and in order to double the power and render it 
 uniform as well as efficient at all seasons, it was necessary to 
 improve the principle and enlarge the capacity of the wheels to 
 an extent suitable to that portion of the river to which Mr. 
 Escher was entitled. I had further to consider how to obviate 
 the difficulty under which they laboured at the extremes of high 
 and low water, and so to modify the conditions as to furnish a 
 given amount of power at all times when required for the mills. 
 To accomplish these desiderata I had to cause the water-wheels 
 to rise and fall with the river, and always to retain the immer- 
 sion of the floats and the maximum depth in the stream. This 
 was done by suspending each wheel on powerful cast-iron levers, 
 the fulcrums of which revolved round the pinion of the main 
 shaft which worked into the segments of the water-wheel. 
 Nothing could answer better than this arrangement. The
 
 128 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. vnr. 
 
 wheels were fully equal to their work. They rose and fell with 
 the water in the river, and from that time to this they have 
 supplied a steady, cheap, and regular power to the mills. 
 
 The completion of our business arrangements enabled Mr. 
 Escher to devote a portion of his time to excursions ; and, 
 besides those on the lakes, we ascended the Eighi from the head 
 of Lake Zug, and reached the summit some hours before sun- 
 rise. At break of day we were out on the top of the mountain, 
 which I afterwards ascertained to be about the level of the snow- 
 line, or that part where vegetation ceases. I had observed, on 
 the ascent from the valley below, which was overspread with 
 magnificent trees in full foliage, that these progressively gave 
 way to varied forms of vegetation corresponding with the alti- 
 tude, until at last we entered a forest of tall pines, which in 
 their turn diminished in size until they tapered off to the size of 
 a walking-stick ; a little further up these again gave way to the 
 lichens and such other plants as derive a scanty subsistence at 
 the very edge of perpetual snow. It was a sublime and magni- 
 ficent sight to witness the first glance of the morning sun over 
 the pinnacles of the mighty Alps. The immense glaciers lay 
 encircled in the arms of these lofty mountains ; and from the 
 silence which reigned all around they appeared to repose in the 
 sleep of death, whilst the projecting towers of granite, like the 
 turrets of some vast cathedral, rose high in the air. 
 
 This was a panorama of Nature's own construction, and 
 nothing could equal the grandeur of the scene. Turning round 
 and glancing over the immense precipice of conglomerate (or 
 pudding-stone) which seemed to overhang the lake at a height 
 of 4,000 feet, there was nothing to be seen but a sea of clouds, 
 like flakes of wool, rolling to and fro. In a few minutes the 
 whole of this fairy scene disappeared, the mist was suddenly dis- 
 persed, and again turning round there was a scene of beauty 
 and animation revealed beyond my powers to describe. Down 
 at our feet lay the mirror-like Lakes of Zug and Lucerne, be- 
 yond which were seen the wide and expansive valleys divid- 
 ing the Alps from the Jura, which, like an immense rampart, 
 shuts out the tamer landscape of La belle France. The whole 
 was a picture of surpassing beauty. 
 
 The journey to Switzerland was productive of great ad van-
 
 
 SUCCESS IX BUSINESS. 129 
 
 tages to our little establishment, as numerous orders for water- 
 wheels followed in succession those of Mr. Escher ; and in the 
 three succeeding years we erected several new water-wheels in 
 the Vosges, Alsace, and other parts of France. In fact, we 
 continued to receive orders from all parts of the Continent till 
 the principle became generally known, and the French were able 
 to construct the improved wheels for themselves. Irrespective 
 of these benefits, I had formed a bond of union and friendship 
 with Mr. Escher which from that time to the present has 
 suffered no diminution. His eldest son, Mr. Albert Escher, 
 having received mechanical instruction at the works in Canal 
 Street, immediately on his return to Zurich commenced a large 
 machine establishment, which, till the day of his death, June 
 1844, stood high in the estimation of the Swiss, Italian, and 
 German public. For a considerable number of years I trans- 
 acted business with Mr. Escher's new establishment in the 
 manufacture of iron steamboats and engines, of which four still 
 ply on the Lake of Constance, and others on the Lakes Wallen- 
 stadt, Lucerne, and Geneva. 
 
 The construction of the large water-wheels at Catrine and 
 Deanston, and the introduction of similar structures with our 
 new system of millwork on the Continent, gave a name and 
 reputation to the firm of Fairbairn and Lillie, which it retained 
 for more than a dozen years, till we separated in 1832. Up to 
 the time when we received Mr. Buchanan's order we had con- 
 ducted our business in the old building in Mather Street. The 
 construction of such large hydraulic machines as the Catrine 
 water-wheels, fifty feet in diameter, required more tools and 
 space. We had, therefore, to hire a yard in order to meet the 
 exigencies of the case, and to furnish the necessary facilities for 
 conducting a more extended business. This business continued 
 to increase both at home and abroad, and a few years enabled 
 us to realise a handsome competency, and made us what we con- 
 sidered rich men. In 1830 our stock-book showed a balance of 
 nearly 40,OOOL in our favour, and left us sufficient capital to 
 enable us to build a foundry, and increase our works in other 
 departments to the extent of giving employment to upwards of 
 300 hands, 
 
 K
 
 130 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. vm. 
 
 In 1830 Mr. Fairbairn formally enrolled himself 
 among his professional brethren by joining the Institution 
 of Civil Engineers, a society then newly incorporated, but 
 which .has since taken gigantic dimensions, and has 
 become one of the most important scientific bodies in 
 the world. 
 
 The following is a copy of the certificate of Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's election : 
 
 No. 231. 
 Admitted April 20, 1830. 
 
 Institution of Civil Engineers, Buckingham Street, Adelphi. 
 
 William Fairbairn, of Manchester, now practising as a 
 mechanical engineer, being desirous of admission into the In- 
 stitution of Civil Engineers, we, the undersigned, from our 
 personal knowledge, propose and recommend him as a proper 
 person to become a member thereof. 
 
 Witness our hands, this 30th day of March, 1830. 
 
 J. WALKER. 
 ROBERT STEVENSON. 
 JOHN FAREY. 
 
 The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers, meeting 
 on the 30th day of March, 1830, present the above-mentioned 
 candidate to be balloted for as a corresponding member. 
 Signed, 
 
 THOMAS TELFORD, Chairman.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 STEAM LOCOMOTION ON CANALS-IRON BOATS- 
 VOYAGE OF THE 'LORD DUNDAS '-TROUBLES 
 IX BUSINESS-DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP 
 
 AGE 41-43 
 183O 1832 
 
 K 2
 
 EXPERIMENTS ON THE ARDROSSAN CANAL MR. FAIRBAIRN's TRIALS 
 ON THE FORTH AND CLYDE NAVIGATION RESULTS COMPETITION OP 
 RAILWAYS WITH CANALS PEAKS OP THE PROPRIETORS ENDEAVOURS 
 TO INTRODUCE QUICK PASSENGER BOATS COMMISSION TO MR. FAIR- 
 BAIRN TO BUILD A NEW IRON VESSEL, TO BE PROPELLED BY STEAM- 
 POWERPUBLICATION OF THE EXPERIMENTS MR. FAIEBAIRN's FIRST 
 LITERARY ESSAY CONTENTS OF THE BOOK DR. HENRY'S OPINION ON 
 THE STYLE THE ' LORD DUNDAS ' DESCRIPTION FIRST TRIAL ON THE 
 RIVER IRWELL MR. FAIRBAIRN's ANXIETY RESULTS OF THE TRIAL 
 MR. GEORGE RENNIE OTHER TRIALS DEPARTURE OF THE 'LORD 
 DUNDAS' FOR THE ISLE OP MAN DEVIATION FROM THE PROPER 
 COURSE ERRORS OF THE COMPASS MR. FAIRBAIRN FOLLOWS HIS 
 SEARCH FOR THE BOAT CORRECTION OF THE COMPASS ARRIVAL IN 
 THE CLYDE FURTHER TRIALS FINAL RESULT LETTER TO THE BARON 
 DUPLN INFLUENCE OF THIS EVENT ON MR. FAIRBAIRN's CAREER 
 NEW SPECULATION IN THE EGERTON DYE-WORKSFAILURE MISUN- 
 DERSTANDINGS BETWEEN MR. FAIRBAIRN AND MR. LLLLIE RESULTING 
 DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP.
 
 133 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 ABOUT this time Mr. Fairbairn was engaged in a work of 
 considerable importance, which, by the circumstances 
 which grew out of it, had an important influence on his 
 future career. It was the investigation of the properties 
 of iron boats, and the possibility of applying steam-power 
 for traction on canals. The story is told for the most 
 part in his own words : 
 
 In the early part of the year 1830, Mr. Houston, of John- 
 stone, the chairman and principal proprietor of the Ardrossan 
 canal, availing himself of the use of a light gig-boat, such as is 
 used in regatta or in rowing matches, made an attempt to 
 increase the speed of the packet-boat between Glasgow, Paisley, 
 and Johnstone. To this boat he attached two of the track- 
 horses, and, urging them forward at their utmost speed, he found, 
 to his surprise, that instead of a heavy surge rolling along the 
 canal before the boat, the gig rode smoothly over the surface, 
 and the horses actually worked with greater ease upon the collar 
 at the high velocity than they appeared to do at a lower speed. 
 This was so contrary to all received theories, that doubts were 
 entertained as to the accuracy of the results. Mr. Houston was 
 not, however, a scientific person, and in order to test the accu- 
 racy of the experimental trials made with the gig-boat, I was 
 requested by the Forth and Clyde Canal Company to visit 
 Glasgow, and to conduct a series of experiments on a light 
 twin-boat built by Mr. Graham for that purpose. 
 
 Mr. Houston's experimental trip with the gig, and my 
 own experiments with the twin-boat, appeared to bring out a 
 new law in the resistance of fluids, which encouraged the idea
 
 134 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. ix. 
 
 of attaining quick speeds on canals. At that time this was a 
 subject of vital importance to everyone connected with canal 
 interests. The Liverpool and Manchester Kail way had just 
 been opened with unexpected and extraordinary success. A 
 new principle of traction had come into operation ; the flight 
 of the swiftest bird and the fleetness of the race-horse were sur- 
 passed by the iron bones and muscles of the locomotive ; the 
 tales of the ' Arabian Nights ' were realised ; and no wonder 
 that such apparent magic should create fear and consternation 
 in the minds of proprietors and shareholders of canal stock. A 
 speed of four and a half miles per hour for passengers, and of two 
 and a half for goods, were all that canals could then boast of, 
 and a new project which held out hopes of increased velocity 
 was seized upon with avidity. Hence every encouragement was 
 given to the new theory, as exhibited by the experiments on 
 the Forth and Clyde and the Ardrossan Canals. The Forth and 
 Clyde proprietary, who had great interests at stake, confirmed 
 the report which I gave in, viz., that after having duly ascer- 
 tained the resistance to a floating body passing through the 
 water of a canal at from five to fourteen miles an hour, it was 
 found that such resistance might be overcome by a light iron 
 boat, with a steam-engine on the locomotive principle. 
 
 In this report I was guarded not to raise hopes that might 
 not be realised ; but I considered the experiments of such im- 
 portance as to recommend further trials, and accordingly on 
 that recommendation I was ordered to proceed with the con- 
 struction of a new vessel, and all the necessary machinery requi- 
 site to propel her at the required velocity of from nine to ten 
 miles an hour. 
 
 The experiments referred to were made two years before the 
 separation which took place between Mr. Lillie and myself, and 
 although he did not oppose, he nevertheless did not cordially 
 join with me in the undertaking. The experiments were pub- 
 lished in 1831, at the request of the governor and council of 
 the Forth and Clyde Canal ; and although the book was im- 
 perfectly got up, and was my first publication, it was neverthe- 
 less well received by the profession ; and at a meeting of the 
 Institution of Civil Engineers, of which I was a member, I 
 received the thanks of the society from the president, Mr.
 
 FIRST LITERARY ESSAY. 135 
 
 Telford, in a manner highly complimentary. As a compara- 
 tively young engineer, this was more than I had reason to 
 expect ; but it had the effect of a stimulus in the right direc- 
 tion, and in all my subsequent engineering projects I had the 
 privilege of consulting that great and eminent man, Mr. 
 Telford, who from the commencement of our acquaintance 
 always received me with marked kindness. 
 
 The book above mentioned deserves some further 
 notice, on account of its being the author's first essay in 
 engineering literature. It consists of ninety-three octavo 
 pages, with five lithographed plates, and the title is as 
 follows : 
 
 Eemarks on Canal Navigation, illustrative of the advan- 
 tages of the use of steam as a moving power on canals. With 
 an appendix containing a series of experiments, tables, &c., on 
 which a number of proposed improvements are founded. Also 
 plans and descriptions of certain classes of steamboats, intended 
 for the navigation of canals, and the adjoining branches of the 
 sea. By William Fairbairn, Engineer. London, Longmans 
 and Co., 1831. 
 
 As to the literary style of this first attempt, we cannot 
 do better than quote the opinion of the celebrated Dr. 
 Henry, who, writing to Mr. Fairbairn. shortly after the 
 publication of the book, says : 
 
 I have read with great pleasure your 'Remarks on Canal 
 Navigation.' They are written (as such books should be) in a 
 plain, perspicuous, and unpretending manner no small merit 
 in this age of quackery. 
 
 The author describes at some length the discussions 
 which had taken place between himself and some of the 
 Scotch canal proprietors, with the view of improving the 
 communication on their lines, and the experiments made 
 in consequence, with boats of different kinds. The results 
 were so encouraging as to induce the Forth and Clyde
 
 136 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. is. 
 
 Company to order Mr. Fairbairn to construct a light 
 passage boat, worked by steam-power, to ply between 
 Glasgow and Edinburgh. The remarks he makes on this 
 commission are interesting as showing a trait of character 
 usually not over-prominent in young engineers of an 
 enterprising turn of mind namely, a sense of the impor- 
 tance of practical utility and commercial advantage in 
 engineering designs. Mr. Fairbairn says : 
 
 The business I had now in hand was to ascertain how, and 
 at what cost, the object which I recommended the Forth and 
 Clyde Canal Committee to pursue, could be attained. It was 
 not an abstract question of practicability, but how far a very 
 high rate of velocity could be advantageously obtained ; at 
 what cost, and what might be the comparative difference of 
 expense between the proposed new principle and the present 
 mode of trackage. 
 
 In pursuance of this commission he proceeded to 
 design and build the ' Lord Dundas,' of which he gives, 
 in the book, drawings and detailed dimensions. 
 
 She was 68 feet long, 11 feet 6 inches breadth of 
 beam, and 4 feet 6 inches deep, drawing sixteen inches 
 of water. She was built of iron plates^ about one-six- 
 teenth of an inch thick, strengthened with light angle 
 iron and T i ron ribs, and she was fitted with cabins fore 
 and aft. 
 
 The engine was on the locomotive pattern, having 
 two cylinders, one on each side, and was equal to about 
 10-horse power. It worked a single paddle-wheel 9 feet 
 diameter and 3 feet 10 inches wide, placed a little aft of 
 midships, and intended to make fifty or sixty revolutions 
 per minute. The wheel worked in a trough extending 
 fore and aft, to allow of the flow of the water to and from 
 the paddles. From this feature the boat was called a 
 'twin' boat, although the name hardly applied, as the 
 general construction of the body was single.
 
 THE LORD DUNDAS. 137 
 
 The whole weight of the boat, including the engine, 
 paddle-wheel, &c., was 7 tons 16 cwt. 
 Mr. Fairbairn says of this boat : 
 
 This little vessel was constructed exclusively for lightness, 
 and in order to give her bows and sides the required tenacity 
 and stiffness, light angle irons were introduced as rihs, and the 
 whole firmly riveted together. When the boat was finished, I 
 was forcibly struck with her lightness, solidity, and strength. 
 
 She was ready in 1831, and Mr. Fairbairn continues 
 his narrative : 
 
 I waited with anxiety our first experiment ; and having 
 launched the vessel and fixed the machinery, we proceeded down 
 the river Irwell some miles below Manchester for the purpose 
 of making our first trial. 
 
 During the time required for building the boat I had 
 frequent opportunities of considering the nature of the engage- 
 ments into which I had entered with the Forth and Clyde 
 Canal Company. It was true I had made no promise to accom- 
 plish by steam what had been done by horses, but I considered 
 it worthy of trial, and engaged to build the boat and machi- 
 nery, and to undertake the superintendence of the experiments. 
 So far the undertaking was clear on both sides ; but subsequent 
 considerations, and greatly matured reflections, modified my 
 expectations, and notwithstanding that the lightness of the 
 vessel and the power of the engines promised success, yet my 
 doubts and misgivings continued to increase, and I approached 
 the day of trial in a state of nervous excitement of no enviable 
 description. It was clear, as I used to reason with myself long 
 before the boat was finished, that I had given no pledge to the 
 company. I?ut the public as well as the proprietary would 
 expect the realisation of their wishes ; and if I did not succeed, 
 I must fail, and a failure was, of all things, to my mind, the 
 most obnoxious and disagreeable. In this way I tormented 
 myself, and passed many a sleepless night in order to devise the 
 means of ensuring success. At last the dreaded day arrived ; 
 and a party of friends from Glasgow, Liverpool, and Manchester 
 embarked for the purpose of testing the qualities of the new boat.
 
 138 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIEX. CHAP. rx. 
 
 The spot selected for the trial was a narrow, straight reach 
 of about a mile in length ; which distance being carefully 
 measured, we commenced the run with and against the current, 
 and the maximum velocity was found to average about eight 
 miles an hour, and that with a considerable surge in front of 
 the boat. The whole day was spent in the experiments, and a 
 faithful record was kept of the time in which the distance was 
 run both ways. 
 
 Mr. Graham, of Glasgow, who took great interest in the 
 experiments, maintained that as a first essay it was very success- 
 ful. I thought differently, but kept quiet, as with all the power 
 we could raise we did not materially increase the speed, but 
 raised the surge before and behind the boat to a much greater 
 height than before with horses ; and thus, by sinking the vessel 
 in a trough between the crests of the preceding and following 
 waves, we appeared to hang on the water with a persistence 
 which no power emanating from the boat itself could overcome. 
 
 This effect was to me far from satisfactory ; as I thought in 
 this early stage of the experiments I could perceive, what was 
 afterwards realised, that the propulsion of a vessel having the 
 propelling power within itself is entirely different from the force 
 employed in the shape of traction from a towing-path. In the 
 latter case the vessel is free from the load of machinery which 
 in the former case sinks her to a greatly increased depth. With 
 horse traction the vessel rises upon the surface of the water with 
 comparative ease, and with diminishing resistance overrides the 
 wave ; but when hampered by a steam-engjne the vessel, from 
 its increased weight, floats at a greatly increased depth, and 
 accumulates rather than diminishes the intensity of the surge. 
 
 The ' Lord Dundas ' had a second trial on the river cut from 
 Warrington to Runcorn, and a third from Runcorn to Liverpool 
 in the open tideway. In the narrow canal our speed was reduced 
 to something under six miles. In the open water of the Mersey, 
 however, the engines had good play, and we drove along at the 
 rate of ten miles an hour. In the trial from Runcorn to Liver- 
 pool I had the pleasure of the company of Mr. George Rennie, 
 to whom I was greatly indebted for many useful and friendly 
 suggestions. He took great interest in the experiments, and 
 made many enquiries as to the results, which he considered,
 
 TRIAL OF THE NEW BOAT. 139 
 
 under the circumstances, highly satisfactory. In the passage 
 from Runcorn to Liverpool Mr. Rennie got alarmed at the 
 fragile nature of the vessel ; and when he was informed that it 
 was our intention to navigate her from Liverpool to the Clyde, 
 he expressed great fears of our safety, and advised us strongly 
 not to venture to sea unless well provided with cork jackets. 
 
 I had, however, great faith in the stability of the vessel, and 
 early on the following morning she sailed for the Isle of Man, 
 with instructions to wait for me there, where I should arrive by 
 the regular steamer the following day. As this voyage turned 
 out more perilous than I expected, and as some interesting 
 phenomena were exhibited in the navigation by the attraction 
 of the iron in the ship's hull upon the compass, it may be useful 
 to describe the circumstances under which they occurred. 
 
 The boat sailed from Liverpool at five o'clock one morning 
 in June 1831. At seven she made the floating light, and before 
 two the land which the captain called the west side of the Isle 
 of Man was in sight. For some time they kept steaming 
 towards the shore, but the commander could not reconcile his 
 course and the chart, nor yet the appearance of the land, and on 
 nearing the shore they found, instead of the Isle of Man, they 
 were close upon the coast of Cumberland. This very wide dis- 
 crepancy between the course apparently steered, and the position 
 of the little vessel, completely upset the calculations of the 
 skipper. He maintained that he was correct in his course ; but 
 before he had time to settle the difference he had to 4 'bout ship,' 
 and run for Morecambe Bay, in order to avoid a stiff breeze 
 which commenced blowing from the west. Here they took 
 shelter for the night ; and it was the afternoon of the next day 
 before they were able to weigh anchor and sail for the place of 
 rendezvous, Douglas, in the Isle of Man. It was here that I 
 had to meet them, and for that purpose I sailed for that port 
 the afternoon of the day they left Liverpool. When I reached 
 Douglas I found, to my surprise and great disappointment, that 
 such a vessel as I described had never been seen ; and alarmed 
 at this non-arrival, I took the first vessel for the Clyde, con- 
 ceiving they must have gone on. 
 
 On arriving at Greenock there was still no account of the 
 vessel ; and there being six persons on board, Mr. Elliot (my
 
 140 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. ix. 
 
 superintendent), an engineer, a stoker, the captain and two 
 sailors, I felt all the misery and responsibility of having been, 
 in some degree, if not entirely, the cause of a serious loss of life. 
 Labouring under these painful feelings, I went down to the 
 Comries, and in a little boat searched all the islands, and made 
 enquiries in every direction, but without effect. 
 
 Feeling great uneasiness and alarm, I became dreadfully 
 nervous, and after spending a great portion of the day in a 
 fruitless search, I returned to Greenock, and took the first vessel 
 I could find for the Isle of Man. On my second arrival at 
 Douglas I made instant enquiries about the vessel, and to my 
 great relief I found that one answering the description had 
 reached Eamsey, and was then at anchor in the bay. This in- 
 formation was welcomed with a thankful heart, and there never 
 was a journey undertaken with more heartfelt satisfaction than 
 mine on an old horse from Douglas to Eamsey. On reaching 
 the summit of the last hill which overlooks the bay of that 
 town, the first sight that met my eyes was the ' Lord Dundas,' 
 like a speck on the waters, riding quietly at anchor on a sea as 
 smooth as glass. 
 
 Hurrying down the hill, I made enquiries for Mr. Elliot and 
 the captain, but no person could give me any information. At 
 last a sailor informed me that I should find them at a public- 
 house in the neighbourhood. On enquiry I learnt they had been 
 there, but were all gone to a country fair about five miles 
 inland, where they were enjoying themselves, without once 
 thinking of the misery I had endured on their account for the 
 last three days. At first I felt annoyed at their behaviour, but 
 after a little reflection I was but too glad to find them in the 
 land of the living, and waited their return with perfect good- 
 will, and a determination to give them a cordial reception. 
 
 On the return of the party from the fair, I soon ascertained 
 the cause of the mistake which had occurred in making the 
 coast of Cumberland instead of the Isle of Man ; and in order to 
 prevent a recurrence of any further errors, I had the compass 
 examined on the following morning before sailing. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn then describes how he tested the boat's 
 compass, with the aid of a second one fixed on shore, and
 
 DEVIATION OF THE COMPASS. 141 
 
 determined the effect of the iron in causing the erroneous 
 deviation. This is a very common process now, when 
 iron is the most usual material of ship construction ; but 
 it must be recollected that at that time an iron boat was 
 quite a new thing, and the prompt discovery of the error, 
 the experimental determination of its exact amount, and 
 the immediate application of an efficient remedy and cor- 
 rection, showed great ability on the part of the young 
 engineer. 
 
 He continues : 
 
 To remedy this error there was no difficulty, as the natural 
 suggestion was to place a piece of iron in the opposite direction 
 of the ship's attraction, until the needle on board was brought 
 in a line parallel to that on shore. With this rough-and-ready 
 correction we proceeded on our voyage with perfect certainty 
 and without any further mishap. 
 
 It was the early part of the forenoon that we sailed from 
 Ramsey, and the little vessel, which at the stern was only a few 
 inches from the water, steamed away at a great rate, and 
 reached Port Patrick in the afternoon. We did not call at that 
 port, as we were desirous of reaching the Clyde, if possible, 
 before midnight. But two naval officers came off in a boat to 
 examine the craft, which, they informed us, had been watched 
 by the telescope for two hours previous ; and their astonishment 
 was great as to the nature of the little vessel and the adventu- 
 rous navigators on board. After a careful examination of the 
 vessel and her machinery, with which they expressed themselves 
 highly pleased, they landed again, amid the cheers of some 
 hundreds of persons assembled on the pier to witness the per- 
 formances of so small and lively a craft. Before reaching the 
 Mull of Galloway, and all the way from that point to the 
 entrance of Loch Kyan, we encountered a considerable swell, but 
 the little light and pliable steamer danced upon it like a canoe, 
 and if it had not been for a strong wind from the west which 
 came on to blow after sunset, we should have made the Comrie 
 Isles, at the mouth of the Clyde, that night. As it was, the sea 
 was beginning to wash over our frail bark, and on reaching the
 
 142 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. ix. 
 
 northern point of the Galloway coast we deemed it expedient to 
 run to Stranraer for the night, and make the Clyde on the 
 following morning. We did not reach Stranraer till after mid- 
 night, but we roused the landlady and her maid, and kept them 
 frying herrings till two in the morning. 
 
 Early the next morning we got up the steam and started for 
 Glasgow, where we arrived in the afternoon. The boat was after- 
 wards tried on the long reach of the Forth and Clyde Canal, but 
 the experiments confirmed the results previously obtained on 
 the Mersey, and showed that high speed never could be obtained 
 upon canals, where the vessel had to carry her own machinery 
 and be propelled from the water. This was undeniable; and 
 although we had abundance of power to propel the vessel at nine 
 and ten miles an hour in open water, we never, in our most 
 successful experiments, attained more than seven and a half 
 miles an hour on the canal, with a high swell in front, and a 
 corresponding one following behind. 
 
 At a low velocity of five to five and a half miles an hour the 
 ' Lord Dundas ' steamed beautifully, and at that rate she carried 
 passengers from Port Dundas, Glasgow, to Port Eglintoun, 
 Edinburgh, for upwards of two years. 
 
 The experiments made with the * Lord Dundas ' were suffi- 
 cient to convince the most sanguine of the canal proprietary 
 that nothing could be effected in the shape of high velocities on 
 canals to compete with the new locomotives, then in the process 
 of development on the Liverpool and Manchester Eailway. 
 
 Strongly impressed with the conviction that we the canal 
 interest had no chance whatever with our able competitors, I 
 advised the governor and council of the Forth and Clyde Com- 
 pany to abandon the attempt of carrying the passenger traffic 
 by light steamboats, and to confine their operations to a class of 
 steamers that would act as tug-boats, taking the barges in 
 fleets, and thus to expedite the delivery of goods at both ends of 
 the navigation. I further advised the construction of iron 
 vessels adapted to canal and sea navigation, which by increased 
 rapidity of transit would meet the demands of an increased 
 traffic in parcels and light goods. These suggestions were acted 
 upon, and! had the satisfaction to be the first to open this new 
 system of transport on canals, and at the same time to direct.
 
 BARON DUPIX. 143 
 
 attention more prominently to the construction of iron ships in 
 general. 
 
 At a later period of Mr. Fairbairu's life he was asked by 
 the eminent French savant, the Baron Charles Dupin, to 
 give him an account of his early labours in regard to the 
 construction of iron vessels; and as his letter gives a 
 much more complete account of his experiments than is 
 conveyed in the Autobiography, an extract from it may 
 be inserted here : 
 
 London, May 25, 1853. 
 
 My dear Baron Dupin, It was my intention to have re- 
 plied direct to your queries respecting the first introduction of 
 iron as a material for ship-building; but as it may be some 
 weeks before I can make my promised visit, and as you may 
 require the information before that time, I beg leave to state 
 that iron boats navigating canals have been made in Scotland 
 and Staffordshire for upwards of fifty years ; but the application 
 of this material for the building of large vessels did not take 
 place until the years 1830 and 1831. 
 
 The discovery of accelerated velocities by light boats on 
 canals occurred in the spring of 1 830, and the new theory of 
 riding the wave, or the undulating motion produced in the 
 fluid by the haulage of a light vessel along its surface, was first 
 accomplished by Mr. William Houston, of Johnstone, on the 
 Ardrossan Canal, between the towns of Paisley and Glasgow. 
 This discovery which took place at the opening of the Liver- 
 pool and Manchester Railway was received with more than 
 common interest by the canal proprietary of the United King- 
 dom, and during the heat and fervour of the moment it was 
 looked upon as the only competition to the threatened destruc- 
 tion of their property by railways. To save that property, and 
 investigate by experimental research the laws on which this new 
 theory of the resistance of fluids was founded, I undertook, at 
 the request of the governor and council of the Forth and Clyde 
 Company, the enquiry which led to new constructions and new 
 results, and was published in the following year under the sanction 
 of the council and other Canal companies.
 
 144 
 
 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. ix. 
 
 The objects I had in view of the prosecution of these experi- 
 ments were threefold. 
 
 First, to ascertain the resistance offered to light vessels 
 when drawn through narrow channels of water at velocities 
 varying from 4 to 14 or 15 miles an hour. 
 
 Secondly, to determine by what description of vessel this 
 could best be attained ; and, 
 
 Lastly, to ascertain whether or not steam could be used as 
 motive power for accomplishing those objects. 
 
 As respects the first, it was proved that the resistances from 
 3 to 5 miles an hour increased nearly as the squares of the velo- 
 cities ; from 5 to 8 miles the resistance was considerably more 
 than the squares; and from 8 to 14 miles when the vessel rose 
 upon the surface and skimmed upon the water the force of 
 resistance was so greatly diminished as to reduce the obstruction 
 to the vessel's progress considerably under that ratio. But you 
 will find these facts more clearly demonstrated from the follow- 
 ing summary of results as taken from the fourth series of experi- 
 ments on July 12, 1830. 
 
 Results of Experiments, made with a Twin Boat 5^ Tons Weight, on 
 the Monldand Canal. 
 
 No. of Trips 
 in both 
 Directions 
 
 Time 
 min. sec. 
 
 Kate 
 Miles per 
 Hour 
 
 Force of 
 Traction 
 in Ibs. 
 
 Horses 
 Power 
 
 Kemarks 
 
 land 2 
 
 12 24 
 
 4-83 
 
 82-0 
 
 1-000 
 
 No swell. 
 
 3 ,. 4 
 
 9 38 
 
 6-23 
 
 205 3 
 
 3-410 
 
 Swell a little in- 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 creased. 
 
 5 6 
 
 8 16 
 
 7-28 
 
 378-5 
 
 7-342 
 
 A swell in front 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 at the stem. 
 
 7 8 
 
 5 10 
 
 11-63 
 
 433-4 
 
 13-490' 
 
 No surge in these 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 experiments, 
 
 9 
 
 4 48 
 
 12-50 
 
 439-3 
 
 14-643 
 
 the velocity of 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 the boat great- 
 
 10 
 
 4 36 
 
 13-04 
 
 390 
 
 13-936 
 
 er than that of 
 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 the wave. 
 
 In the last experiment, No. 10, the boart was lightened of its 
 cargo, and reduced to 57 cwt. 
 
 From the averages arranged in the above table, it will be 
 observed that the rates of velocity are to the forces as 4'8, 6*2, 
 7-2, and 11-6 to 82, 205, 378, 433, &c., which are less than the
 
 IRON SHIPS. 145 
 
 squares of the velocities, at the rate of 11 and 12i miles per 
 hour, when the surge is overcome, and when the boat is moved 
 forward, unaccompanied by the heavy swell that is invariably 
 present at a speed varying from 5 to 8^ miles per hour. 
 
 Having ascertained the resistances and the extent to which 
 the velocities could be carried by animal power (which it will be 
 observed never exceeded 14 miles an hour), the next considera- 
 tion was the introduction of steam and the construction of a 
 vessel uniting the double qualification of strength and lightness. 
 Now this could not be accomplished by wood, as a light timber- 
 built vessel would never carry a steam-engine of sufficient power 
 to propel the vessel at 12 to 14 miles an hour, and the only 
 resource was therefore iron. 
 
 A vessel of this kind the ' Lord Dundas ' was accordingly 
 built at my suggestion ; and although it did not realise the 
 objects for which it was originally constructed, namely, the 
 attainment of high velocities, it nevertheless paved the way to a 
 new system of marine construction which has since become 
 general amongst the nations of Europe and America. 
 
 In the construction of the 'Lord Dundas,' which was in- *> 
 trusted to my care, several important ideas presented them- 
 selves. First, the superior strength of iron as compared with 
 wood ; the distribution of the material in these constructions ; 
 and the superior strength and lightness which a judicious appli- 
 cation of this material afforded. All these circumstances were 
 present to my mind in the construction of the ' Lord Dundas,' 
 and by the introduction of T an d angle ~| iron as frames 
 and ribs, I found that the required rigidity and strength was 
 attained at a comparatively small expenditure of material. 
 
 In the construction of iron ships I may mention that our 
 knowledge at the commencement was very imperfect ; and I 
 had to watch with the utmost care and attention the position 
 and disposition of the material, in order to effect economy in 
 its use, and that with as near an approach as possible to the 
 maximum of strength. 
 
 In this respect I laboured under great difficulties ; and 
 having no data on which we could rely for guidance in these 
 constructions, I felt the want of information, and at a very 
 early period (1834) determined to institute a series of experi- 
 
 L
 
 146 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. rx. 
 
 ments on the strength of malleable iron of different forms and 
 conditions, in order to effect an improved system of construc- 
 tion, both as regards the strength and a judicious application 
 of the material. 
 
 These experiments were read before the Eoyal Society, and 
 published in the Transactions of that body, of which I think 
 you have a copy. 
 
 I have the honour to be, 
 
 My dear Baron Dupin, 
 Your faithful obedient Servant, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 Hitherto the business in which Mr. Fairbairn was 
 engaged had been entirely prosperous and pleasant, but 
 about this time some troubles began to arise, which 
 resulted in an important change. 
 
 It appears that a few years previously three gentlemen 
 had associated themselves together for the purpose of 
 establishing large dye-works in the neighbourhood of 
 Manchester. An Italian merchant living in that town 
 found the capital ; a Swiss engineer, who had made him- 
 self known by great ingenuity and prolific production in 
 mechanical inventions, was to design the machinery ; and 
 another Swiss gentleman, a practical chemist and dyer, 
 was to superintend the practical processes. The parties 
 do not seem to have begun in perfect harmony ; for the 
 chemist declared that all he wanted was a few cisterns, 
 tubs, kettles, and wash-wheels ; but such a primitive plan 
 did not please the mechanical inventor. He proposed 
 great savings by extensive self-acting machinery ; and as 
 his counsels prevailed, an estate of nearly 100 acres was 
 bought near Egerton, and weirs, dams, and water-courses 
 were laid out, and new buildings constructed, filled with 
 machinery on an entirely new principle, designed to ac- 
 complish every motion and every process by mechanical 
 power, instead of in the ordinary way, by hand.
 
 TROUBLES IN BUSINESS. 147 
 
 In this way upwards of 40,000/. had been spent with- 
 out any immediate prospect of the manufactory being 
 completed, when the capitalist took alarm, and refused to 
 find any more money. The works were stopped, and the 
 whole property was offered for sale at a price greatly 
 below what it had cost. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn writes : 
 
 Mr. , failing to effect a sale, again applied to me, 
 
 requesting I would endeavour to find him a customer. I con- 
 sulted with Mr. Lillie, and applied to a firm whose mills and 
 property were situated a little further down the river. We 
 were on intimate terms with the members of this firm, for 
 whom we had erected a water-wheel, and done other work at 
 their mills. They had very little spare capital, but they urged 
 me to buy the estate, at a fixed price, and said they would join 
 Mr. Lillie and me in converting the buildings into a cotton- 
 mill. The whole property was bought in our joint names for 
 13,000^., each paying one-fourth of the purchase-money. The 
 completion of the contract was the signal for active operations. 
 We set vigorously to work, and in less than twelve months one 
 side of the principal building was removed, and the mill made 
 double the width. The weir and overflows were also completed, 
 as also a new water-wheel 62 feet in diameter and 130 horse- 
 power; and the mill-work and part of the machinery were 
 erected and at work in less than fifteen months. 
 
 The drains caused on the capital of the firm of Fair- 
 bairn and Lillie for this work were so great as to cripple 
 their legitimate business as millwrights to a serious extent ; 
 for after the mill was set to work all the money made was 
 expended in enlargements or other capital investments 
 returning no interest to the proprietors. 
 
 Four or five years went on in this way all outlay and 
 no income when a source of serious trouble arose, 
 namely, a commencement of misunderstanding and mis- 
 trust between the two partners. Mr. Fairbairn in his 
 diary enters at some length into the causes and circum-
 
 148 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. ix. 
 
 stances of the disagreement, but it is needless to reproduce 
 the particulars here. It will suffice to quote his conclud- 
 ing observations : 
 
 All these circumstances convinced me of the necessity of a 
 speedy dissolution of partnership, and from 1830 to 1832 I 
 urged upon Mr. Lillie the necessity of a change. At the 
 beginning he refused to listen to such a proposal, remarking 
 that there was no reason for such a step, that he was willing to 
 take his fair share of the business, and that he thought me un- 
 reasonable in wishing to break up a connection which had for 
 many years been so successful. Perhaps there was some reason 
 in these observations ; but after a careful consideration of the 
 circumstances I felt convinced that we could no longer go on 
 together with safety or comfort. I offered either to take the 
 concern entirely into my own hands, and pay his share as it 
 stood in the books ; or for him to retain it, as we might ulti- 
 mately decide. Finding further persuasives unavailable, and a 
 separation determined on, it was ultimately arranged that I 
 should take the works on payment of a sum of money equiva- 
 lent to his share as it stood in the books. This was accom- 
 plished in 1832, by my handing over my share in the Egerton 
 Cotton-mills ; and on paying a sum of money down, the works 
 in Canal Street became mine as sole proprietor. At the same 
 time a dissolution took place with the Egerton firm, who 
 agreed to pay the capital which stood in both our names over 
 to Mr. Lillie, also a retiring partner, by instalments. 
 
 This change of circumstances, throwing Mr. Fairbaira 
 entirely on his own resources, was a serious one, and cost 
 him much anxious thought to determine on. But he 
 was confident in the soundness of his judgment, and 
 strong in his self-reliance, and the event showed he was 
 right. 
 
 Mr. Lillie decided to enter into business on his own 
 account, and took new premises within a" few hundred 
 yards of the old ones. It seems that an impression had 
 been circulated that he had been harshly treated, and
 
 DISSOLUTION OF PARTNERSHIP. 149 
 
 forced out of the business against his will, and in conse- 
 quence he received much sympathy and support in his 
 opposition to -the old establishment. Mr. Fairbairn, how- 
 ever, stood up manfully, and the more his difficulties 
 increased the greater was his determination to overcome 
 them. He says : 
 
 I felt alone, but with renewed energies; and I hoped in a 
 short time, by an indomitable spirit and unflinching industry, 
 to conquer every difficulty. I had come to the determination 
 to strike out a new path for myself ; and in spite of the break- 
 ing up of the different departments, by the loss of the foremen, 
 who nearly all went over to Mr. Lillie, I nerved myself for an 
 active opposition from whatever quarter it might arise. I 
 entertained the utmost confidence in my own powers ; and 
 knowing that Mr. Lillie was neither more active nor more 
 industrious than myself, I came to the conclusion that I had 
 nothing to fear, and that ultimate success was sure to follow. 
 Armed with these resolutions, I set vigorously to work, and 
 never relaxed till I had taken a position entirely independent 
 of any competitor. 
 
 In all our subsequent transactions I must, however, do this 
 gentleman the justice to say that I found him as an opponent 
 the same honourable, kind-hearted man that I had found him 
 as a partner.
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 IRON SHIPBUILDING -RIYER BAM- EXPERI- 
 MENTS ON IRON-THE RIYETING MACHINE 
 
 AGE 43-50 
 18321839
 
 IKON SHIP-BUILDING- THE 'MANCHESTER' CANAL STEAMER 
 OTHER IRON VESSELS ESTABLISHMENT OF A SHIP-BUILDING YARD 
 AT MILLWALL COMPETITION DIFFICULTIES AND ANXIETY PERSE- 
 VERANCE AND ENERGY EVENING MEETINGS FOR DISCUSSION PRO- 
 POSED ESTABLISHMENT OF ' THE WORKSHOP ' PERIODICAL HODGKINSON 
 WOODCROFT NASMYTH LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC AMBITION 
 SOHAM MERE DRAINAGE REPORT ON THE RIVER BANN MR JOHN 
 FREDERICK BATEMAN RECOMMENDATIONS ADOPTED CONSTRUCTION OF 
 RESERVOIRS RIVER DON EXPERIMENTS AND INVESTIGATION ON HOT 
 AND COLD BLAST CAST-IRON IN CONJUNCTION WITH MR. EATON HODG- 
 KINSON, FOR THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION PAPER FOR THE MANCHESTER 
 LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY THE RIVETING MACHINE 
 MR. ROBERT SMITH PATENT TAKEN OUT.
 
 153 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 WHEN Mr. Fairbaim entered on the sole charge of his 
 business he appears to have turned his attention to a new 
 branch of engineering manufacture. 
 
 He reverts in his diary to the investigation he had 
 made a year or two before, on the application of steam- 
 power to canals, and he goes on to say : 
 
 The experiments and constructions above described were the 
 precursors of that great department of our national industry, 
 Iron Shipbuilding, from which this country has derived so 
 much benefit, and to which mankind are indebted for that 
 rapidity of ocean communication which distinguishes the 
 steamers of the present time 
 
 Although nothing could be done for the attainment of high 
 speeds on canals, it was perfectly possible to open a useful 
 steamboat communication between Glasgow and the towns on 
 the eastern coast through the Forth and Clyde Canal. For this 
 purpose I constructed an iron steamer, called the ' Manchester,' 
 on the same principle as the ' Lord Dundas,' with the paddles at 
 the stern ; and having launched her on the Irwell, and fitted 
 her with high-pressure engines of 40-horse power, she was tried 
 on the Mersey with the greatest success, and had such speed 
 that she steamed round the fastest boats then at Liverpool. 
 She made the passage from Liverpool in a comparatively short 
 time, and having been stationed on the canal, she carried on a 
 regular and considerable traffic for a number of years between 
 Port Dundas and the towns along the Firth of Forth up to 
 Dundee. 
 
 The success which attended the 'Manchester,' her great 
 strength, buoyancy, and lightness, and her qualities as a sea-
 
 154 LIFE OF SIR WILT JAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. x. 
 
 boat, pointed out the advantages to be derived from the use of 
 iron, and induced the building of other iron vessels of greater 
 burden. During the two succeeding years not fewer than eight 
 vessels were built in sections at Manchester, taken to pieces, 
 and reconstructed at the ports. 
 
 The system, however, of building ships of 100 to 250 tons 
 burden in an inland town, taking them to pieces, and having to 
 rebuild them at some convenient seaport, was in itself a process 
 that could not be long maintained, and the only alternative 
 left was either to abandon iron shipbuilding altogether as a 
 business, or establish an entirely new concern for' that purpose 
 in Liverpool or London. The former town offered many ad- 
 vantages ; but after mature consideration, London being the 
 seat of government, and a railway communication having been 
 determined on, I arrived at the conclusion that the metropolis 
 held out more encouraging prospects for the formation and ex- 
 tension of this new business than Liverpool. Having foreseen 
 from what had already been done that iron shipbuilding must 
 of necessity increase, I came to the determination to establish 
 works in London, and for this purpose I bought a plot of land 
 at Millwall, Poplar, and with one of my own pupils, Mr. Andrew 
 Murray, 1 who was given a small share in the business, entered 
 on the premises early in the year 1835. The following year we 
 had orders for twelve iron vessels for navigating the Granges, 
 for the East India Company, and four others for different parts 
 of Europe. 
 
 About this time the subject began to attract much public 
 attention. Others embarked in the trade, and we had to con- 
 tend with a formidable opposition which was started against us 
 by several shipbuilders on the Thames. This competition we 
 had to fight against for many years; but we were well sup- 
 ported by the Government and the East India Company, and 
 by increased orders from abroad. We made many blunders as 
 to prices &c. in a business which we had yet to learn, and the 
 rapid increase of the demand for iron vessels, and the con- 
 sequent necessary outlay and extension of the works in 
 buildings, tools, &c. trenched so hard upon our limited capital 
 
 1 This gentleman was subsequently chief engineer at H.M. Dock Yards, 
 Woolwich and Portsmouth.
 
 ANXIETIES. 155 
 
 as to hamper us for a long time. Unfortunately, also, I could 
 not attend personally to the London establishment, as by doing 
 so that in Manchester, of much greater importance, and which 
 in fact created the other, would have been neglected. My 
 young friend Murray, who was without experience, and had 
 everything to learn, could not do much, and although he 
 exerted himself to the utmost, it could hardly be expected that 
 so young a man could exercise all the judgment and precaution 
 of a person whose training had attained greater maturity. 
 
 In this situation I felt all the responsibility of both con- 
 cerns. I was hurried backwards and forwards between Man- 
 chester and London for more than five years, without a mo- 
 ment's repose, and with a degree of mental strain and anxiety 
 that would have broken down a constitution of less rigidity 
 than my own. Nature had, however, supplied me with an 
 elasticity of spirits which enabled me to throw off for a time 
 the mortifications and anxieties attendant upon arduous under- 
 takings ; and having the power and determination to forget, in 
 a change of scene or conversation, the cares and troubles of the 
 moment, I found the greatest relief from such relaxations. 
 Many were the times that, seeing no relief at hand, I have, 
 from this buoyancy of disposition alone, returned with re- 
 doubled energy to the charge, mastered every difficulty, and 
 given a new colouring and new features to the prospects before 
 me. Thus constituted, I never for an instant gave way to 
 despair. I was often disappointed ; sometimes miserable, but 
 never discomfited ; and I attribute to this peculiar quality of 
 temperament that constant desire to rise, and that never-tiring 
 exertion, which carried me through troubles and difficulties 
 apparently insurmountable. 
 
 In relating this part of my history I should be wanting in 
 gratitude if I did not allude to the exertions of an excellent 
 young man, Mr. John Elliot, now no more, who acted for several 
 years in the capacity of foreman of the millwrights at Man- 
 chester, who assisted at the trials of the ' Lord Dundas,' and who 
 ultimately was offered a small share in the works at Millwall. 
 
 During my residence at Medlock Bank, Manchester, I 
 frequently received visitors in the evenings ; among these were 
 Mr. Elliot above mentioned, (whom I found exceedingly intelli-
 
 156 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. x. 
 
 gent), Mr. Eaton Hodgkinson, Mr. Bennett Wooderoft, the 
 scientific adviser of the Commissioners of Patents, and Mr. 
 James Nasmyth, engineer, and inventor of the steam-hammer. 
 The evenings were most agreeably spent chiefly in philoso- 
 phical and scientific discussions. Amongst other projects which 
 at that time we had in contemplation, was the establishment of 
 a quarterly publication, to be entitled ' The Workshop,' and in- 
 tended chiefly for the working classes. The subjects to be 
 treated of were the industrial and mechanical arts ; mathematics 
 as applied to them ; biographical sketches of eminent men ; and 
 such other subjects as would interest, stimulate, and improve the 
 class it was intended to benefit. It was further intended to give 
 accounts of all the improvements, suggestions, and discoveries in 
 the manipulations of the workshop the origin and management 
 of tools, the division of labour, and the rise and progress of in- 
 ventions of every description within the reach of the editors and 
 their contributors. Last but not least, a portion of the work 
 was to be set apart for essays on domestic culture, moral im- 
 provement, and such other matters as would raise the character 
 of the workman, correct dissipated habits, encourage economy, 
 ensure self-respect, and render his domestic hearth attractive, 
 instructive, and happy. All these objects the projectors of ' The 
 Workshop ' had in view ; and I went so far as to write the in- 
 troduction and prospectus, and some other papers. 
 
 As will readily be supposed, these papers, and the project 
 altogether, were of a most sanguine description. We had some 
 practice in our peculiar walks of life. My friend Hodgkinson 
 was an able mathematician ; Wooderoft was an original inventor ; 
 Nasmyth imaginative ; Elliot cautious and persevering ; and I 
 myself with a slight mixture of the whole ; so that there would 
 have been a singular compound a literary ' hotch-potch,' not 
 perhaps very refined, but which might have been acceptable to 
 those it was intended for. 
 
 Unfortunately the intentions of the projectors were never 
 carried into effect. We were all of us well employed, and could 
 not devote much time to such a pursuit. The arrangement and 
 classification of the subjects, as far as they went, were satisfac- 
 tory, but we never got beyond that point ; and the whole affair 
 at last died away.
 
 A ROCK A-HEAD. 157 
 
 I was incessantly engaged in conducting my two large 
 establishments in London and Manchester, where I had col- 
 lectively upwards of 2,000 hands employed. With such a 
 business I could not have done much for ' The Workshop ' if that 
 publication had gone on. I could not, however, suppress the 
 desire I always had of giving to the world such information as I 
 had collected in the varied forms and pursuits of my profession. 
 I confess that nature had endowed me with a strong desire to 
 distinguish myself as a man of science. I was pleased to see 
 myself in print, and the only fear I entertained was the im- 
 perfections of style, and the great difficulty I had to encounter 
 in expressing my ideas in a clear and perspicuous manner. This 
 was a difficulty I laboured hard to overcome, and I have up to 
 the present moment no clear perception whether I am right or 
 wrong in any composition in which I have been engaged. 
 
 The imperfection which I have just admitted, and which, 
 like Meg Merrilies to Dirk Hatterick, has always been a ' rock 
 a-head,' has not, however, deterred me from attempting, every 
 now and then, to launch my uncouth barque amongst a host 
 of critics on the sea of literature ; for almost every year from 
 1834 to the present time I have had some communications, or 
 scientific enquiry, ready for the press. 
 
 Although Mr. Fairbairn's chief practice lay in the 
 mechanical branch of the profession, he did not confine 
 his attention exclusively to that subject ; for we find him, 
 at this period, undertaking several engineering matters of 
 a more general nature. 
 
 In 1832 he was desired to examine the drainage of a 
 fen district called Soham Mere, near Ely, in Cambridge- 
 shire. He found the existing arrangements imperfect, 
 and he reported, on March 23 in that year, explaining 
 the facts, and making recommendations for the improve- 
 ment of the drainage operations. 
 
 In 1835 he was engaged by the millowners on the 
 Kiver Bann, in County Down, Ireland, to examine the
 
 158 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. x. 
 
 locality, and to report on the best means of improving 
 the water-power. Numerous linen factories had been 
 established on the river, but they were much hampered 
 by the irregularity of the stream. In dry seasons there 
 was not water enough to work the wheels, while during 
 rains the floods were so great as to drown the machinery, 
 and often do much mischief. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn undertook the commission, associating 
 with him in the work a young engineer, Mr. John 
 Frederic Bateman, who had commenced business in 
 Manchester shortly before, and with whom he had formed 
 a friendship. Mr. Bateman afterwards married his 
 daughter, and attained to high eminence in the profession. 
 They examined the district together, and in January 
 1836 Mr. Fairbairn made a report, which, from its im- 
 portance to the industrial interests of the district, he was 
 requested to get printed for general circulation. The 
 title was : 
 
 'Reservoirs on the River Bann, in the County of Down, 
 Ireland, for more effectually supplying the Mills with Water.' 
 Manchester, printed by Robert Robinson, St. Anne's Place. 
 1836. 
 
 It was prefaced by an address ' To the Noblemen and 
 Gentlemen of the County of Down, and particularly those 
 interested in the improvements of the Eiver Bann dis- 
 tricts, and connected with the proposed Eeservoirs for 
 supplying the Mills with Water,' in which the author 
 urged the benefits that would arise from the improvement 
 of the industrial resources of the country. In the report 
 itself he showed that the measures for the cure of 
 the evils complained of should consist of the formation, 
 on the course of the stream, of large reservoirs, which 
 would catch and impound the excess of water in time of 
 floods, allowing it to be distributed down the stream in
 
 RIVER BANN RESERVOIRS. 159 
 
 dry seasons, in aid of the natural scanty flow at those 
 times. He pointed out three sites where such reservoirs 
 could be made, and gave an estimate of the probable cost 
 of their construction. He further examined, economi- 
 cally, the alternative plan of providing steam-power, and 
 showed that the reservoirs would, in the end, be cheaper 
 by the large sum of 7,000/. a year. 
 
 The report went fully into the scientific calculations of 
 rainfall, evaporation, water-power, &c., bearing on the 
 question, and was illustrated by a large map showing the 
 works proposed, and signed jointly by Mr. Fairbairn and 
 Mr. Bateman. 
 
 The recommendations of the report were adopted by 
 the mill proprietors; funds were raised, and the works 
 were afterwards successfully carried out, the detailed 
 designs and construction being entrusted, at Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's wish, entirely to Mr. Bateman. 1 
 
 About the same time Mr. Fairbairn made an en- 
 quiry of a very similar character in regard to the Eiver 
 Don, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He reported to the 
 mill proprietors in November 1835, also recommending 
 the construction of reservoirs on the stream. But this 
 proposal does not appear to have borne any fruit. 
 
 In 1835 Mr. Fairbairn took part in an investigation of 
 great scientific and mechanical importance, and with 
 which his name has ever since been honourably associated ; 
 namely, the determination on a large scale, and with 
 great accuracy, of the strength and other mechanical pro- 
 perties of cast-iron. The previous knowledge on the sub- 
 ject was limited, and great uncertainty existed as to the 
 effect which had been produced by the introduction, a 
 
 1 Full descriptions of the works, communicated by Mr. Bateman to the 
 Institution of Civil Engineers, will be found in their Proceedings for 1841, 
 page 168 ; and for 1848, page 261.
 
 160 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. x. 
 
 few years before, of the new process of manufacture by 
 the hot blast. Some iron-masters, in one part of the 
 country, had come to the conclusion that the new process 
 greatly deteriorated the quality of the iron produced; 
 while others from other neighbourhoods maintained, on 
 the contrary, that no deterioration resulted from the pro- 
 cess, which was admitted by all to diminish the cost of 
 production. 
 
 These widely differing opinions, both expressed by 
 persons largely connected with the manufacture of cast- 
 iron, were brought to the notice of the British Association 
 for the Advancement of Science, at their meeting at 
 Dublin, in September 1835, and the Committee resolved 
 to submit the whole question to the joint investigation 
 of Mr. Eaton Hodgkinson and Mr. Fairbairn. Mr. 
 Hodgkinson had previously been engaged in making ex- 
 periments at Mr. Fairbairn's works, and he afterwards 
 acquired great eminence for his scientific investigations 
 on the strength of materials. The resolution was as 
 follows : 
 
 That Messrs. Hodgkinson and Fairbairn be requested to 
 undertake a series of experiments on the difference of strength 
 and other mechanical properties of iron obtained by the hot and 
 cold blast, under similar circumstances as to the nature of the coal 
 employed, and from the same manufactory ; and that a sum not 
 exceeding 30L be placed at their disposal for that purpose. 
 
 The preparations for the enquiry, the collection of 
 samples, &c., occupied more time than had been antici- 
 pated; and at the Bristol meeting, in 1836, the matter 
 was re-considered, and an additional sum of 60/. was 
 granted for expenses. 
 
 It appears that during the course of the investigation 
 Mr. Fairbairn had the opportunity of making many trials 
 of the properties of cast-iron generally, independently of
 
 IRON ENQUIRY. 161 
 
 the special instructions from the Association; and, not 
 wishing that the results thus obtained should be lost, he 
 gave an account of them in a preliminary paper which 
 he read, on March 7, 1837, before the Literary and 
 Philosophical Society of Manchester, and which was after- 
 wards published (1842) in vol. vii. of their Transactions. 
 It is entitled 
 
 ' An experimental Enquiry into the Strength and other Pro-. 
 perties of Cast-iron, from various parts of the United Kingdom.' 
 By Mr. William Fairbairn. 
 
 It contains accounts of experiments on thirty-nine 
 samples of cast-iron, twenty-two being of English, four- 
 teen of Welsh, and three of Scotch manufacture. They 
 were tried for what is called transverse strength. A bar, 
 one inch square, was cast from each kind of iron, and 
 placed horizontally on supports 4ft. Gin. apart. A 
 weight was then hung on the middle point of the bar, 
 and was gradually increased till the bar broke, the deflec- 
 tion and elasticity of the bar being carefully noted at the 
 different stages of loading. The results were all carefully 
 tabulated, and useful remarks were added on the practical 
 qualities of the various kinds of iron. 
 
 At the Liverpool meeting of the British Association 
 in September 1837, reports were submitted having more 
 formal reference to the enquiry ordered by that body. It 
 appears that when the two investigators began to work, 
 they found that it would be more convenient to divide 
 their labours. It was proposed to test the strength of the 
 various kinds of iron in three ways, namely 1. By ten 
 sion, or tearing the metals asunder in the direction of 
 their length. 2. By compression, or crushing. And 3. 
 By transverse strain. Mr. Hodgkinson undertook the two 
 former of these, and Mr. Fairbairn the third, and each 
 experimenter reported to the Association separately on
 
 162 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. x. 
 
 his branch of the subject, the two reports being printed 
 in the Beport of the Association for that year, vol. vi. 
 Mr. Fairbairn's report is entitled : 
 
 ' On the Strength and other Properties of Cast-iron obtained 
 from the Hot and Cold Blast.' By W. Fairbairn, Esq. 
 
 It gives elaborate accounts of numerous experiments, 
 conducted generally in the same way as described in 
 his earlier paper, but directed more especially to the 
 comparison of the two kinds of iron, the result being 
 that on the average of the whole but little difference 
 existed between them. 
 
 In addition, however, to the main question submitted 
 for investigation, Mr. Fairbairn voluntarily undertook two 
 collateral branches of enquiry ; first as to whether, when 
 the loading was long continued, any appreciable weaken- 
 ing of the metal took place ; and, secondly, to what extent 
 the strength of the iron was affected by variations of tem- 
 perature. On the first point he summed up his results 
 with the following pithy sentence : 
 
 It is now upwards of fifteen months since the bars were 
 charged, and if we are to judge from the hardihood displayed in 
 their resistance to the load, there is every probability of the 
 experiments outliving the experimenter. 
 
 The results of the temperature experiments were too 
 complicated to admit of brief summary. 
 
 The Association, at this meeting, resolved that the 
 experiments should be further prosecuted, and should be 
 extended to wrought-iron, granting another 100/. for 
 expenses; and the names of Professor Willis and two 
 other gentlemen were added to the committee ; but we 
 do not find that Mr. Fairbairn published, or attached his 
 name to, any further report on the subject to the Asso- 
 ciation,
 
 THE RIVETING MACHINE. 163 
 
 About this time Mr. Fairbairn introduced an invention 
 which has been of the greatest utility in engineering 
 manufacture namely, the riveting machine. He gives 
 the following account of its origin : 
 
 I have before alluded to a circumstance which occurred at 
 this time, namely, the stoppage of a part of the works at Man- 
 chester by a strike of the boiler-makers. For some time pre- 
 viously we had been busily engaged in the construction of boilers, 
 and nothing could have been more injurious than the stoppage 
 of the works at such a time. I remonstrated with the men, 
 but without effect ; and perceiving no chance of coming to terms 
 in any reasonable time, I determined to do without them, and 
 effect by machinery what we had heretofore been in the habit of 
 executing by manual labour. 
 
 In arranging this Mr. Fairbairn took into his counsels 
 his assistant-engineer, Mr. Eobert Smith. Two plans 
 were proposed, one to act on the rivet by a lever (on the 
 principle of the ordinary punching machine), the other to 
 compress it by a screw. Mr. Smith was in favour of the 
 latter plan, and wished to make drawings of a new machine 
 on that principle ; but Mr. Fairbairn says : 
 
 I replied that the screw would be too slow ; and before any 
 further steps were taken, I insisted on making a trial with the 
 punching-machines which were in daily use. 
 
 This was done on the following day, and Mr. Smith pro- 
 duced as fine a specimen of riveted work as I have seen either 
 before or since. This was the origin and history of the riveting 
 machine, which so much improves the quality and reduces the 
 price of labour in this important branch of mechanical construc- 
 tion. 
 
 Previous to the experiment made with the punching machine, 
 which was accomplished by the simple introduction of two steel 
 dies corresponding with the ends of the rivet, it was argued that 
 compressed rivets would never be tight, that they would become 
 loose and spoil the work ; and many other objections were brought 
 against the project by persons interested in the maintenance of 
 the old process. To these, and also to the threats that were 
 11 2
 
 164 LIFE OF SIB WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. x. 
 
 held out by the workmen, I turned a deaf ear ; and after the 
 first trial I was fully convinced that the principle was sound, 
 and that we had nothing to fear from one or the other. Having 
 convinced myself of the practicability of this new invention, a 
 patent was taken out for it ; and as Mr. Smith was the person 
 first to accomplish the task, it was taken out in his name, but 
 at my expense, and he was given an interest in it. 
 
 The patent, in the name of Eobert Smith, is dated 
 February 16, 1837 (No. 7,302), and entitled 'Certain Im- 
 provements in the means of connecting Metallic Plates 
 for the Construction of Boilers and other purposes.' It 
 gives a full description and drawings of the riveting ma- 
 chine, and it claims ' the manner of connecting metallic 
 plates for the construction of boilers and other purposes, 
 by riveting them together by compression obtained by 
 the aid of machinery.' 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn continues his account : 
 
 The new machine effected a complete revolution in boiler- 
 making and riveting, and has substituted the rapid and noise- 
 less work of compression for the eternal din of the hammer ; 
 besides making the work infinitely superior in quality and 
 strength. 
 
 The introduction of .the riveting machine gave great facili- 
 ties for the despatch of business. It fixed, with two men and 
 a boy, as many rivets in one hour as could be done with three 
 men and a boy in a day of twelve hours on the old plan ; and 
 such was the expedition and superior quality of the work, that 
 in less than twelve months the machine-made boilers were pre- 
 ferred to those made by hand, in every part of the country where 
 they were known. This success was not attained without oppo- 
 sition ; and, as happens in all similar cases, I had not only to 
 contend against modifications and improvements, but I had to 
 combat prejudice and opposition from quarters where it was 
 least expected. The patent, however, expired some years since, 
 and the machine is now in general use ; and I have reason to 
 be satisfied that it has not only answered the purpose intended, 
 but has been of use to the public in the development of a new 
 and important principle in the constructive arts.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 JOURNEY TO CONSTANTINOPLE AND WORK FOR 
 THE TURKISH GOVERNMENT 
 
 AGE 50-54 
 18391843
 
 COMMISSION SENT BY THE SULTAN TO ENGLAND THEIR REPOET 
 APPLICATION TO MR. PAIRBAIRN HE VISITS CONSTANTINOPLE DEATH 
 OF THE SULTAN OHANES DADIAN EXPLORATION OF THJB COUNTRY 
 ANIMATED BOULDER STONES SURVEY OP THE GOVERNMENT MANU- 
 FACTURING WORKS THEIR IMPERFECTIONS ASTROLOGICAL CONSIDE- 
 RATIONS ABOUT CASTING A GUN THE SERASKIER's DINNER PARTY 
 KNGLISH RAILWAYS TRADES IN THE OPEN AIR MR. FAIRBAIRN's 
 ATTEMPT TO IMITATE THE TURKISH WORKMEN, AND IGNOMINIOUS 
 FAILURE LARGE ORDERS SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND INVESTI- 
 GATION REGARDING IRON ORES PAPER FOR THE INSTITUTION OF 
 CIVIL ENGINEERS TELFORD MEDAL ACCOUNT OF A LARGE WOOLLEN 
 FACTORY COMPLIMENTARY LETTER, AND DECORATION FROM THE 
 8ULTAN.
 
 167 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 IN the year 1838, Mahmoud, Sultan of Turkey, sent some 
 intelligent and trustworthy officers to England for the 
 purpose of making enquiries with a view to certain tech- 
 nical reforms which he desired to carry out. He wished 
 to place several of the government works and manufac- 
 tories, especially the arsenal and the dockyard, on a better 
 footing, and to introduce such mechanical improvements 
 into them as would enable them to meet the require- 
 ments of the service with greater promptitude and 
 despatch. The commissioners reported the high state of 
 perfection in which they found the mechanical and useful 
 arts in England, and the benefits which would be likely 
 to follow if some of those arts were introduced into 
 Turkey. 
 
 It appears that the commissioners visited Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's works, both in Manchester and in London, and he 
 may tell the result in his own words : 
 
 A few months after the commission had given in their 
 report, I received through the Ottoman ambassador then in 
 London the commands of the Sultan that I should repair to 
 Constantinople for the purpose of surveying and reporting upon 
 the different establishments then in operation. 
 
 With the numerous engagements I had in hand in London 
 and Manchester, and the mercantile difficulties which were 
 pressing upon me, I found it next to impossible to absent 
 myself for so long a time as the work would require ; and I 
 was about to give up the journey at once, when I was again
 
 168 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIEBAIRX. CHAP. XT. 
 
 summoned to London with fresh offers from the ambassador, 
 and a renewed request that I would comply with the wish of the 
 Sultan. This new application, and an understanding which I 
 came to with Mr. Smith at Manchester, and Mr. Murray in 
 London, that they would, to the best of their ability, manage 
 the business at both places, induced me to undertake the jour- 
 ney; and I set out [in 1839] with the necessary credentials, 
 taking with me my eldest son, for Marseilles, where we em- 
 barked in a French steamer for Constantinople. 
 
 On our arrival at the Turkish capital, we found an Armenian 
 officer, Ohanes Dadian, and a dragoman, waiting our arrival, with 
 an intimation that the Sultan would give us an audience at 
 the palace on the following Wednesday. Unfortunately, that 
 audience never took place, as his majesty died the very morning 
 of the appointment. In consequence, my inspections and sur- 
 veys of the public works were suspended for some days, and 
 during that time I had an opportunity of delivering my intro- 
 ductory letters to the British ambassador, Lord Ponsonby, at his 
 residence up the Bosphorus at Therapia. His lordship received 
 me with great courtesy, and invited my son and myself to remain 
 with him till after the funeral. 
 
 During the interval I made several excursions into the country 
 which surrounds the Ottoman capital; and as there were no 
 roads excepting tracks for camels and horses, we had to perform 
 our journey on horseback. WTiat struck me very forcibly in 
 these excursions was the immense area of good land lying waste 
 in almost every direction in which we travelled. Some spots 
 were under cultivation, and I noticed that the land was excel- 
 lent. I remarked, however, that it was covered with what I at 
 first thought were boulders, all of the same dimensions, but 
 which, on inspection, I found to be tortoises engaged in devour- 
 ing grubs and worms which infest the soil. 
 
 On our return to Stamboul the Turkish quarter of Constan- 
 tinopleI received orders from the Grand Vizier to proceed 
 with my surveys and reports. In the performance of these 
 duties, I found the Imperial dockyards, small-arms manufac- 
 tory, cannon foundries, powder mills, and roperies, in a very 
 primitive state. Some additions and new machinery had been 
 introduced a year or two before my arrival, but they were far
 
 TURKISH GOVERNMENT ESTABLISHMENTS. 169 
 
 from perfect, and the native workmen appeared to me to be at 
 a loss how to work and manage machinery of such a complicated 
 character. 
 
 The object of my visit was, however, to report on the different 
 works as I found them, and to advise the authorities what was 
 necessary to be done, in order to place them in a more perfect 
 and efficient state. 
 
 In the course of five or six weeks I had inspected and reported 
 on all the government works, and recommended what I con- 
 sidered essential to their efficiency and improvement. Much 
 was required in this way in the dockyards and roperies. In the 
 former I found that a powerful steam-engine and a new set of 
 pumps were required to empty the docks when repairs were 
 wanted, instead of having to wait three or four days for the 
 slow action of mules and horses, the only motive power then in 
 use for driving the imperfect machinery. In the roperies the 
 spinning, stranding, and laying of cables were entirely done by 
 hand. Since that time good and improved machinery have been 
 introduced in both establishments, greatly to the benefit of the 
 government. 
 
 At the powder-mills, under the superintendence of Boghos 
 Dadian, I found things in a more forward state, with new 
 machinery for grinding charcoal, saltpetre, &c., imported from 
 England. The sheds for the grinding and dangerous processes 
 were placed at distances of about 100 yards from each other, and 
 the machinery was driven by compressed air conveyed through 
 pipes to the different sites. This was an expensive plan, and I 
 recommended the same system that has since been introduced into 
 the powder-works of our own government at Waltham Abbey. 
 
 In the small-arms manufactory I found much new machinery 
 from Messrs. Eennie, and Maudslay and Field, which had been 
 introduced only some fifteen or eighteen months before. But 
 with all this new plant, little or nothing was doing in the shape 
 of manufacture, through the apathy of the Turks and their 
 aversion to new things. 
 
 My attention was next directed to the cannon foundries ; 
 and here I found the works in the same state as when they 
 were erected two centuries ago. They consisted of large circular 
 buildings of great strength ; brick domes lighted from the top,
 
 170 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. si. 
 
 and massive wood cranes and sheaves, and ropes almost as thick 
 as small cables. These cranes were for raising and lowering 
 the moulds in the casting-pit, and I was informed that it re- 
 quired many weeks to prepare the moulds ready for casting. 
 As an example of the dilatory manner in which the works were 
 conducted, a day was appointed when a large gun, which had 
 been in the mould for a considerable number of weeks, had to 
 be cast, and I was advised by the Seraskier to be present at the 
 casting, and to see the superintendent, in order that there 
 might be no mistake. In our visit to this dignitary, along 
 with the dragoman, we found him seated on an ottoman with 
 his attendants, in the full enjoyment of his coffee and pipe. 
 Having intimated our desire to be present at the casting as 
 directed by the Seraskier Hallil Pasha on the Monday, he 
 took out a Turkish almanack, and unfolded it from a small 
 bobbin, which he carefully consulted. After pondering for 
 some time, he at last said that it could not be done, as the 
 appointed day was unlucky, and the casting could not take 
 place. Although all was then ready, it had to wait till some 
 more fortunate day in the following week, before which I had 
 sailed for Malta. 
 
 During my short residence in Constantinople, I had oppor- 
 tunities of witnessing more of the Turkish habits and customs 
 than most other visitors. Being engaged on the part of the 
 government, I had access to the different government depart- 
 ments, and the officials by whom they were conducted. Among 
 the most active was the Seraskier Hallil Pasha, who was at the 
 head of the war 'department. With this functionary I had the 
 honour of dining; and every person at the table, which was 
 very low, had two servants in attendance ; one with a glass 
 goblet of clear water, and the other with a napkin. These were 
 in requisition after every course; and the repast, after a tureen 
 or goblet of sherbet, wound up with pipes and coffee. 
 
 There was a party of twelve at dinner, composed of officers 
 and effendis, connected with the war and ordnance departments. 
 There were also present my Armenian friend, Ohanes Dadian, 
 and the dragoman, whose presence was necessary in order to 
 interpret the conversation which ensued at dinner and during 
 the time pipes and coffee were introduced. This conversation
 
 TURKISH MARKETS. 171 
 
 was chiefly made up of queries as to the improved state of prac- 
 tical science in England, and the introduction of railways, 
 which appeared to them inexplicable, if not entirely beyond 
 their comprehension. They could not realise the idea of travel- 
 ling- at the rate of forty miles an hour, and doubted the correct- 
 ness of the descriptions that had reached them. I could not 
 object to this reserve, as railways had not extended beyond 
 England and Belgium, and the results came so unexpectedly 
 upon the public as to astonish those who had never seen a rail- 
 way train. 
 
 My frequent intercourse with the ministers and officers of 
 the different departments gave me opportunities of studying the 
 habits and customs of the Turks in their daily intercourse, and 
 the way in which they conducted their business. Constanti- 
 nople proper, or Stamboul, is, like all other Oriental cities, 
 divided into sections, where the different trades are carried on. 
 The wares are exhibited in shops under brick arches lighted 
 from the top, and well protected from the summer's sun and the 
 winter's rain and snow. 
 
 These covered markets are laid out in departmental order. 
 In one quarter will be found gold and silversmiths ; in another, 
 linen and woollen drapers ; in a third, bookbinders, stationers, 
 and workers in toys and other light ornamental articles. But 
 what struck me as the greatest novelty was the way in which 
 the work of manufacture was done. For example, in the trade 
 of joiners, cabinet makers, turners, &c., a great part of the 
 work appears to be done on benches in front of the shops, on 
 which the operator or workman sits, with his tools and work 
 before him. In turning whether for furniture or tobacco 
 pipes, which appears to be the most extensive trade in the 
 capital the lathe consists of two head-stocks, between which 
 the article to be turned is placed, and by a line of catgut 
 attached to a wood spring above and a treddle below, a reci- 
 procating motion is produced, which being acted upon by the 
 foot of a powerful operator, the shavings fly in all directions at 
 every alternate stroke. It was surprising to me to witness the 
 process, and in most cases I noticed the work was done sitting, 
 and the tool was held and guided by the large toe and the hand. 
 In fact, I was so much interested with this mode of working
 
 172 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM 'FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xi. 
 
 that I got permission from one of the workmen to try my own 
 hand at it ; but in taking off my stocking, I gathered such a 
 crowd about me from the contiguous benches, as caused me to 
 desist after a fruitless attempt to imitate the operation. 
 
 The visit to Constantinople was an important event for me, 
 as it eventually led to large orders which I executed for the 
 government after my return. Immense quantities of iron ore 
 deposits were found at Samakoff, on the shores of the Black 
 Sea, and furnaces, forges, and rolling-mills were sent out for the 
 purpose of smelting, forging, and rolling it into bar and plate 
 iron : but I never could learn with what success. I apprehend 
 the enterprise was ultimately abandoned for want of fuel, as they 
 chiefly depended on some beds of lignite for the reduction of the 
 ore. I also sent out a large woollen mill and machinery for the 
 manufacture of clothing for the army, and driven by a large and 
 powerful water-wheel on the principle of suspension. There were 
 also silk and cotton model mills, a corn mill, an iron house for 
 the Seraskier Hallil Pasha, and a large workshop and tools. 
 
 In 1843 the Turkish Government sent a second mission 
 to England, in furtherance of the designs of the Sultan 
 for introducing useful arts and manufactures. The Turk- 
 ish officer already mentioned Mr. Ohanes Dadian was 
 the head of this mission, and he was aided in his object 
 by his Excellency Ali Effendi, the Ambassador to the 
 Court of England, and the Consul- General, Mr. Edward 
 Zohrab. Mr. Dadian spent some months in England, 
 during which time he was in frequent communication 
 with Mr. Fairbairn on the subject of the Turkish works ; 
 and Mr. Fairbairn seems to have formed a high opinion 
 of his ability and character. 
 
 Among other objects of his mission was one already 
 alluded to in Mr. Fairbairn's notes, namely, to investigate 
 the best means of utilising certain iron ores which existed 
 in the Turkish dominions in large quantities, and of a 
 very pure quality. 
 
 Many scientific and- practical men expert in the iron
 
 TURKISH IRON ORES. 173 
 
 manufacture were consulted on the subject Mr. Fair- 
 bairn among the number and many experiments and 
 trials were made at Mr. Dadian's suggestion. Mr. Fair- 
 bairn was led to combine with this enquiry others upon 
 certain English ores of similar kinds, and the results are 
 given in a paper that was laid before the Institution of 
 Civil Engineers on April 30, 1844, and is printed in the 
 volume of their Minutes for that year. It is entitled 
 
 ' Experimental Researches into the properties of the Iron Ores 
 of Samakoff in Turkey, and of the Haematite Ores of Cumber- 
 land, with a view to determine the best means for reducing 
 them into the cast and malleable states. And on the relative 
 Strength and other Properties of Cast-iron from the Turkish and 
 other Haematite Ores.' By William Fairbairn, Mem. Inst. C.E. 
 
 In this paper the author, after stating that the art of 
 reducing the richer class of iron ores had not kept pace 
 with the advancement made in regard to the commoner 
 and poorer varieties, gives an account of the experiments 
 and enquiries undertaken by himself in conjunction with 
 Mr. Clay, a metallurgical chemist, and others, upon the 
 class of iron in question, and describes the processes 
 which it was considered most advisable to follow in the 
 manufacture. He also adds a classified table of the com- 
 parative strengths and other qualities of fifty-two different 
 kinds of iron, including those mentioned in the paper. 
 
 This communication was rewarded by the Institution 
 with a silver Telford medal. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn gave some further account of his 
 Turkish work at a meeting of the Institution of Civil 
 Engineers, March 21, 1843. 1 The following are extracts 
 from the published Proceedings : 
 
 Almost all the houses and many of the public buildings in 
 Turkey, being constructed of timber, destructive fires were 
 
 1 Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. 1843, page 125.
 
 174 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xr. 
 
 frequent. In many parts of the country the common building 
 materials were expensive, iron had therefore been resorted to 
 for construction, and Mr. Fairbairn had already sent over an 
 iron house for a corn mill, fifty feet long, twenty-five feet wide, 
 of three storeys in height, and with an iron roof. It was 
 finished in 1840, and erected at Constantinople in the following 
 year. 
 
 The success of this attempt led to a second order, which was 
 for an extensive woollen factory, to be composed entirely of cast- 
 iron plates, the interior being framed throughout of brick 
 arches, upon cast-iron columns and bearers, with an iron roof. 
 The machinery was to be driven by a fall of water twenty-five 
 feet in height, of the computed average power of 1 80 horses. 
 
 Several ingenious devices were introduced for preventing 
 any objectionable effects from the high conducting power of the 
 metal. The piers between the windows were hollow, so as to 
 admit a current of air through during the hot season, and the 
 iron roofs were so arranged as to have beneath them a coating 
 of plaster, to serve as a non-conducting substance. 
 
 The two principal rooms were, one 272 feet long, 40 feet 
 wide, and 20 feet high ; and the other 280 feet long, 20 feet 
 wide, and 20 feet high ; with a great number of other rooms for 
 the several processes in the manufacture of coarse woollen cloths, 
 for the counting-houses, apartments, &c. &c. The area of the 
 enclosed surface, including the courtyard and buildings, was 
 nearly three acres ; the floor" surface in the whole of the rooms 
 was 71,100 square feet. 
 
 This building was erected near the town of Izmet in 
 Turkey. 
 
 The following interesting letter, written a few years 
 later by the Turkish officer who had been instrumental 
 in employing Mr. Fairbairn, will show the estimation in 
 which he was held by the Turkish authorities. It is 
 given just as written by the author, in English : 
 
 Malta, March 14, 1847. 
 William Fairbairn, Esq. 
 
 Dear Sir, I have had the pleasure of writing you some 
 time ago that I should have the honour of seeing you in England
 
 DECORATION BY THE SULTAN. 175 
 
 soon, and have an honourable conversation with you, which I 
 intend to do in a few months, if God pleases, after having 
 travelled over Italy, France, and some other countries in 
 Europe. 
 
 Before I see you, allow me to inform you, and at the same 
 time explain to you what I meant by an honourable conversa- 
 tion, that His Imperial Highness, Sultan Abdul-Megid has been 
 good enough to give you a decoration set in diamonds along 
 with a Ferman, in which he is kind enough to write you to be 
 the chief fabricator of the machineries required to be cast and 
 fitted up in England for the use of His Imperial Majesty's 
 Factories, and that it is given to you as a reward for your old 
 services to him in making a great number of machineries for the 
 Government ; so the Ferman is the document belonging to the 
 grand decoration, indicating the right of you deserving such a 
 mark of honour to be presented to you by His Majesty, which I 
 shall take with me to London, and then write you the day you 
 are to come there and meet at the Turkish Ambassy, so as the 
 Turkish Ambassador may present you the decoration with the 
 valuable document, from the part of His Imperial Highness the 
 Sultan, in my presence, and explain you the good and kind heart 
 of His Imperial Majesty, which is sure to induce him to reward 
 all the faithful persons who serve so well to His Government as 
 you, my dear friend. 
 
 I hope you will not forget me to be your intimate friend, 
 and you will think me always as one who has the interest of your 
 welfare at heart, consequently I expect, hope, and I am also 
 sure, that as you have had the same good feeling towards me, 
 so you will also have it hereafter, and pay the greatest attention 
 to my interest and honour, by executing carefully the small 
 number of orders I shall have soon to give you, respecting some 
 more machineries and other articles. 
 
 Please to remember me to Mrs. Fairbairn, and tell her that I 
 hope I shall see her in perfect good health, when I come to 
 England, and I shall also see your children and embrace them, 
 as I long to have the pleasure of seeing them all. 
 
 I write with pleasure to inform you also that, though we 
 
 have had a dispute with Mr. some time past, consequently 
 
 he was out of our service, yet as I was coming away from home
 
 176 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xi. 
 
 to Europe, I did not wish to leave him in sorrow behind me, out 
 of employment in a foreign country, therefore I have sent for 
 him, and forgiving him his trespasses, as the Christianity de- 
 mands from us to do so to one another, got him into the new 
 Iron Works at Zetia Bourni, where is going to be a school built 
 by the Government for the instruction of the young men of our 
 country in different branches of mathematics and chymistry, &c. 
 
 so Mr. will be the professor of the mathematics in this new 
 
 school at the Iron Works. 
 
 I remain your most faithful friend, 
 
 OHANES DADIAN.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS 
 
 AGE 51-60 
 1840-1849
 
 CONCLUSION OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY DATA FOR SUBSEQUENT 
 CHAPTERS PROFESSIONAL MATTERS HAARLEM LAKE THE MANCHES- 
 TER GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY FURTHER EXPERIMENTS ON CAST-IRON 
 LETTERS FROM A FELLOW-LABOURERACCIDENTS IN FACTORIES PA- 
 TENT FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN JOINING METAL PLATES THE SMOKE 
 NUISANCE THE USE OF IRON FOR LARGE BUILDINGS FIRES IN 
 LIVERPOOL FIRE-PROOF CONSTRUCTIONS FALL OF A MILL AT OLDHAM 
 BRIDGE AT BASLE IRON STRUCTURE COMMISSION OF 1847 MR. FAIR- 
 BAIRN'S EVIDENCE WATER- WHEELS WITH VENTILATED BUCKETS 
 PERSONAL MATTERS PUPILS DR. BIRKBECK MISS FAIRBAIRN's MAR- 
 RIAGE DEATH OF MR. FAIRBA1RNS FATHER HAYDON, THE ARTIST 
 PROPOSED WRESTLING MATCH WITH GEORGE STEPHI-NSON.
 
 179 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE autobiography, which has formed the substance of 
 the nine preceding chapters, extends no further, in any 
 connected shape, than about 1840, when Mr. Fairbairn 
 had completed his fiftieth year. Some notes remain, re- 
 ferring to matters of a later date ; but they are frag- 
 mentary and incomplete, and can only be made use of as 
 subsidiary explanations. 
 
 But although, in regard to that portion of his life 
 and work which remains to be chronicled, we lose the 
 benefit of his own interesting and vivid narration, we are 
 fortunately not left altogether without guidance. Mr. 
 Fairbairn was very fond of writing; nothing gave him 
 greater pleasure than to put his ideas on paper ; and 
 hence, in regard to the later occupations of his life, there 
 exists a mass of information from his hand, either published 
 or in manuscript, which has served not only to facilitate 
 the task of the biographer, but to render the accounts 
 given authoritative and trustworthy. 
 
 In the present chapter it is proposed, in the first 
 place, to give a brief notice of several miscellaneous 
 matters, scientific and professional, which occupied Mr. 
 Fairbairn's attention between his fiftieth and sixtieth 
 years ; and, secondly, to chronicle some few private and 
 domestic events of interest that happened during the 
 same period.
 
 180 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FATRBAIRX. CHAP. xu. 
 
 In 1840 Mr. Fairbairn was consulted regarding the 
 best means to be adopted for draining the lake of Haar- 
 lem ; and he appears to have devised an ingenious me- 
 chanical arrangement to facilitate the process ; but no 
 record of any report on the subject can be found. 
 
 In the same year he became one of the managing 
 council of a society formed in Manchester under the 
 presidency of the Eight Hon. Lord Francis Egerton, 
 called the Manchester Geological Society, and althougn 
 not properly speaking a geologist, he contributed a paper 
 to their meetings which was read on October 29, 1840, 
 and was published the following year in vol. i. of their 
 Transactions. 
 
 The paper was entitled ' On the Economy of raising 
 Water from Coal Mines on the Cornish Principle.' It 
 gave an account of the improvements made in the steam- 
 engines for draining the mines of Cornwall, and the 
 great economy of fuel resulting therefrom ; and it advo- 
 cated the introduction of similar improvements in the 
 colliery districts. It was illustrated by drawings of the 
 engine, and by copies of diagrams of the steam -pressure 
 indicator. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn continued to prosecute his experiments 
 on the strength of cast-iron ; and in November, 1840, he 
 read, before the Literary and Philosophical Society of 
 Manchester, a second paper, entitled 
 
 ' An experimental Enquiry into the Strength and other Pro- 
 perties of Anthracite Cast-iron, being a continuation of a series 
 of experiments on British irons from various parts of the United 
 Kingdom.' 
 
 This paper was published in the same volume as the 
 former one, and it gave an account of the extension of
 
 IRON EXPERIMENTS. 181 
 
 the trials to a ne\v kind of iron that had been introduced 
 into the market, named anthracite iron from its being 
 prepared with anthracite coal. 
 
 The following letter from Mr. Fairbairn's fellow- 
 worker in these important iron experiments will be 
 interesting as showing the zealous and earnest part 
 Mr. Fairbairn took in the investigations. The parts 
 omitted refer to private matters. 
 
 Manchester, December 11, 1840. 
 
 My dear Sir, Very many thanks for your kind letter of 
 this morning. . . . The sentiments your liberality has inspired 
 are deeply engraven upon my heart. 
 
 It is perhaps not less than a dozen years since I first availed 
 myself of your (and your then partner's) kind offer to afford me 
 the means of making experiments at your works. In that in- 
 terval more experiments, of a really useful character, have been 
 made there, either by yourself or me, than have been made at 
 any one place in Europe in the time ; and when one considers 
 that the expense has been wholly borne by yourself . . . your 
 public spirit deserves the highest praise. This praise has been 
 expressed to me a hundred times, and every man of science 
 seems willing to join in it. 
 
 I had not expected that we should have parted so soon. \Ve 
 have both run for some years an interesting race for reputation 
 in practical science, mutually indebted to each other; and 
 though your name is now not bounded by Europe, it might 
 have been (perhaps) no worse for either of us if it had been our 
 lot jointly to investigate the steam-engine. 
 
 I should have gone to-day, but as the extra copies of the 
 paper on Pillars arrived at the same time with your letters of 
 introduction, I thought they might be an auxiliary if taken 
 with me, and I would stay till Monday and dispose of some of 
 them. I have sent five for your use besides those which are 
 addressed, and if you would like more I will send you any 
 number. 
 
 Kemember me with every sentiment of respect to Mr*
 
 182 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xn. 
 
 Fairbairn and your amiable daughter. Thank them for the 
 kindness they have long shown to me, and believe me, 
 
 Ever yours, 
 Wm. Fairbairn, Esq. EATON HODGKINSON. 
 
 - Another letter, written by the same gentleman a 
 little later, is in the same strain : 
 
 March 19, 1842. 
 
 My dear Sir, I have received the medals safe, which 
 through your liberality in the encouragement of enquiries into 
 practical science, I have had the honour to obtain. It will 
 afford me very great pleasure to visit your hospitable lady and 
 yourself on Monday at six. Mrs. H. is, thank (rod, somewhat 
 better to-day, and if ever I saw a gleam of pleasure marked 
 strongly upon her countenance, it was when she saw the medals 
 which you have enabled me to obtain. 
 
 With every feeling of affection and gratitude, believe me, 
 my dear Sir (both on her part and my own) most truly yours, 
 
 Wm. Fairbairn, Esq. EATON HODGKINSON. 
 
 In 1841 Mr. Fairbairn was applied to, at the sugges- 
 tion of the government, to give advice as to the best 
 means of preventing accidents to workpeople in factories 
 by their getting entangled in the machinery. It was con- 
 sidered advisable that mill-owners should be compelled 
 to box or fence off all dangerous moving parts ; but that the 
 opinion of skilled persons should be taken as to how far 
 this could be done without interfering with the convenience 
 of working. Mr. Fairbairn gave the required informa- 
 tion at some length in a report to Mr. Heathcote, the local 
 factory inspector, dated April 8, 1841, and he encouraged 
 the enforcement of the protection, if kept within reason- 
 able bounds. 
 
 In 1842 he took out a patent (July 7, No. 9,409) 
 for * certain improvements in the construction of metal
 
 PREVENTION OF SMOKE. 183 
 
 ships, boats, and other vessels, and in the preparation of 
 metal plates to be used therein.' 
 
 The object of this invention was to avoid the weaken- 
 ing of wrought-iron plates due to the ordinary process of 
 riveting. To prepare for this process it is necessary to 
 punch holes in the edges of the plates to be riveted, by 
 which of course the metal is considerably cut away, and 
 much loss of strength ensues. To remedy this, Mr. Fair- 
 bairn proposed to roll the plates somewhat thicker on the 
 edges, so that the holes being made in the thickened parts, 
 the extra strength would compensate for the area re- 
 moved by the holes. 
 
 This invention was partially carried into practice. An 
 iron steamboat of some magnitude was built for the 
 Admiralty on the system, and it was also used to some 
 extent for locomotive boilers. But it has been found 
 that the extra trouble and expense of getting plates 
 specially rolled with the thickened edges are objected to, 
 and hence the plan has not come into general application. 
 
 In 1842 and the following year Mr. Fairbairn under- 
 took some elaborate investigations on a subject that had 
 often excited the attention of practical engineers, but on 
 which very crude and indistinct notions appear to have 
 generally prevailed, namely, the prevention of smoke from 
 steam-engine boilers. At the meeting of the British 
 Association at York, in September 1844, he presented a 
 report ' On the Consumption of Fuel and the Prevention 
 of Smoke,' which was published in the volume of Trans- 
 actions for that year. 
 
 It begins by stating 
 
 There is perhaps no subject so difficult, and none so full 
 of perplexities, as that of the management of a furnace and 
 the prevention of smoke. I have approached this enquiry with 
 considerable diffidence, and, after repeated attempts at definite
 
 184 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xir. 
 
 conclusions, have more than once been forced to abandon the 
 investigation as inconclusive and unsatisfactory. 
 
 After alluding to the nature of the difficulties, the 
 author adds : 
 
 I shall endeavour to show, from a series of accurately- con- 
 ducted experiments, that- the prevention of smoke, and the 
 perfect combustion of fuel, are synonymous, and completely 
 within the reach of all those who choose to adopt measures 
 calculated 'for the suppression of the one and the improvement 
 of the other. 
 
 He divides his essay under four heads of enquiry : 
 
 The analysis or constituents of coal and other fuels. 
 The relative proportions of the furnace and forms of boilers. 
 The temperature of the furnace and surrounding flues. 
 The economy of fuel, concentration of heat, and prevention 
 of smoke. 
 
 All which are fully treated in the paper. 
 
 In the same year (1844) Mr. Fairbairn was called on, 
 in the course of his professional business, to investigate a 
 subject which occupied him for a long time afterwards, 
 namely, the use of iron in the construction of large 
 buildings. 
 
 The first occasion for this study was an application 
 from Liverpool, where, for some years, an enormous loss 
 of property had been sustained by fires in large ware- 
 houses. From 1795 to the end of 1842 this loss had 
 amounted to two millions and a quarter sterling ; and the 
 damage by one fire alone, in September 1841, was esti- 
 mated at 380,000/. In fact, Liverpool had acquired an 
 unenviable notoriety for the frequency and extent of the 
 fires ; the character of the town had become stamped as 
 insecure for the storage of merchandise, and the rates of 
 insurance had been raised to such a pitch as to prove a
 
 FIRE-PROOF WAREHOUSES. 185 
 
 most serious charge and embarrassment to the commerce 
 of the port. 
 
 This led to an urgent demand for ameliorations in the 
 construction of the warehouses, particularly by the free 
 use of iron in place of timber. But as such an application 
 of this material was to a certain extent novel, it was felt to 
 be desirable that the opinion and advice of a thoroughly 
 competent engineer should be obtained ; and at the end 
 of March 1844 Messrs. S. and J. Holme, large builders 
 and contractors of Liverpool, applied to Mr. Fairbairn to 
 visit that town, and make a report on the matter, as they 
 were about to erect a new warehouse of great magnitude, 
 covering nearly an acre of ground. ' The subject,' said 
 Messrs. Holme, c is most important to the commerce of 
 the town, as well as to many persons individually, and as 
 we shall not like to take any steps in regard to the large 
 pile, we shall esteem it a favour if you will name the 
 earliest day in your power to visit Liverpool.' 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn paid the visit asked for, and made his 
 report on June 3. He pointed out that fire-proof modes 
 of construction had for some time been introduced for 
 mills and factories, described their peculiarities, particu- 
 larly in regard to the strength of the iron columns, girders, 
 &c., and recommended the application of the same prin- 
 ciples to the case of warehouses, concluding with the fol- 
 lowing remark : 
 
 In my own mind there is not the shadow of a doubt as to 
 the security of such a structure, and I do not hesitate to assert 
 that a well-built and properly-arranged fire-proof warehouse 
 can not only be constructed, but may be made to entail upon 
 the commercial and manufacturing communities of this country 
 an important and lasting benefit. 
 
 This Report was thought so valuable to the Liverpool 
 interests, that it was published, with introductory re- 
 marks by Messrs. Holme, for general circulation, and was
 
 186 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xn. 
 
 reprinted in the ' Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal,' 
 vol. xxxviii., 1845. 
 
 A few months later Mr. Fairbairn's attention was 
 again directed to the construction of large buildings by a 
 dreadful accident that occurred at Oldham. On October 
 31 a large cotton-mill in that town fell in with a tre- 
 mendous crash, burying a number of work-people beneath 
 the ruins, and destroying property to a very large amount. 
 At the coroner's inquest the jury expressed a wish that the 
 circumstances should be enquired into by Mr. Fairbairn, 
 in association with a Mr. D. Bellhouse. This was done, 
 and a joint Eeport, dated November 6, was presented 
 at the adjourned inquest by the two gentlemen, who 
 also gave viva voce explanations. They ascribed the 
 accident to the weakness of some of the iron beams, 
 which it appeared had been constructed without due 
 regard to the mechanical principles determining their 
 strength. The jury, in returning a verdict of accidental 
 death, added ' their unanimous opinion that the causes of 
 the accident were fully pointed out in the able report of 
 Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Bellhouse.' 1 
 
 At this time a Commission or Committee was sitting 
 on Fire-proof Buildings, the Commissioners being Sir 
 Henry de la Beche, the eminent geologist, and Mr. Thos. 
 Cubitt, the well-known builder, of Pimlico. These gentle- 
 men, hearing of Mr. Fairbairn's investigation of the 
 Oldham accident, requested him to give evidence before 
 them, which he did ; but no report or publication of the 
 proceedings of the body can be found. 
 
 A year or two afterwards he followed up the subject 
 by a paper ' On some Defects in the Principle and Con- 
 struction of Fire-proof Buildings,' read before the Insti- 
 tution of Civil Engineers, April 20, 1847, and published 
 in vol. vi. of their Minutes of Proceedings. It was 
 
 1 Manchester Guardian, November 9, 1844.
 
 IRON STRUCTURE COMMISSION. 187 
 
 founded on an examination of another cotton-mill in 
 Manchester that had fallen shortly before ; and the paper 
 pointed out that in this case, as at Oldham, the iron beams 
 were far too weak for the load they had to sustain. 
 
 Some years later he published a book on this subject, 
 which will be noticed in a subsequent place. 
 
 In 1847 Mr. Fairbairn was applied to by the authori- 
 ties of the city of Basle to design a bridge for crossing the 
 Ehine at that place. He accordingly made drawings and 
 estimates of a bridge on the hollow girder principle. It 
 was to be in several spans each 100 feet long, and was 
 to cost 34,000/. 
 
 It does not appear, however, that anything further 
 resulted from this offer. 
 
 In the second chapter of this work allusion has been 
 made to the large use of iron bridges consequent on 
 the great extension of railways that took place soon after 
 1840. Some of these structures proved faulty on trial, 
 and some serious accidents occurred from their giving way. 
 The conditions were to some extent new, on account 
 of the vibrations and concussions to which the bridges 
 were exposed by the passage over them of heavy trains, 
 often at high speed ; and doubts were felt as to the state 
 of engineering knowledge in regard to their design. This 
 attracted the attention of government ; and in August 
 1847 a Eoyal Commission was appointed 'for the purpose 
 of enquiring into the conditions to be observed by engi- 
 neers in the application of iron in structures exposed to 
 violent concussion and vibration.' The Commission con- 
 sisted of Lord Wrottesley, Professor Eobert Willis, Cap- 
 tain Henry James, R.E., Messrs. George Eennie, William 
 (afterwards Sir William) Cubitt, and Eaton Hodgkinson, 
 and Captain Douglas Galton, E.E., was the Secretary.
 
 188 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xn. 
 
 The Commission collected much information and 
 examined many witnesses, among whom Mr. Fairbairn, 
 from his large practice in ironwork, was one of the most 
 prominent. He gave evidence in November 1847, de- 
 scribing iron structures he had designed, stating his expe- 
 rience in regard to the properties of iron, and the mode of 
 using it, and explaining his views as to the forms of iron 
 beams, the mode of testing them, the influence of vibra- 
 tion, &c. &c. In a subsequent communication he gave 
 useful suggestions for experiments, and furnished full 
 particulars of the investigations he had made for the 
 Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges. The Commis- 
 sioners made their report in July 1849, in a Blue Book 
 which is well known, and often quoted when the pro- 
 perties of iron are in question. 
 
 In January 1849 Mr. Fairbairn read before the Insti- 
 tution of Civil Engineers a paper ' On Water-wheels with 
 Ventilated Buckets,' which was afterwards published in 
 vol. viii. of their Minutes of Proceedings. It contained 
 an account of an invention originally introduced by him 
 many years before, and which has been always admitted 
 to be of great value. 
 
 In the course of manufacture of waterwheels for 
 Catrine Bank and elsewhere, at an early period of his 
 mechanical practice, Mr. Fairbairn had the opportunity ' 
 of carefully studying their action and of making many 
 improvements, the most important of which was an 
 arrangement for what was called the ' ventilation of 
 the bucket.' It had been found that difficulty had 
 existed in getting the water to enter the buckets freely, 
 particularly when the opening was contracted, as was 
 often necessary. This difficulty arose from the fact 
 that the air in the bucket could not get away to 
 make room for the water. Mr. Fairbairu saw that
 
 IMPROVED WATER WHEELS. 189 
 
 from this simple defect many large water-wheels lost 
 an important proportion of their power; and he took 
 steps to remedy the evil. His mode of doing so was 
 .simply to construct a small passage opening upwards 
 out of the bucket, by which, when the water entered, the 
 air could rise and get away, and so leave the whole con- 
 tent free for the reception of the water. The following 
 section of the buckets (taken from the published paper) 
 will illustrate at a glance the nature of this simple and 
 elegant contrivance. The arrows show the course of the 
 escaping air. 
 
 VEKTILATED BUCKETS FOR WATER-WHEELS. 
 
 It should be added that the same improvement which 
 ensures the quick admission of the water also facilitates 
 its quick discharge (an object also of much importance) 
 by allowing the air to enter again into the bucket. 
 
 The first wheel constructed on this principle was at 
 Handforth, in Cheshire, in 1828. No patent was taken 
 out for the invention; but the contrivance so much
 
 190 LIFE OF SIE WILLIAM FAIKBAIRN. CHAP. xn. 
 
 improved the action of the wheels as to acquire great 
 notoriety, and to bring large orders to the firm. The 
 arrangement was subsequently improved and extended to 
 various classes of water-wheels, and full descriptions are 
 given in the paper. 
 
 The following matters, of more personal interest, may 
 be noticed in this place for the purpose of preserving the 
 chronological arrangement of events in Mr. Fairbairn's 
 life. 
 
 He occasionally took pupils into his manufactory, 
 which, from the care and knowledge with which it was 
 laid out and worked, formed an excellent school for 
 mechanical engineering. One of the young men so taken, 
 the son of the celebrated founder of Mechanics' Institu- 
 tions, Dr. Birkbeck, was also a frequent visitor at Mr. 
 Fairbairn's house. The following extracts from the 
 father's letters may be interesting : 
 
 38, Finsbury Square, April 13, 1840. 
 
 Dear Sir, On my visit to Millwall, I had a very satisfac- 
 tory conversation with your partner, Mr. Murray ; and your 
 kind and liberal communication from Manchester has quite 
 confirmed my favourable impressions. 
 
 I have decided, quite with my son's concurrence, that he 
 should proceed to Manchester and enter your establishment 
 there. I really hope that he will render himself worthy of the 
 opportunity which he will enjoy of acquiring sound and varied 
 practical information. He will, I think and hope, be greatly 
 interested in the construction of the beautiful and splendid 
 pieces of mechanism which must continually be in progress in 
 your establishment; one of the most extraordinary, I under- 
 stand, in the most wonderful school for mechanical invention in 
 the world, the town and neighbourhood of Manchester. 
 
 If I mistake not, judging from the kind and rational re- 
 marks which you have made on the duties of young men des-
 
 DR. BIRKBECK. 191 
 
 tined for a liberal profession, my son will be very likely to 
 enter with great cordiality into your views. 
 
 I wish it was in my power to accept your invitation to visit 
 Manchester ; this is a pleasure, however, which must be deferred 
 until the weather is a little more settled, and until, by the 
 practice of taking exercise, not very convenient to me in winter, 
 I may acquire strength and activity enough to cope with the 
 demands which Manchester would make upon my curiosity and 
 my exertion. 
 
 About thirteen years ago, on my return from a hasty journey 
 into Yorkshire, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, I spent one day 
 in Manchester. My friend Sir Benjamin Hey wood kindly dis- 
 posed of the principal part of my day, in which of course the 
 Mechanics' Institution was not forgotten. If I once more re- 
 turn I shall be at your disposal in regard to this interesting 
 object, and many others since brought into operation. 
 
 With great respect, I remain, my dear Sir, 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 Wm. Fairbairn, Esq. GTEOKGE BIRKBECK. 
 
 38, Finsbury Square, January 18, 1841. 
 
 My dear Sir, We all rejoice in the effects of my son 
 George's residence under your superintendence. His feelings 
 are better regulated in consequence of the influence of occupa- 
 tion, under kind and friendly control, and he has acquired a 
 taste for industrious pursuits, which I am persuaded will benefit 
 him through life. He speaks in the highest terms of yourself 
 and Mrs. Fairbairn, and the rest of the family. I had formed, 
 I confess, great expectations from this engagement, and it is 
 no small gratification to me to feel that I have not in any 
 respect been deceived or mistaken. 
 
 Dr. Birkbeck died in December of this year. 
 
 In September 1841 Mr. Fairbairn's daughter Anne was 
 married to his young friend Mr. J. F. Bateman, an alliance 
 which gave him great pleasure. He was much attached 
 to her, and from that time he often spent the leisure 
 which he snatched from business with Mr. and Mrs. Bate-
 
 192 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIE BAIRN. CHAP. xn. 
 
 man and their family, sometimes also accompanying them 
 on tours and excursions either on the Continent or in the 
 picturesque districts of Great Britain. 
 
 The business connection of Mr. Bateman with his 
 father-in-law in some important works in Ireland has 
 already been mentioned. After that their communica- 
 tions on engineering matters were very frequent; and 
 Mr. Bateman's previous engineering education and scien- 
 tific tastes enabled him to be of considerable service to 
 Mr. Fairbairn. Indeed for many years there was scarcely 
 any engineering scheme or scientific investigation under- 
 taken in which Mr. Bateman's assistance was not called 
 in, until the time when Mr. Fairbairn's own sons grew 
 up, and were able to render him efficient help in his 
 business transactions. 
 
 In January 1846 Mr. Fairbairn's father died at the 
 great age of eighty- six. The following letter, written to 
 his wife on receiving the news, is characteristic : 
 
 Millwall, January 17, 1844. 
 
 My dearest Dorothy, I have this moment arrived from 
 Paris and received the announcement of my poor father's demise. 
 It came upon me unexpectedly, and although he had reached a 
 good old age, yet I feel the stroke most severely, and can 
 scarcely reconcile myself to the change. The last link which 
 bound us to the last generation is now snapped asunder, and the 
 many events of my childhood, with the endearing attentions of 
 my good parents, rise up before me as fresh as on the days of 
 their occurrence. Poor old man ! I used to listen to him with 
 great attention, and always admired his sound judgment, and 
 above all his unflinching integrity, which was never absent 
 under whatever circumstances he was placed. I shall always 
 cherish his virtues and look back with pleasure to the happy 
 days I spent under his roof. 
 
 I feel my heart fill now they are gone, and although a father 
 myself, I experience the weakness of a child at the bereavement 
 I have sustained. I have been up for the last two nights, but
 
 HAYDON, THE PAINTER. 193 
 
 I must move again by this evening's train to Leeds, and from 
 thence join my brother at Newcastle, in order to perform the 
 last sad duties to my excellent and affectionate parent. 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The following letter from an eminent but unfortunate 
 artist will be read with interest, and shows the character 
 Mr. Fairbairn had acquired for kindness of heart. It is 
 no breach of propriety now to allude to the circum- 
 stances of the writer, for they have been but too clearly 
 told in his published life. 
 
 14 Burwood Place, London, December 22, 1844. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, You once gave me hopes of an 
 order. 
 
 Shall I make a proposition ? Frank goes up for examina- 
 tion and his degree in a week or ten days, at furthest. 
 
 His fees are 151., and his college bill 40. 14s. lld.= 
 561. Us. lid. 
 
 I have brought him through all his terms but this last, and 
 if this last be not paid up, he is ruined and will not have his 
 degree. 
 
 I will paint you a small picture for that amount, or for any 
 portion you will advance me at once. You were kind to Frank, 
 and may feel an interest in getting him through. 
 
 I never broke my word about a picture in my life. Close at 
 once and you shall have an ornament for your house. 
 
 I hope you and Mrs. Fairbairn and boys and all are well. 
 
 Mrs. and Miss Haydon's kind respects. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 B. E. HAYDON. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn endorsed the letter : * Answered Feb- 
 ruary 15, with an order for a picture, value to be 30/.' 
 
 Poor Haydon did not break his word. One day, 
 about the middle of June 1845, he called at the house, 
 in London, of one of Mr. Fairbairn's relatives, and left 
 
 o
 
 194 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xir. 
 
 an unfinished sketch in the hall, giving a hasty message 
 for its care. On the 22nd of the same month he shot 
 himself in his painting-room. 
 
 The picture, the subject of which is 'Christ before 
 Pilate,' is still in the possession of Lady Fairbairn. 
 
 The pride Mr. Fairbairn took in his long friendship 
 with George Stephenson has already been noticed. The 
 following letter is curious, when it is recollected that at 
 this time the two men's ages were fifty-eight and sixty-six 
 respectively : 
 
 Tapton House, January 5, 1847- 
 
 My dear Sir, I have only this day received yours of 
 January 1. 
 
 It will give me great pleasure to accept your kind invitation 
 to Manchester when you return from Ireland. Should I find it 
 convenient to do so, I will inform you in due time. In the 
 meantime let me wish you and Mrs. Fairbairn many returns of 
 the season. 
 
 Now for the challenge to wrestle. Had you not known that 
 I had given up that species of sport, you durst not have made 
 the expressions in your letter you have done. Although you are 
 a much taller and stronger looking man than myself, I am 
 quite sure that I could have smiled in your face when you were 
 laying on your back ! I know your wife would not like to see 
 me do this, therefore let me have no more boasting, or you 
 might get the worst of it. 
 
 Notwithstanding your challenge, 
 
 I remain yours faithfully, 
 
 GEO. STEPHENSON.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TI1K CONWAY AND BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGES 
 1845-1849
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN'S BOOK ox THE SUBJECT ORIGIN AND EARLY 
 HISTORY THE CHESTER AND HOLYHEAD RAILWAY MR. STEPHENSON'S 
 ORIGINAL IDEA MR. FAIRBAIRN CONSULTED BY HIM DOUBT AS TO 
 THE BEST FORM OF TUBE, CYLINDRICAL, ELLIPTICAL, OR RECTANGULAR 
 NATURE OF THE STRAINS WEAKNESS OF THE UPPER PART MR. 
 EATON HODGKINSON CORRUGATED TOP REPORTS TO THE DIRECTORS 
 PROPOSED USE OF SUSPENSION CHAINS MR. FAIRBAIRN'S CONFIDENCE 
 THE LARGE MODEL DRAWINGS FOR THE BRIDGES DEFINITION OF 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN'S POSITION RESOLUTIONS OF THE DIRECTORS COM- 
 MENCEMENT OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE CONWAY BRIDGE CON- 
 TRACTS FOR IRONWORK ERECTION AND FIXING COMPLETION 
 RETIREMENT OF MR. FAIRBAIRN PUBLICATION OF THE BOOK AS- 
 SISTANCE OF EMINENT MEN PATENT FOB TUBULAR BRIDGES 
 EXTENSIVE MANUFACTURE OF THEM.
 
 197 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 DURING the period comprised in the previous chapter 
 Mr. Fairbairn was engaged, for four years, on a work of 
 such importance and novelty as to merit special descrip- 
 tion. This was the great series of experimental investi- 
 gations necessary to determine the details and proportions 
 of the colossal wrought-iron tubular bridges erected on 
 the Chester and Holyhead Railway. 
 
 After the close of his connection with this work, in 
 1849, Mr. Fairbairn published a book, the title of which 
 is as follows : 
 
 'An Account of the Construction of the Britannia and Con way 
 Tubular Bridges ; with a complete history of their progress, 
 from the conception of the original idea to the conclusion of 
 the elaborate experiments which determined the exact form and 
 mode of construction ultimately adopted.' By William Fairbairn, 
 C.E., Memb. Inst. Civil Engineers, Vice-President of the lite- 
 rary and Philosophical Society, Manchester, &c. London : 
 Weale ; Longman & Co. 1849. 
 
 As this work expressed Mr. Fairbairn's matured views 
 on this subject, it will naturally form the most appropriate 
 basis for the brief notice to be given in this chapter, 
 Reference may be made to the work itself for further 
 details. 
 
 The following extracts give an account of the origin 
 and early history of the proceedings : 
 
 In the construction of the Chester and Holyhead Railway 
 two formidable obstacles had to be overcome. The deep and,
 
 193 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xi;r. 
 
 rapid tidal streams at the Conway and Menai Straits had to be 
 crossed by bridges which must necessarily be of extraordinary 
 span, and of great strength. No centerings or other sub- 
 structures, such as are usually resorted to for putting such 
 massive structures together, could be erected. 
 
 Under such circumstances the most obvious resource of th^ 
 engineer was a suspension bridge, but the failure of more than 
 one attempt had proved the impossibility of running railway 
 trains over bridges of that class with safety. Some new expe- 
 dient of engineering was therefore required, and an engineer 
 bold and skilful enough to conceive such an expedient and to 
 apply it. That engineer was found in Mr. Eobert Stephenson, 
 and that expedient is the one, the history of which it is the 
 object of the following pages to relate. 
 
 Having to encounter extraordinary difficulties of execution, 
 and being compelled by the Admiralty [who opposed the erec- 
 tion of any structure which should offer a hindrance to the free 
 passage of vessels under it] to abandon the ordinary resources of 
 the engineer, Mr. Stephenson conceived the original idea of a 
 huge tubular bridge, to be constructed of riveted plates and 
 supported by chains, and of such dimensions as to allow of the 
 passage of locomotive engines and railway trains through the 
 interior of it. 
 
 It was with reference to this expedient, after all others had 
 been found inapplicable, that I was consulted by him, and that 
 my opinion was requested, first as to the practicability of the 
 scheme, and secondly as to the means necessary for carrying it 
 out. This consultation took place early in April 1845, and, as 
 far as could be gathered from Mr. Stephenson at the time, his 
 idea then was that the tube should be either of a circular or an 
 egg-shaped sectional form. 
 
 At this period there were no drawings illustrative of the 
 original idea of the bridge, nor had any calculations been made 
 as to the strength, form, or proportions of the tube. It was 
 ultimately arranged that the subject should be investigated ex- 
 perimentally, to determine, not only the value of Mr. Stephen-
 
 PRINCIPLE OF THE BEAM. 199 
 
 son's original conception, but that of any other tubular form of 
 bridge which might present itself in the prosecution of my 
 researches. The matter was placed unreservedly in my hands ; 
 the entire conduct of the investigation was entrusted to me ; 
 and, as an experimenter, I was to be left free to exercise my 
 own discretion in the investigation of whatever forms or condi- 
 tions of the structure might appear to me best calculated to 
 secure a safe passage across the Straits. This freedom of action 
 was obviously necessary to the success of my experiments. I 
 cannot but feel myself to have been honoured by that confidence 
 in my judgment which it implied. 
 
 The whole series of experiments (detailed in the Appendix) 
 was conducted at my works, Millwall, Poplar. 
 
 By July 21 a considerable number of experiments had 
 been made ; nearly the whole of the cylindrical tubes had been 
 tested, and preparations were then in progress for the rectan- 
 gular and elliptical forms. The difficulties experienced in 
 retaining the cylindrical tubes in shape, when submitted 
 severe strains, naturally suggested the rectangular form. Many 
 new models of this kind were prepared and experimented on 
 before the end of July, and others, with different thicknesses of 
 the top and bottom plates, or flanches, before August 6. 
 
 On this day he wrote a letter to Mr. Stephenson, 
 which clearly pointed to the principle thenceforward 
 adopted in regard to the beam namely, that of treating 
 it as a hollow girder. The letter says : 
 
 From these investigations we derive several important facts, 
 one of which I may mention, namely, the difficulty of bringing 
 the upper, as well as the lower, side of the bridge into the tensile 
 strain. For this object several changes were effected, and 
 attempts made to distribute the forces equally, or in certain 
 proportions throughout the parts, but without effect, the results 
 being in every experiment that of a holloiu beam or girder, 
 resisting, in the usual way, by the compression of the upper and 
 extension of the lower sides. In almost every instance we have 
 found the resistance opposed to compression the weakest ; the
 
 200 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CUM: xm. 
 
 upper side generally giving way from the severity of the strain 
 in that direction. 
 
 These facts are important so far as they have given rise to a 
 new series of experiments calculated to stiffen or render more 
 rigid the upper part of the tube, as well as to equalise the 
 strain, which in our present construction is evidently too weak 
 for the resisting forces of compression. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn continues his narrative : 
 
 It will be seen by this letter that the weakness of the tube 
 had been recognised in its upper surface, which yielded to com- 
 pression before the under side was upon the point of yielding to 
 extension ; and that the course which the experiments hence- 
 forth took, of so strengthening the upper surface that it should 
 not be on the point if yielding to compression until the under 
 surface was about to yield by extension, had been already shaped 
 out ... I had ordered the top of the tube to be thickened. It 
 now occurred to me that the top might be strengthened more 
 effectually by other means than by thickening it, and I directed 
 two additional tubes to be constructed, the one rectangular and 
 the other elliptical, with hollow triangular cells or fins to pre- 
 vent crushing. 
 
 These experiments led to the trial of the rectangular form 
 of tube with a corrugated top, the superior strength of which 
 decided me to adopt that cellular structure of the top of the 
 tube which ultimately merged in a single row of rectangular 
 cells. It is this cellular structure which gives to the bridges 
 now standing across the Conway Straits their principal element 
 of strength. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Stephenson, dated September 20, 
 1845, Mr. Fairbairn, after describing the experiments 
 with the tubes, adds : 
 
 It is more than probable that the bridge, in its full size, 
 may take something of the following sectional shape. 
 
 The parts a a, being two longitudinal plates, divided by 
 vertical plates so as to form squares, calculated to resist the 
 crushing strain in the first instance ; and the lower parts 6 6, 
 also longitudinal plates, well connected with riveted joints,
 
 THE SQUARE CELLULAR SECTION. 
 
 201 
 
 and of considerable thickness to resist the tensile strain in the 
 second. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn remarks on this : 
 
 The reader will not fail .to observe how much this sketch 
 resembles the tubes actually constructed for the Con way and 
 Britannia Bridges. 
 
 11 
 
 MR. FAIRUA1RN S FIRST SKETCH FOR THE TUBE 
 OF THE BRITANNIA BRIDGE. 
 
 Towards the end of August Mr. Fairbairn considered 
 that the experiments had assumed a shape which seemed 
 to require the assistance of a mathematician, in order to 
 deduce, from the trials on a small scale, formulas and 
 modes of calculation applicable to a larger size. For this 
 purpose he invited the assistance of Mr. Eaton Hodgkin- 
 son, who, it will be recollected, had already been asso- 
 ciated with Mr. Fairbairn in investigations on the 
 strength of iron. Mr. Stephenson concurred in the pro- 
 position, and Mr. Hodgkinson first visited Millwall on 
 September 19. 
 
 The square cell tube, although so clearly indicated in 
 the above letter, was not, however, at once tried - f for Mr.
 
 202 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xin. 
 
 Fairbairn preferred to experiment on another modifica- 
 tion of the same principle namely, a rectangular tube 
 having a corrugated top, resembling in section the eyes 
 of a pair of spectacles. This was tried on October 14, 
 and Mr. Fairbairn, writing the next day to Mr. Stephen- 
 son, says : 
 
 Our experiments of yesterday were the best and most satis- 
 factory we have yet made ; and, agreeable to expectation, the 
 form, as per annexed sketch, gave not only the greatest strength, 
 but what was of equal importance, there was a near approxima- 
 tion to an equality of the forces on the top and bottom sides. 
 .... It is evident we are approaching the strongest form. . . 
 I think we have sufficient data to guide you as to the security 
 of such a structure. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn adds : 
 
 It is from this period that I date the disappearance of almost 
 every difficulty respecting the construction and ultimate forma- 
 tion of the Britannia and Conway tubes. The powerful re- 
 sistance offered to compression by the cellular form of the top, 
 as exhibited in the last experiment, at once decided in my 
 mind the form to be adopted in those for the large tubes ; and 
 from that time forward I had no doubts as to the practicability 
 and complete success of the undertaking. 
 
 Towards the end of the year it became necessary for 
 Mr. Stephenson to make some report to the directors of 
 the Chester and Holyhead Eailway. They had up to this 
 time shown a great deal of patience, and had watched 
 with much interest the progress of the experiments at 
 Millwall ; but as the next general meeting of the share- 
 holders was approaching, the directors naturally desired 
 to have some definite statements to produce. 
 
 It was accordingly arranged that Mr. Stephenson's 
 own report to the directors should be accompanied by 
 two separate ones, by Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Hodgkinson
 
 USE OF CHAINS. 203 
 
 respectively, each giving his own views relative to the ex- 
 periments, as well as to the chances of ultimate success in 
 the construction of the bridges. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson's Report was dated February 9, 1846, 
 and the three documents are given entire in Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's book. A few extracts will serve to illustrate 
 Mr. Fairbairn's position in the matter. Mr. Stephenson 
 says : 
 
 I will lay before you the results of the experimental inves- 
 tigation, which, with your sanction, I commenced some months 
 ago in reference to the construction of the bridge over the 
 Menai Straits. 
 
 In conducting this experimental investigation I saw the 
 importance of avoiding the influence of any preconceived views 
 of my own, or at least to check them, by calling in the aid of 
 other parties thoroughly conversant with such researches. For 
 this purpose I have availed myself of the assistance of Mr. 
 Fairbairn and Mr. Hodgkinson ; the former so well known for 
 his thorough practical knowledge in such matters ; and the 
 latter distinguished as the first scientific authority on the 
 strength of iron beams. 
 
 He then gives a resume of the experiments made to 
 that time, which had, he said, served to determine finally 
 two essential points namely, the form of the tube, which 
 should be rectangular, and the distribution of the material, 
 which should be such as to throw the greatest thickness 
 into the upper side. The important question remaining 
 to be determined was the absolute ultimate strength of a 
 tube of any given dimensions, which required further 
 experimental elucidation. 
 
 There had been an idea, in the first instance, of using, 
 for the erection of the tubes, large suspension chains on 
 each side, and Mr. Stephenson had contemplated retain- 
 ing these permanently in their position as an auxiliary 
 support for the tubes. Mr. Fairbairn had expressed the
 
 204 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBA1RN. CHAP. xiir. 
 
 opinion that these were unnecessary, and Mr. Stephenson 
 remarks on the subject as follows : 
 
 You will observe in Mr. Fairbairn's remarks that he con- 
 templates the feasibility of stripping the tube entirely of all the 
 chains that may be required in the erection of the bridge ; 
 whereas, on the other hand, Mr. Hodgkinson thinks the chains 
 will be an essential, or at all events a useful auxiliary, to give 
 Ihe tube the requisite strength and rigidity. This, however, 
 will be Determined by the proposed additional experiments, and 
 does not interfere with the construction of the masonry, which 
 is designed so as to admit of the tube, with or without the 
 chains. 
 
 The application of chains as an auxiliary has occupied much 
 of my attention, and I am satisfied that the ordinary mode of 
 applying them to suspension bridges is wholly inadmissible in 
 the present instance ; if therefore it be hereafter found necessary 
 or desirable to employ them in conjunction with the tube, 
 another mode of applying them must be devised, as it is abso- 
 lutely essential to attach them in such manner as to preclude 
 the possibility of the smallest oscillation. In the accomplish- 
 ment of this I see no difficulty whatever, and the designs have 
 been arranged accordingly, in order to avoid any further delay. 
 
 It will be noticed that Mr. Fairbairn was the only one 
 of the three reporters who gave a positive and decided 
 opinion against the use of chains ; Mr. Hodgkinson decidedly 
 recommending them, and Mr. Stephenson appearing, by 
 his expressions, rather favourable to them than otherwise. 
 Now, as ultimately the chains were abandoned, not only 
 for permanent, but even for temporary use, the event 
 testified strongly to Mr. Fairbairn's sagacity and soundness 
 of judgment in a matter so confessedly novel and obscure. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn's Eeport gave a succinct account of the 
 experiments which had been conducted namely, 9 on 
 cylindrical tubes, 5 on elliptical, and 10 on rectangular 
 tubes. These tubes varied from about 17 to 30 feet long,
 
 THE LARGE MODEL. 205 
 
 and from 7 to 24 inches in transverse dimensions, and 
 the trials clearly proved the superiority of the rectan- 
 gular form and the cellular top. Mr. Fairbairn expressed 
 great confidence as to the ultimate success of the under- 
 taking and the self-supporting power of the tube. 
 
 After the presentation of these reports, the experi- 
 ments were continued, with the view of determining more 
 accurately the dimensions and strength of the structure ; 
 but before much more was done Mr. Hodgkinson, in 
 March 1846, requested that his share of the work should 
 be performed separately and under his own control ; and 
 as Mr. Stephenson acceded to this, Mr. Hodgkinson had 
 no further connection with Mr. Fairbairn's proceedings. 
 
 In April Mr. Fairbairn communicated to Mr. Stephen- 
 son an account of further experiments, which had enabled 
 a rough preliminary estimate to be made out of the dimen- 
 sions of the real tube. Mr. Fairbairn also began to give 
 some attention to the details of construction, proposing 
 certain modes of connecting the plates by riveting, which 
 he considered would be advantageous. 
 
 It was further determined to construct a large model 
 tube, in every respect accurately proportioned to one- 
 sixth of the dimensions of the real structure; this, Mr. 
 Fairbairn remarked to Mr. Stephenson, would complete 
 everything necessary for their practical guidance. 
 
 About April 1846, the design of the bridges was com- 
 menced in earnest, the drawings were put in hand, and 
 measures were considered and discussed for obtaining the 
 material and arranging the manufacture. The distribu- 
 tion of the metal, the sizes of the plates, and the methods 
 to be pursued for putting them together, became matters 
 of considerable importance, and much time and thought 
 were devoted to them.
 
 206 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAlRBAIRN. CHAP. xiri. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn's duties now became more onerous. It 
 was no longer the making and testing of small models 
 that he had to do. He was required to render efficient 
 aid in the designs and manufacture of the largest and 
 most important iron constructions that had ever been 
 known, thousands of tons in weight, and involving 
 great novelty, both in principle and detail. Hence it 
 became desirable that his position and occupation in 
 regard to the work should be acknowledged and clearly 
 denned ; and, with Mr. Stephenson's concurrence, this was 
 done at a board meeting of the directors of the Chester 
 and Holyhead Railway on May 13, 1846. The following 
 is an extract from the official minutes : 
 
 Resolved: 1. That Mr. Fairbairn be appointed to super- 
 intend the construction and erection of the Con way and Britannia 
 Bridges, in conjunction with Mr. Stephenson. 
 
 2. That Mr. Fairbairn have, with Mr. Stephenson, the ap- 
 pointment of such persons as are necessary, subject to the powers 
 of their dismissal by the directors. 
 
 3. That Mr. Fairbairn furnish a list of the persons he re- 
 quires, with the salaries that he proposes for all foremen or 
 others above the class of workmen. 
 
 4. That advances of money be made on Mr. Fairbairn's 
 requisition and certificates, which, with the accounts or vouchers, 
 are to be furnished monthly. 
 
 The works connected with the first bridge it was 
 intended to erect, that at Conway, may be said then to 
 have fairly commenced, and we find Mr. Fairbairn hard 
 at work in regard to various practical matters connected 
 with the construction visiting ironworks, arranging 
 workshops and tools, preparing for letting the contracts, 
 and so on. The large model tube was pushed on, and 
 was completed, ready for experiment, in June. It was 
 75 feet long, 4 feet 6 inches high, and 2 feet 8 inches wide. 
 It was tested to destruction, by hanging weights on it till
 
 DRAWINGS AND CONTRACTS. 207 
 
 it gave way, the object being to find out the weak places, 
 and to ascertain how it would fail. After each trial the 
 injured and defective parts were cut out arid the tube 
 was restored to its original form, with plates of altered 
 strength, as indicated by the nature and appearance of the 
 fracture, and as circumstances might require. This was 
 done seven different times, until proportions were arrived 
 at which appeared to be satisfactory, as giving all the 
 strength of which such a tube was capable. By the 
 middle of July a decision had been come to as to the 
 proportions and distribution of material to be adopted in 
 the real tubes. 
 
 About this time we find Mr. Fairbairn considering 
 and proposing plans for the erection and fixing of the 
 bridges, and earnestly urging on Mr. Stephenson the aban- 
 donment of the proposed suspension chains. In August 
 he was at the Menai Straits attending to the arrangements 
 there. 
 
 Mr. Stephenson was away on the Continent till the end 
 of September, and on his return the contract drawings 
 and specifications, which had been prepared by Mr. 
 Fairbairn in conjunction with Mr. Edwin Clark (Mr. 
 Stephenson's chief assistant on the bridge), were ready. 
 
 The contracts took some time to settle, but they wore 
 not of such a nature as to shut out alterations and 
 improvements in the forms or proportions of the tubes, 
 as new information was obtained. The experiments and 
 investigations still went on, and the forms of the cells and 
 other points of detail underwent careful discussion. 
 
 At the end of the year 1846 Mr. Fairbairn, after 
 visiting several manufactories, reported progress in the 
 preparations for the construction of the tubes. 
 
 When the contracts were first considered, it was pro-
 
 208 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xin. 
 
 posed that Mr. Fairbairn's firm should take an important 
 share in the manufacture. Mr. Stephenson, writing to 
 Mr. Fairbairn on October 25, said : 
 
 I am sincerely glad that your son and Ditchburn [another 
 maker] have succeeded in arranging with the Company. We 
 must put the whole of the Britannia into their hands, as I am 
 sure the others are unequal to the thing. We must visit both 
 their establishments when I come down to Manchester. 
 
 In reference to this, Mr. Fairbairn says afterwards : 
 
 A joint contract, which had been entered into by my son, 
 as representative of the firm of Messrs. Fairbairn and Sons, 
 Millwall, with Messrs. Ditchburn and Mare, of Blackwall, for 
 constructing the greater part of the tubes for the Britannia 
 Bridge, was looked upon with suspicion by the board. Although 
 interested as a partner, I had not personally interfered in the 
 matter, and I was even unacquainted with the terms of agree- 
 ment between the two firms ; but when the feelings which were 
 entertained by the directors were made known to me, and as it 
 appeared difficult for me, in consequence of the partnership, 
 to maintain a perfectly independent position, I urged a transfer 
 of the whole contract into the hands of Messrs. Ditchburn and 
 Mare. This transfer was afterwards satisfactorily arranged by 
 my son and Mr. Mare, and approved of by the Company. 
 
 The detailed dimensions of some parts of the tubes 
 continued to be under consideration, as more light was 
 thrown on the nature of the forces and resistances, until 
 about the spring of 1847, when the whole may be said to 
 have been finally arranged. 
 
 All this time Mr. Fairbairn was occupied in various 
 matters connected with the work, and, among others, 
 with the mode of erecting it. On March 24, 1847, he 
 wrote to Mr. Stephenson : 
 
 I have now completed, or nearly completed, the whole of
 
 MANUFACTURE AND ERECTION. 209 
 
 the drawings for the framework, girders, &c., for lifting the 
 tubes. The arrangement of the hydraulic apparatus, chains, 
 &c., is also complete ; and as soon as we have copied the draw- 
 ings &c., the whole shall be laid before you. I am now well 
 satisfied as to the security of the ends of the tubes, where the 
 chains [for lifting them] are to be attached, as also the large 
 girders, and all the roller platforms, which are now secure and 
 in a most satisfactory position. 
 
 The actual manufacture of the tubes also engaged his 
 attention, although the superintendence of this was not 
 strictly within his province. On June 8 Mr. Stephenson 
 wrote to him : 
 
 I am much gratified at your resolution to devote a con- 
 siderable portion of your time to looking the tube builders up, 
 
 and getting a good job made of the whole affair What 
 
 would be most valuable is a regular periodical visit, so that 
 the progress may be narrowly watched, and advantage taken of 
 every new continuation [contrivance] as it occurs. Of these 
 there will be many, which must suggest improvements in our 
 arrangements. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn answered, June 9 : 
 
 I have made up my mind to devote my best energies to 
 the construction and due completion of the tubes, and I will 
 watch narrowly and regularly the progress of each construction, 
 that the work be well done, and free from blemish in every 
 respect. 
 
 As the time approached for making arrangements for 
 the erection, Mr. Fairbairn wrote, August 16, to Mr. 
 Stephenson : 
 
 Will you write me whether it is your wish that I should 
 take charge of the floating and raising of the tubes ? I have 
 no objection to do it, and to take the management of the whole 
 thing, subject to your approval, and to be responsible for the 
 result. 
 
 Mr. Steplienson answered, August 23 : 
 p
 
 210 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xiii. 
 
 I was surprised at your letter this morning, asking if I 
 wished you to take charge of the floating and lifting. I con- 
 sider you as acting with me in every department of the proceed- 
 ings, and I shall regret if anything has been done which has 
 conveyed to you the idea that I was not desirous of having the 
 full benefit of your assistance in every particular. 
 
 On January 7, 1848, Mr. Stephenson wrote : 
 
 I am glad to hear from your note, received this morning, 
 that all is progressing satisfactorily, though not with that des- 
 patch which could be desired. Your presence will do much, 
 and I hope you will give as large a portion of your time as you 
 can possibly spare. 
 
 It had been decided that, in order to ascertain the 
 strength of the structure by actual trial, the first tube 
 completed, that at Con way, should, before putting it in 
 its place, be tested by supporting it on its ends and load- 
 ing it with a considerable weight. This test was made at 
 the end of January, and on February 2 Mr. Fairbairn 
 wrote to the effect that the anticipations derived from the 
 experiments on the model had been fully borne out by 
 the trials of the real tube. A few weeks later the tube 
 was hoisted into its place, and the trains passed through 
 it in April 1848, Mr. Fairbairn continuing to give his 
 aid in the matter until the solution of the great problem 
 was practically completed. 
 
 Shortly after this time, some misunderstandings having 
 unfortunately arisen as to the precise nominal position 
 Mr. Fairbairn occupied (there could be none as to the 
 value of the services he had rendered) in regard to the 
 bridges, he did not feel it consistent with his self-respect 
 that he should continue his connection with them, and on 
 May 22, 1848, he wrote to the directors resigning the 
 appointment he had formally received from them two 
 years before.
 
 AID OF MEN OF SCIENCE. 211 
 
 He then put in hand the book mentioned at the begin- 
 ning of the present chapter, with the object of giving an 
 authentic record of the proceedings he had been a party 
 to, in reference to these bridges, and thereby establishing 
 his claims to what he considered an important share in 
 the merit of their construction. In the preparation of 
 this work (the largest literary effort that had yet pro- 
 ceeded from his pen) he had the assistance of many 
 friends, among others the late Eev. H. Moseley, Canon of 
 Bristol, and Mr. Tate, of Battersea, the latter gentleman 
 furnishing the many mathematical calculations which the 
 book contained. 
 
 Many other men eminent in science also actively 
 interested themselves in Mr. Fairbairn's work on these 
 bridges, among whom may be mentioned Sir David 
 Brewster, Mr. George Bennie, Mr. James Nasmyth, Dr. 
 Andrew Ure, Mr. C. Babbage, and Professor James D. 
 Forbes. 
 
 Mr. Babbage wrote thus in answer to an invitation 
 from Mr. Fairbairn : 
 
 My dear Sir, I very much regret the impossibility of my 
 accepting your very agreeable invitation for next week. I have 
 been compelled to leave London on account of my health, and 
 am endeavouring, by the aid of sea air and quietness, to recruit 
 it. This will detain me in the West of England as long as cir- 
 cumstances permit. It is now several years since I have visited 
 your part of England, and I know how rapidly it advances. I 
 am, therefore, very anxious to take the earliest opportunity of 
 renewing my acquaintance with it, and of studying those great 
 mechanical advances in which you have taken so large a part. 
 I am, my dear Sir, yours faithfully, 
 
 C. BABBAGE. 
 
 Ashley Combe, Portlock, Somersetshire, 
 September 3, 1848. 
 
 Another letter, from one of the cleverest practical 
 p 2
 
 212 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. XIIT. 
 
 mechanics of the age, contains also some interesting 
 passages : 
 
 Patricroft, December 15, 1849. 
 
 ' My dear Sir, Feeling such a lively interest as I shall always 
 do in all that relates to your well-earned fame, and having, 
 from the first, through your great kindness, noted the develop- 
 ment of this masterpiece of your genius, I did not fail to 
 purchase a copy of your work when it first came out, and have 
 perused it again and again with the deepest interest. I assure 
 you I feel most proud in being thought worthy of receiving a 
 copy of your work direct from the author, and shall store it up 
 along with a few other much valued treasures, and so let my 
 locomotive copy free to run about telling the truth in many a 
 quarter where the truth ought to be known, and where it can 
 be justly appreciated. 
 
 The Earl of Ellesmere has taken a most lively interest in 
 this affair, and, after carefully perusing your work, I think it 
 would have done your heart good to have heard the way in 
 which he gave forth his verdict, one afternoon, before some 
 rather influential folks. Long may you live to enjoy the fame 
 (and, I trust, the profit) which shall attend your triumphant intro- 
 duction of a new era in engineering, which is destined to do 
 mankind most mighty service ! 
 
 With kindest regards to Mrs. Fairbairn, in which Mrs. 
 Nasmyth desires to unite, 
 
 Believe me, I am yours most faithfully, 
 
 JAMES NASMYTH. 
 
 During the course of Mr. Fairbairn's experiments it 
 seems to have occurred to him that the principle which 
 was being developed might be made of extended applica- 
 tion for bridges generally, particularly on railways ; and 
 as its application involved points of novelty, he, with Mr. 
 Stephenson's concurrence, took out a patent for the 
 improvement. It is dated October 8, 1846, and bears 
 the official number 11,401. The title is for 'Improve- 
 ments in the construction of iron beams for the erection
 
 TUBULAR BRIDGE PATENT. 213 
 
 of bridges and other structures.' It states the nature of 
 the improvement to consist 
 
 In the novel application and use of plates of metal, united 
 by means of rivets and angle iron, for such or similar purposes, 
 and forming by such combination a hollow iron beam or girder. 
 
 The drawings show several varieties of wrought- 
 iron girders, all embodying the hollow or ' box ' construc- 
 tion with a cellular top, combining peculiar stiffness and 
 lightness with great facility of construction. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn states in regard to this patent : 
 
 The patent for wrought-iron girder bridges was a joint affair 
 between Mr. K. Stephenson and myself. It was in my name as 
 the inventor, but he paid half the expense, and was entitled to 
 one half the profits, but it ultimately became a dead letter, and 
 was abandoned by Mr. Stephenson. 
 
 Under the circumstances the question was, shall I continue 
 to build the bridges. I chose to do so, and I believe I did 
 right, as the principle was quite new, and no one understood 
 the construction so well. I therefore gave designs, and received 
 orders for more than one hundred bridges in the course of a 
 very few years. Up to the present time, 1870, I have built 
 and designed, with the assistance of the Fairbairn Engineering 
 Company, nearly one thousand bridges, some of them of large 
 spans varying from 40 to 300 feet.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 BRIDGE OYER THE EHINE AT COLOGNE 
 18491852
 
 APPLICATION TO MR. FAIRBAIRN PKOPOSED CHAIN-BRIDGE THE 
 CHEVALIER BUNSEN MR. FAIRBAIRN VISITS BERLIN RECEPTION BY 
 THE BARON VON HUMBOLDT" PRESENTATION TO THE KING CORRE- 
 SPONDENCE WITH HUMBOLDT AND BUNSEN MR. FAIRBAIRN's IMPRES- 
 SIONS OF THE BERLIN JOURNEY VISIT OF COMMISSIONERS TO ENGLAND 
 LETTER TO MRS. EDGEWORTH INVITATION BY THE PRUSSIAN AUTHO- 
 RITIES FOR COMPETITIVE DESIGNS ON THE CHAIN PRINCIPLE THIS 
 PRINCIPLE ABANDONED SECOND MISSION TO ENGLAND COMPLETE 
 DESIGN SENT IN BY MR. FAIRBAIRN ADOPTION OF THE GENERAL 
 PRINCIPLE REJECTION OF THE TUBULAR FORM OF GIRDER AND 
 PREFERENCE FOR THE OPEN LATTICE FINAL CORRESPONDENCE.
 
 217 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 FOLLOWING closely on the great Welsh bridges, and 
 arising out of Mr. Fairbairn's connection with them, was 
 another design of a similar character which, though it 
 was not carried into execution by him, made his name 
 favourably known on the Continent, and brought him 
 into contact with some very eminent men. This was a 
 plan submitted by him in 1849-50 for a large bridge 
 across the Ehine at Cologne. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn gives the following account of the cir- 
 cumstances that led to this commission : * 
 
 During the progress of the construction of the Britannia and 
 Conway Tubular Bridges, and shortly after the completion of the 
 latter, in October 1849, I was invited by his Excellency the 
 Prussian Minister, Chevalier Bunsen, to visit Berlin and the 
 Rhenish Provinces, for the purpose of conferring with the autho- 
 rities on the expediency of erecting a tubular bridge for carrying 
 the railway and general traffic across the Ehine at Cologne. 
 
 Some time previous to that visit a chain suspension bridge 
 from the designs of the government engineer had received " the 
 sanction of the government, and preparations were being made 
 to carry it into effect. 
 
 The flexibility of a bridge of this character would render it un- 
 suited to the support of railway traffic, and to remedy this serious 
 defect it was intended to split the trains into sections, and after 
 raising them by machinery to the required level of the bridge, 
 
 1 The Application of Cast and Wrought Iron to Building Purpose*, 1857-8, 
 p. 261.
 
 218 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 to drag them piecemeal by means of horses from one side of the 
 river to the other. A more complicated and unsatisfactory plan, 
 and one better calculated to create delay and inconvenience, 
 could hardly have been devised. 
 
 Although this plan had received the Eoyal assent, it 
 was, at his Majesty's request, postponed until the govern- 
 ment could make themselves acquainted with the system 
 about to be adopted in the great railway bridges in 
 England. 
 
 The Chevalier Bunsen visited Manchester in September 
 1849, and entered into communication with Mr. Fairbairn, 
 and the following letter was written soon afterwards : 
 
 Manchester, October 7, 1849. 
 
 Dear Sir, The completion of the drawings convinces me of 
 the superior efficiency of the tubular girder bridge to meet all 
 the requirements of railway and general traffic across the Khiue 
 at Cologne. I am further convinced, now that the scheme is 
 more fully developed, that the bridge will be constructed for less 
 money, and prove more durable than any other description of 
 bridge calculated to attain the conveniences contemplated in 
 this design. 
 
 Having attained this conviction, and your Excellency having 
 done me the honour to request that I would visit Cologne, and 
 submit the whole project to the proper authorities in that city, I 
 would respectfully suggest how far it would be advisable for me 
 to proceed direct to Berlin, and fortified with your kind recom- 
 mendations, to lay the whole of the designs before his Majesty 
 and the Prussian government, after which I would return to 
 Cologne. 
 
 I offer this suggestion from having heard that a difference of 
 opinion exists between the government and the authorities [of 
 the city] as to the propriety of making the proposed bridge 
 double acting, for the united purpose of railway and general 
 traffic. The Corporation of Cologne, as I understand, require a 
 bridge only for carriages and foot-passengers, whereas upon the 
 plan I propose both objects can be obtained without incurring
 
 THE CHEVALIER BUXSEX. 219 
 
 much, if any, additional cost. I think these are the views of your 
 Excellency and the government, and I shall deem it a great honour 
 to be the engineer to carry these objects into effect. 
 
 I am sure your Excellency will pardon me, if in this, as in 
 all other transactions, I speak freely and openly. On the con- 
 struction of this great work, should it be executed, it is not my 
 intention to become the contractor ; the government or the 
 authorities of Cologne shall make their own selection as to those 
 who shall do the work, but I shall give all the designs and 
 working drawings, superintend, and take the responsibility of 
 the execution and security of the work, and that upon some scale 
 of remuneration which may hereafter be agreed upon. 
 I have the honour to be your Excellency's 
 faithful obedient servant, 
 
 WM. FAIBBAIBN. 
 
 His Excellency the CHEVALIER BTTNSEX, &c. &c. 
 
 This proposal was agreed to, and Mr. Fairbairn left 
 for Berlin towards the end of October. He had been 
 given letters of introduction by the Chevalier Bunsen, and 
 was met on his arrival by the Baron Alexander von 
 Humboldt, who, although occupying no official position 
 in the Prussian government, was residing at Potsdam, in 
 immediate communication with the King, and was honoured 
 with his Majesty's friendship and confidence 
 
 The following letter to the Prussian Consul in Eng- 
 land will show Mr. Fairbairn's first impressions on 
 arriving in Berlin : 
 
 Berlin, October 29, 1849. 
 
 My dear Sir, You will be somewhat surprised to hear of 
 my being in Berlin, but I was hurried off from Manchester 
 without the possibility of consulting with yovi before my 
 departure, 
 
 A recent visit of the Ambassador Chevalier Bunsen to Man- 
 chester, whom I had the honour to meet at the Bishop's, 
 suggested the propriety of this visit, for submitting to the 
 authorities here and at Cologne, a project for the construction of
 
 220 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIKBAIRN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 a bridge upon a new principle across the Rhine at the latter city. 
 It was my intention to have written you direct from that place, 
 but I found so many conflicting opinions, that I was under the 
 necessity of extending my journey here to deliver letters to the 
 different ministers, with which I was entrusted by the Ambas- 
 sador. 
 
 I was in hopes, after consulting with the different autho- 
 rities, by whom I have been most kindly received, that I should 
 be enabled to write you definitely upon this subject ; but I find 
 so many difficulties to encounter with the different interests as 
 almost oblige me to leave the matter as we found it. Some 
 gentlemen will, however, be sent over from this country to in- 
 vestigate the properties of this new description of bridge, and I 
 should be delighted, should the business go on, to see it entirely 
 in your hands. I hope to be in London in the course of a week 
 or ten days, when I shall do myself the pleasure of calling on you 
 immediately on my return. In the meantime a note will find 
 me at the Hotel de Belle Vue, Bruxelles, on my way home. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 B. HEBELEE, Esq. 
 
 The king being absent, Mr. Fairbairn went to Dresden, 
 from whence he wrote to the Baron von Humboldt as 
 follows : 
 
 Dresden, October 30, 1849. 
 
 My dear Sir, I send you a rough draft of a letter I have 
 addressed to the Minister of Commerce. It contains my views 
 respecting the construction of the bridge across the Rhine ; and 
 the minister having taken great interest in my new principle of 
 construction, and I think being fully aware of its importance, 
 he proposes accompanying me on Thursday to Potsdam, in order 
 through your kindness to present me to his Majesty. I shall 
 bring the model of the bridge with me, and I hope through your 
 considerate attention to impress his Majesty with the impor- 
 tance of having the work executed on a permanent and solid 
 principle of construction. My chief object is to offer to the 
 Prussian government and the Prussian public a bridge that
 
 BARON HUMBOLDT. 221 
 
 shall be permanent and secure, and on a plan that has been 
 eminently successful. I do not deny that it will be exceedingly 
 grateful to my feelings to become the instrument of its intro- 
 duction. I shall wait the commands of his Majesty, which you 
 will probably communicate to me, at the Hotel de Kussie. 
 
 I have to apologise for this intrusion upon your valuable 
 time. 
 
 And have the honour to be, dear Sir, 
 
 Your devoted humble servant, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The BAEON von HTJMBOLDT, &c. &c. 
 
 The Baron answered : 
 
 Je repois, Monsieur, votre interessante lettre, datee de Dresde 
 du 30 Octobre, si tard, que je suis incertain si ma reponse vous 
 arrive a temps. Le Eoi, auquel j'ai pu dire combien vous etes 
 presse de partir avec votre aimable famille, desire vous recevoir 
 a diner demain, Jeudi l er Novembre a 3 h. a Sans Souci, con- 
 jointement avec le Minis tre de Commerce. 
 
 Agreez, je vous prie, 1'expression de ma haute consideration. 
 Mes respects a Lady Fairbairn. 
 
 LE BARON DE HUMBOLDT. 
 
 A Potsdam, Mercredi soir, 
 [Oct. 31] 1849. 
 
 The following is a translated extract of a letter written 
 by Humboldt to Chevalier Bunsen the day after Mr. 
 Fairbairn's reception by the King : 
 
 Potsdam, November 2, 1849. 
 
 Most honoured Friend, The haste with which the excellent 
 Mr. Fairbairn, the creator of the gigantic structure, will leave 
 us, after coming back from Dresden, obliges me to thank you 
 only with a few lines for your letter of October 12. I cannot be 
 grateful enough to you for having made us acquainted with a 
 man possessing so much knowledge, so highly esteemed by all, so 
 amiable and so modest. 
 
 The designs for suspension bridges, which Mr. Fairbairn 
 deems very dangerous, were already decided upon for the Khine 
 and Vistula ; but the presence of this celebrated man, which we
 
 222 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 owe to you, has made such a deep impression upon the Minister 
 of Commerce, M. von der Heydt, that he begins to be undecided 
 about his designs for suspension bridges. He has occupied him- 
 self very much and very kindly with Mr. Fairbairn by means of 
 interpreters, and has accompanied him to Potsdam, when the 
 latter was invited to the King's table, and showed, till half-past 
 six in the evening, the model, as well as all the drawings for 
 tubular bridges. 
 
 When Mr. Fairbairn arrived I made haste immediately for 
 Berlin, to offer my services to him and to his family, as well as to 
 the most amiable Mr. Homer, son of the astronomer, the com- 
 panion of Krusenstern. The King was then hunting for many 
 days in the Harz. I advised, therefore, Mr. Fairbairn, who 
 wanted to leave already the next day, to come here again from 
 Dresden for a few days only. I knew for certain that, according 
 to your wish, so warmly expressed, the King would receive Mr. 
 Fairbairn immediately after his arrival in Sans Souci, and the 
 departure of the Queen for Vienna. 
 
 The King was enchanted by the demeanour of the great man, 
 and Mr. Fairbairn did not like less the frank and hearty de- 
 meanour of the King. The King was very much pleased too, to 
 see Mr. Homer, having made the acquaintance of his father at 
 Konigsberg on his return from Kussia to Zurich, and having got 
 his likeness in a painting of Krusenstern's travels, which he 
 ordered as pendant to a painting of the Chimborazo journey. 
 
 The family, which I expect in an hour for viewing the 
 palaces, will start this evening for Ostend. 
 
 As the King himself has no personal influence in the matter, 
 and the minister being dragged along by the councillors, it is 
 yet unknown to me whether the propositions will be definitely 
 adopted or not. For my part I do all that is in my power to 
 show clearly the boundless resistance of the cellular system, &c. 
 
 The next day Mr. Fairbairn left Berlin, after writing 
 a warm letter of thanks to Baron Humboldt for the 
 cordial reception he had been honoured with at the 
 Prussian court. The following letter to an old and inti- 
 mate friend, Dr. Robinson of Armagh, gives -his impres- 
 sion of the Berlin journey :
 
 DINNER WITTI THE KING. 223 
 
 London, November 14, 1849. 
 
 My dear Sir, We have just returned from a tour in Prussia, 
 which you will recollect was in contemplation when we had the 
 pleasure of your company in Manchester. Mrs. Fairbairn and 
 my son (reorge have been with me first to Cologne and Coblentz, 
 and subsequently to Berlin. In my visits to these cities I went 
 fortified with introductions from the Chevalier Bunsen, not only 
 in furtherance of the objects of my journey the bridge across 
 the Ehine but to most of the ministers and leading members of 
 the Prussian government, amongst others to the distinguished 
 traveller and philosopher Humboldt. From all these gentlemen 
 I received the most marked attention, but above all from the 
 Baron Humboldt, who, at the great age of eighty, came all the 
 way from Potsdam to Berlin to pay his respects to Mrs. Fairbairn 
 and myself. It was my duty to have gone to him, and I am 
 sure it was a great deal more than I could possibly deserve or 
 expect for him to come to me. But be this as it may, I am 
 certainly indebted to his Excellency for the gracious reception I 
 received from his Majesty a few days afterwards, and to whose 
 table I was invited to dinner. 
 
 I dare not inform Dr. Kobinson of the sayings and doings 
 which took place on that occasion. It would savour too much of 
 a weakness which I fear I have in common with many others. I 
 must endeavour to suppress this rising vanity, and reserve what 
 I have to say for a private tete-a-tete with Mrs. and Miss Robin- 
 son. I must, however, inform you that I was seated with feel- 
 ings of pride and gratification beside a greater man than the 
 King, and enjoyed the benefit of a conversation similar to that I 
 had the pleasure to listen to on the occasion of a recent visit of 
 a highly-valued friend of kindred mind and pursuits. I cannot 
 express to you how much I valued the society of this amiable 
 and distinguished man. At eighty years of age he possesses the 
 mental energies of a man of forty, and retains what appears to 
 me to be the desideratum of advancing years, a mind susceptible 
 of impressions, with a power of discernment and retention which 
 can only be looked for in the maturity of life. Such, however, 
 is the mind of Humboldt, perfectly alive to every improvement 
 and every development in the advancement of his favourite 
 studies.
 
 224 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 By the different ministers I was kindly received, and (by the 
 help of a model) explained to them the principle of the con- 
 struction which I ventured to recommend for the bridge across 
 the Ehine at Cologne. I did not, however, make much progress 
 until Humboldt made himself master of the subject, when the 
 difficulties quickly disappeared, and the authorities at once saw 
 the advantage of a perfectly rigid bridge supporting a continuous 
 line of railway, instead of the flexible chain-bridge which had 
 partly been decided upon, and the transport of the carriages by 
 horses one by one from one side of the river to the other. I have 
 urged upon the government the necessity of avoiding this ex- 
 pensive and complex process, and of having the power not only 
 to have a continuous uninterrupted traffic from one extremity of 
 the Prussian dominions to the other, but I have further recom- 
 mended a double bridge, one side for the railway and the other 
 for general traffic, as exhibited in the following rough sectional 
 sketch which you will clearly understand. 
 
 The bridge in this case would be composed of three principal 
 girders, with galleries outside for foot passengers, and the river 
 being 1,288 feet wide, it would be composed of four spans of 320 
 feet width. This plan I am convinced would not only meet the 
 requirements of the railway, but that of general traffic, and pro- 
 cure ample accommodation for the public and citizens of Cologne. 
 I must apologise for thus troubling you with matters that more 
 immediately concern myself. The interest you have all along 
 taken in the development of this new principle of construction 
 must, however, plead my excuse. Believe me to be, my dear Sir, 
 with kind remembrance to Mrs. and Miss Robinson, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The following official acknowledgment of Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's proposals followed in a few weeks, after the 
 government had had time to consider their general 
 nature : 
 
 9, Carlton Terrace, November 29, 1849. 
 
 Sir? Although you will have received verbally the expression 
 of the high satisfaction which the inspection of your model, and
 
 OFFICIAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 225 
 
 the examination of the drawings and plans, illustrating the prin- 
 ciple of the cellular or tubular construction, with particular ap- 
 plications to the projected bridge over the Khine at Cologne, has 
 given not only to the committee charged with examining the 
 same, and to the Ministers of Trade, of the Home Department 
 and Engineering, and of Finance, to whose departments this 
 subject particularly refers, but to his Majesty in person ; I have 
 been ordered to express to you officially the high sense of the 
 value of that construction and of those plans and proposals which 
 his Majesty's government entertains. 
 
 Although the plan for a suspension bridge (which, of course, 
 could only have served for the ordinary passage) had already been 
 approved of, the government are so convinced of the superior 
 advantages of your system, calculated as well for the railway 
 passage as the ordinary passage of carriages, horses, and foot 
 passengers, that they have ordered two of their most experienced 
 engineers to avail themselves of your kind offer to show to them 
 the constructions already terminated or in progress in England, 
 according to the plan of tubular bridges, and to lay before the 
 government without delay a professional report, preparatory to 
 his Majesty's government's final decision, of which in due time 
 I shall have the honour of informing you. I remain, Sir, with 
 high consideration, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 BUNSEN. 
 
 WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX, Esq., Manchester. 
 
 The commissioners arrived in England soon after this 
 date, and their proceedings, so far as Mr. Fairbairn was 
 concerned, are related in the following letter which he 
 w T rote to Baron Hurnboldt : 
 
 Manchester, December 3, 1849. 
 
 My dear Sir, The Chevalier Bunsen, our mutual and excel- 
 lent friend, has communicated to me the flattering terms in 
 which you have written to him on the occasion of my late visit 
 to Berlin. For these kind expressions I am most grateful, and 
 notwithstanding they are so far beyond my deserts, I neverthe- 
 less receive them with no small degree of satisfaction ; not in 
 
 Q
 
 226 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIKN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 the vain hope of approaching the distinguished eminence of the 
 donor, but with a sincere desire, by future exertions and honour- 
 able conduct, to merit their application. It will indeed be one 
 of the most fortunate events of my life to have the good opinion, 
 and I hope along with it the friendship of an intellect so highly 
 cultivated and so universally honoured as that of the Baron 
 Humboldt. 
 
 The deep interest you have from the first taken in the project 
 1 have in contemplation, not only for the extension of the useful 
 arts, but for the benefit of Prussia, induces me to hazard your 
 displeasure by making you acquainted with the progress I have 
 n ade with the gentlemen of the commission appointed to enquire 
 into the nature of the construction I have had the honour to pro- 
 pose for acceptance in Prussia. That commission consists of 
 (three names illegible). The first is a gentleman of talent and 
 discernment, and I think will take a fair and candid view of the 
 subject; the second is highly respectable, but having originated 
 the project of the chain-bridge across the Rhine, it cannot be 
 expected that his mind will be free from bias which naturally 
 inclines in the direction of his own design. The other gentle- 
 man is equally committed to the flexible structure, as the author 
 of the chain-bridge across the Vistula, and unless the superior 
 strength, rigidity, and safety of the tubular system which I have 
 exhibited to them has brought conviction to his mind, I should 
 look in vain for support in that direction. 
 
 I must, however, do the whole of these gentlemen the justice 
 to state that they collectively expressed themselves satisfied with 
 what they witnessed at the gigantic operations now going for- 
 ward in the floating and raising the large tubes at the Menai 
 Straits. They further acknowledged their surprise at the im- 
 mense strength and solidity of the Con way tube when .standing 
 in the middle of it during the passage of the trains. Altogether 
 I hope their journey has not been unprofitable either as regards 
 the interests of practical science or the introduction of those 
 improvements into Prussia and other parts of the Continent of 
 Europe. 
 
 On the return of the Commission to Berlin it is more than 
 probable you will become acquainted with the result of their 
 labours, and I have no doubt they will report in full as to what
 
 COMMISSION TO ENGLAND. 227 
 
 should be done in the case, not only of the bridges at Cologne 
 and the Vistula, but of all other bridges of similar import and 
 character. As to the nature of the Report I am unable to form 
 an opinion, but whatever it may be, it must come from the sound 
 
 judgment of Mr. ; and I have no doubt, from the opinions 
 
 laid before him and the experimental tests made in his presence, 
 that he will speak favourably of this new principle of construc- 
 tion, and recommend it for adoption both at Cologne and the 
 Vistula. 
 
 The Minister of Commerce and Public Works, M. Van der 
 Heydt, will undoubtedly be guided by the Report he receives 
 from this gentleman, and to enlarge the objects of the Com- 
 mission I shall write to his Excellency in a few days, with a 
 statement of the different bridges these gentlemen have seen, 
 and the places visited by them. To your Excellency I will 
 simply state that I met the gentlemen in London, and accom- 
 panied them to Lincoln, and from thence to Grainsbro', where 
 they were shown the tubular bridge of two spans 1 60 feet each, 
 and the model of which I had the honour to exhibit at Potsdam 
 and Berlin. At this bridge they had an opportunity of witness- 
 ing three different railway trains run in succession over it at full 
 speed ; and at Liverpool they examined two bridges of the same 
 kind each 154 feet span. From Liverpool we proceeded, via 
 Chester, to Conway and the Menai Straits in North Wales, where 
 they had ample means for forming a judgment as to the effi- 
 ciency of the immense structures, partly finished and partly in 
 progress, and with which your Excellency has done me the 
 honour to make yourself fully acquainted. At the Conway 
 Bridge, which is finished, the gentlemen stood in the middle of 
 one of the tubes (400 feet span) when the train ran through it 
 at nearly thirty miles an hour, and I believe with no more 
 vibration or yielding than is found in a stone tunnel or on the 
 solid ground. All these experiments were made and exhibited 
 before the eyes of the deputation, and having completed their 
 survey, they proceeded direct for Scotland, called here again on 
 Thursday, and are now in London, after having visited the 
 Great Western and Devon Railways, Plymouth Dockyards, &c. 
 
 I have much reason to apologise for the trouble I am in- 
 flicting upon you in the perusal of so long a letter, and should
 
 228 LIFE OF Slli WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 not have ventured to do so but that I deem it a duty to make 
 you acquainted with everything that has transpired since I last 
 had the pleasure of seeing you at Potsdam. 
 
 I retain a lively recollection of the great satisfaction I ex- 
 perienced on the occasion of making your acquaintance, and the 
 pleasure which the meeting gave to Mrs. Fairbairn, Mr. Homer, 
 and my son : they collectively and individually unite in kind 
 enquiries, and that you may yet be long spared, with increasing 
 health and honours, is the earnest wish of 
 
 Your Excellency's obliged and humble Servant, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 His Excellency the BAEON von HUMBOLDT. 
 
 The Baron answered this letter, as the answer is 
 alluded to in a correspondence, about a month later, be- 
 tween Mr. Fairbairn and General (after wards Sir Edward) 
 Sabine, President of the Eoyal Society ; but unfortunately 
 it has not been preserved. 
 
 Tow r ards the end of February Mr. Fairbairn, becoming 
 impatient, again wrote Baron Humboldt a letter, which 
 he enclosed to the Ambassador with the following : 
 
 Manchester, February 23, 1850. 
 
 My dear Chevalier Bunsen, It would appear ungracious 
 and unbecoming on my part if I attempted to forward my com- 
 munication, relative to the propositions I had the honour to 
 make at Berlin, without your sanction and approval. Next to 
 yourself, there is none I so much reverence and highly esteem 
 as the good and talented philosopher to whom the accompany- 
 ing letter is addressed. It is your Excellency to whom I am 
 indebted for the kind and flattering introduction which first 
 ushered me into the presence of his Majesty Frederick William, 
 and also into that of your friend, and I hope mine also, the 
 Baron Humboldt. 
 
 I can assure you the good opinion and friendship of such 
 men is to me of more value than the building of a thousand 
 bridges. Still I have a profession, and must be useful in it, 
 and I feel impressed with the conviction that I owe to myself
 
 DOUBTS. 229 
 
 and our distinguished friend, to use my best efforts, and leave 
 nothing undone, to substantiate your good opinion and kind 
 recommendation I have received. To do so effectually I must 
 build the bridge across the Rhine, and that in a manner which 
 I make no doubt will redound to the honour of all concerned. 
 It is from this feeling that I venture so often to trouble your 
 Excellency, and again to thrust myself upon the notice of our 
 friends at Berlin. I hope I am not doing so inopportunely, 
 but finding some energetic competitors on the spot, and me at 
 a distance, is one of the reasons which induce me to commit 
 the enclosed to your care. If you think such a letter is proper 
 and will be well received, you will do me the honour to transmit 
 it to its destination. On the contrary, should you think it 
 premature and likely to do harm, pray return it, and oblige 
 Your Excellency's faithful and very obedient Servant, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 P.S. We are going to have a public meeting on Tuesday, 
 on the Great Exposition of 1851. I remarked you in the 
 ' Times ' on Friday, and will send you a paper showing what we 
 are about. Do you think it will be possible for me to have an 
 interview with H.R.H. Prince Albert next time I am in town ? 
 I should like him to see the drawings of Westminster Bridge 
 and the model, in which I think he will take much interest. 
 His R.H. fully understands the subject. 
 
 The following is the reply, which it will be seen begins 
 to convey some doubts as to the acceptance of Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's plans : 
 
 9, Carlton Terrace, March 20, 1850. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, Allow me to introduce to you by 
 these lines M. Kreuter, Engineer to H.M. the Emperor of 
 Austria, a highly distinguished gentleman, whom that Govern- 
 ment had charged in 1848 with the plan of a railway from 
 Semlin to the Adriatic, a plan which he has published with all 
 details, and which is highly approved. He wishes now to study 
 your tubular bridge system, and in general your new construc- 
 tions on railways. I therefore take the liberty of addressing 
 him to you. He has also been lately at Berlin.
 
 230 - LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 Your two letters arrived safely. The letter to Humboldt 
 was sent immediately. I delayed writing, because the news- 
 papers communicated the resolution of government to lay 
 before the Chamber next summer or in November their pro- 
 posals respecting the two bridges on the Ehine and Vistula, 
 but had first to receive the proposals and objections of the 
 Municipality of Cologne. Soon afterwards I received a despatch 
 from government, announcing they would soon send me a pro- 
 gramme about those bridges, or at least that over the Khine. 
 I am in daily expectation of receiving it, and then alone shall 
 I feel able to judge how far they are dealing j ustly with you or 
 not, and what guarantees are demanded and given as to pro- 
 jects presented. A gentleman of the War-Engineering Office 
 of Berlin, who was here for some other business, told me the 
 Cologne people had declared they would never consent to a 
 bridge being made 15 feet in height, which would obstruct the 
 view of Cologne from Deutz ! I suppose this all turns about 
 the selection of the place for the bridge. I expect that not 
 much will be done before the great German business is settled. 
 As soon as I hear something I shall let you know. 
 
 Ever yours sincerely, 
 
 BUNSEN. 
 
 The next intimation of the state of matters is con- 
 tained in a letter from Mr. Fairbairn to Mrs. Edgeworth 
 (a relation of Maria Edgeworth), whose acquaintance he 
 had made shortly before : 
 
 Manchester, April 16, 1850. 
 
 Dear Mrs. Edgeworth, I have purposely delayed my reply 
 to your kind and interesting letter until I had ascertained my 
 movements relative to a journey which I am about to undertake 
 to Sweden and Russia. I have now fixed the time, and shall 
 probably leave this country about the middle of the ensuing 
 month. 
 
 I entertain a lively recollection of my hurried but interest- 
 ing visit to Edgeworth Town, and I am sure I ought to apologise 
 for the unceremonious manner in which, a total stranger, I 
 came upon you. But having the railway to Alullingar, and my
 
 DISAPPOINTMENT. 231 
 
 friend Hemans as a companion, I could not resist the tempta- 
 tion of becoming acquainted with a family I had long respected 
 and had heard so much about. 
 
 These tubular bridges are a never-ending theme of discus- 
 sion ; in the scientific world they seem to engage the attention 
 of those who are very competent to judge of their merits. . . 
 
 My late journey to Prussia is likely to turn out a fruitless 
 one, as I have just received a letter from the Minister of Public 
 Works, thanking me for the information I have given them, 
 but the government have come to the conclusion to put up the 
 bridge across the Ehine to competition, and a programme has 
 been issued stating that they will not require the bridge to 
 carry the railway, as they have concluded to split the trains 
 into a number of pieces, and send them across the bridge, bit 
 by bit, by men or horses. This is the decision of government, 
 having before their eyes a solid bridge which I offered to con- 
 struct for less money ; that it should open a continuous railway 
 communication from one extreme of the kingdom to the other ; 
 that it should not obstruct the currents or the navigation of 
 the stream, and that it should carry railway trains with double 
 engines at all speeds, and give all the facilities required for 
 general traffic ; also splendid galleries for pedestrians outside 
 the girders. All this I offered, and this was approved by his 
 Majesty and declared to be correct by Humboldt ; and yet, in 
 the face of the whole, this wise government is going to build 
 a bridge whose rickety and palsied frame will shudder at the 
 sight of a locomotive. 
 
 I have written my friend Humboldt about it. 
 
 The letter to Humboldt expressed, at much length 
 and in somewhat strong terms, Mr. Fairbairn's remon- 
 strance against the proposed measure. The Baron's 
 answer was as follows, and it is impossible not to admire 
 the skilful way in which he conveyed to Mr. Fairbairn, 
 under cover of the most courteous and even flattering 
 expressions, information which he knew would be 
 distasteful to him.
 
 232 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIEN. CHAP. xiv. 
 
 Mon cher Monsieur, Je suis bien coupable d'avoir tarde si 
 longtemps a vous ecrire, a vous exprimer 1'hommage de ma vive 
 reconnaissance de tout ce que deux de vos lettres, et surtout 
 celle dont vous venez de m'honorer, en date du 15 Avril, renfer- 
 ment d'aimable pour moi. Soyez bien persuade que les impres- 
 sions que vous avez laissees dans les regions que j'habite, sont 
 restees les memes que pendant votre trop court sejour parmi 
 nous. Mon trop long silence n'a tenu ni au vif interet qu'in- 
 spirent nos interets Germaniques, que j'embrasse avec la meme 
 ardeur que notre digne ami M. le Chevalier Bunsen, ni a un 
 changement d'opinion a votre egard. Je suis reste silencieux 
 comme j'ai 1'habitude de le faire dans ma position aupres du 
 Souverain aussi longtemps qu'il m'etait reste 1'espoir de vous 
 etre utile, mon cher Monsieur. J'aime mieux agir qu'ecrire sur 
 des choses non terminees. Le Roi, qui a conserve une haute 
 opinion de votre talent, de la dignite de votre caractere, de la 
 courageuse sagacite avec laquelle vous avez lutte avec les 
 elemens, n'a pas ete dans la situation d'exercer une influence 
 directe et active dans une affaire toute materielle et technique. 
 La nature de notre gouvernement constitutionnel laisse la liberte 
 d'action et la responsabilite au ministre du commerce et des 
 travaux publics. Deux jours apres avoir repu votre premiere 
 lettre et des renseignements utiles que m'avait donnes M. le 
 Chevalier Bunsen, je me suis rendu au ministre. La personne 
 que vous avez vue a la tete de la commission a ete admise a la 
 conversation. On a discute les frais, les difficultes de donner 
 passage aux bateaux mates, la tendance de renoncer au passage 
 des 'wagons' au moyen d'une locomotive, preferant (comme 
 
 ebranlant moins) le passage au moyen des chevaux Le 
 
 parti de ne pas se resoudre definitivement avant d'avoir porte le 
 probleme devant le public m'etait deja positivement annonce. 
 Vous savez combien les discussions verbales ramenent toujours 
 les memes motifs sans faire changer les resolutions prises 
 d'avance ! La declaration du concours publique a ete main- 
 tenue et vous avez vu a, quelles contestations les conditions 
 proposes ont deja donne lieu dans les journaux. Le ministre a 
 commence a entrer en lutte avec la Gazette de Cologne. Tout 
 cela m'a paru peu concluant, toute comparaison de frais tres 
 vague, lorsque les localites different tant de votre admirable et
 
 COMPETITIVE DESIGNS. 233 
 
 monumental ouvrage du grand Tubular Bridge ! Un evenement 
 tristement instructif a eu lieu depuis en France. J'espere qu'il 
 fera faire des serieuses reflexions sur ce changement mysterieux, 
 mais suffisamment constate dans la forme et juxtaposition des 
 molecules comme effet du mouvement ondulatoire. Les opinions 
 ont aussi leur mouvement d'oscillation et le temps amene 
 quelquefois des chances favorables. Puissiez vous jouir, mon 
 cher Monsieur, dans Pheureuse independance que vous devez a 
 votre beau talent, de ce calme interieur et de cette serenite que 
 donne la confiance des propres forces et 1'aspect du bien que 
 vous regardez autour de vous. Je vous prie d'agreer vous-meme, 
 Monsieur, votre fils, et mon aimable compatriote Grermano-Suisse, 
 1'expression renouvelee de mon devouement affectueux. 
 
 Mon respectueux hommage a Madame Fairbairn, votre 
 digne epouse. 
 
 Votre t. h. et tres obeissant S. 
 
 A. V. HUMBOLDT, 
 
 A Potsdam, le 30 Avril, 1850. 
 
 A month before the date of this letter, namely, on 
 March 30, 1850, the government issued a notification 
 inviting engineers, either Prussian or foreign, to send in 
 designs for the bridge in competition. The conditions 
 were that it was to be built in a line with the Cathedral, 
 that it was to provide for the ordinary road traffic, and 
 also for the railway so far as to allow loaded carriages 
 and waggons to pass over without locomotives. The de- 
 signs were to be sent in by August 1 in the same year, 
 and the two best designs were to be rewarded with 
 prizes. 1 
 
 Sixty-one designs were sent in, and the prizes were 
 awarded, one to a Prussian engineer, Mr. Schwedler, for 
 a suspension bridge ; the other to Captain W. Moorsom, 
 the well-known English engineer, for a lattice bridge on 
 the American plan. 
 
 1 Zettschriftfiir Sauwesen, September 1, 1851, p. 138.
 
 234 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xir. 
 
 The judges, however, came to the resolution that none 
 of the plans, not even the rewarded ones, were so satis- 
 factory as to warrant their recommending them for adop- 
 tion, and so the question still remained open. 
 
 The government then determined to send over a 
 second time to England for the purpose of examining 
 further into the nature and the merits of the iron bridges 
 that had been erected for the railways in this country. 
 The commissioner this time was General Eadowitz, a dis- 
 tinguished military engineer. 
 
 This measure emboldened Mr. Fairbairn to persevere 
 in his project, and he accordingly proceeded to prepare 
 his plans and estimates with more completeness, and they 
 were despatched to Berlin in March 1851, as appears by 
 the following letter : 
 
 9, Carlton Terrace, March 11, 1851. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, To-day your beautiful drawings 
 and memoir are in the hands of General Kadowitz. They came 
 just in time for the King's messenger. The General will report 
 on the same to the King directly. 
 
 I assure you that I deeply feel the kind confidence you have 
 shown me and my illustrious friend on this occasion, and I hope 
 it will not be without final good effect in Prussia. I am sorry 
 to find that you have been confined to your room, and hope soon 
 to wish you joy in person here for your perfect recovery. 
 Believe me, dear Mr. Fairbairn, 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 BUNSEN. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn also wrote directly to Baron Humboldt 
 at the same time, recommending the new plans to his 
 further consideration. 
 
 The plans submitted by Mr. Fairbairn have been pub- 
 lished by him. 1 They consisted of two different designs. 
 
 1 In the work above cited.
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN'S SUGGESTION ADOPTED. 235 
 
 One was in four spans, the two middle ones 326 feet each 
 from centre to centre of the piers, and the two end ones 
 244 feet. There were to be three parallel lines of wrought- 
 iron box-girders, on the plan patented by Mr. Fairbairn, 
 providing between them for railway and carriage roads, 
 and having external footpaths on each side. The cost of 
 this structure was estimated to be about 400,000/. 
 
 The other design was for two spans only, of 570 feet 
 each, and for these Mr. Fairbairn proposed two lines of 
 hollow rectangular tubular girders, similar to those of 
 the Britannia Bridge, but larger. Each tube would admit 
 one line of railway within it, and there was to be a 
 carriage way between them, and footpaths on the sides. 
 The cost of this was estimated at 470,000^. 
 
 The result of the further consideration of the matter 
 in Berlin was, that the Government abandoned their own 
 scheme of a suspension bridge, with an interruption of 
 the railway traffic, and adopted Mr. Fairbairn's suggestion 
 so far as it comprised a strong and rigid structure over 
 which the trains could cross in their complete state. This 
 measure of establishing a free railway connection between 
 the north and south banks of the river was really the 
 great point of his recommendation. 
 
 But the Government, while adopting his ideas as to 
 the general nature of the bridge, demurred to his pro- 
 posed mode of construction, that of large tubes formed of 
 solid wrought-iron. They probably attached more weight 
 than he did to sesthetical considerations of design, and in 
 such a situation they feared that a bridge of the same 
 description as that of the Britannia and Conway tubes 
 would be objectionable in appearance. 
 
 Whether, under these circumstances, they ever entered 
 into communication with Mr. Fairbairn (as it would have 
 been not only courteous but just for them to do) with a
 
 236 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHA.P. xiv. 
 
 view to inducing him to modify the construction, does not 
 appear. But, however this may be, the Government de- 
 cided that the bridge should be constructed on the lattice 
 or open-work principle, which had been shortly before 
 adopted for a large bridge carrying one of the Prussian 
 railways over the Vistula. 1 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, being informed of this, wrote to Hum- 
 boldt, on August 23, 1852, a letter from which the fol- 
 lowing is an extract : 
 
 From the condescending manner in which. I was received by 
 his Majesty, and the unwearied attention you personally be- 
 stowed on the objects of my journey, I was taught to believe 
 that at no very distant period I should again have the pleasure 
 of meeting you, and that the projected bridge across the Ehine 
 at Cologne, in which you took so deep an interest, would sooner 
 or later have been carried into effect. I believe this is now 
 likely to be accomplished, not upon the principle I recom- 
 mended, but some other construction, which doubtless the 
 authorities believe superior to those I had the honour to lay 
 before them. One important consideration was, however, ob- 
 tained by our united exertions, and that was to condemn an 
 imperfect and abortive construction, and to direct the public 
 mind to the importance of having a structure that was not only 
 capable of supporting the railway, but all the other objects con- 
 templated in the requirements of the public traffic. These 
 objects have now been attained; at least I am so informed; 
 and that the drawbridges, as well as the hoisting and lowering 
 of the carriages from one level to another, are to be dispensed 
 with. This, you will recollect, is what we contended for ; and I 
 consider it fortunate for the country that his Majesty suspended 
 the perpetration of a project that would never have realised the 
 expectations of the Government or the wants of the public. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn then goes on to criticise the proposed 
 plan of construction, and to vindicate the superiority of 
 his own, after which he adds : 
 
 1 Zeitschriftfur Sauwesen, 1857, p. 309.
 
 PRESENT BRIDGE. 237 
 
 Altogether, I trust the investigation of this subject has not 
 been without its use ; and although I have received official 
 notice that the authorities decline adopting the system I have 
 recommended, I nevertheless still hope to find their construc- 
 tions founded upon the same principles I have had the honour 
 to advocate, and which I make no doubt will be for the benefit 
 as well as the security of the public. 
 
 No further reference seems to have been made to Mr. 
 Fairbairu, but the plans, according to the new conditions, 
 were elaborated by two Prussian engineers, Messrs. Wall- 
 baum and Lohse, and after several changes, resolved 
 themselves into the form of the present bridge, which was 
 commenced in 1855, and finished some years later. It 
 crosses the river, in a line with the axis of the cathedral, 
 in four spans, each 313 feet wide in the clear, and con- 
 sists of two pairs of girders, side by side, one pair carrying 
 a double line of railway, and the other the road traffic. 
 The girders are formed of open lattice-work, instead of 
 plates, as Mr. Fairbairn had proposed ; but in other 
 respects there has not been much material departure from 
 Mr. Fairbairn's designs.
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 SCIENTIFIC HONOURS 
 
 AGE 61-64 
 1 85O 1853
 
 CULMINATING POINT IN MR. FAIRBAIRN 8 LIFE EFFECT OF CONTRO- 
 VERSIES THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF LONDON MR. GEORGE RENNIE 
 CERTIFICATE ELECTION AS F.R.S. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 
 FRANCE ITS FOUNDATION AND CONSTITUTION THE FRENCH ACADEMY 
 AND JOHNSON VACANCY MR. FAIRBAIRN PROPOSED AS. A CANDIDATE 
 COMMISSION OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES CORRESPONDENCE WITH 
 ARAGO, DUPIN, MORIN, PONCELET WATER-WHEELS ELECTION THE 
 ATHENJEUM CLUB ITS OBJECTS AND MODE OF ELECTION RULE H. 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN ELECTED WITHOUT BALLOT MINOR HONOURS.
 
 241 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE publication of Mr. Fairbairn's work on the great 
 bridges formed a culminating point in his life ; and the 
 controversies which took place on the subject, although 
 they caused him much annoyance at the time, were not 
 without advantage to him, inasmuch as they brought 
 his name more prominently before the world, and called 
 more general attention, not only to the part he had taken 
 in the works in question, but to his distinguished posi- 
 tion generally as a mechanical engineer. 
 
 The appreciation of his merits was manifested imme- 
 diately by some honours being paid him of very high 
 character. 
 
 The first of these was his admission into the Eoyal 
 Society of London. This society elects fifteen members 
 every year, who are selected carefully by the council, out 
 of a large number of candidates, on account of eminent 
 scientific merit ; and consequently the fellowship of the 
 society is a high distinction. 
 
 The proposal appears to have originated with the 
 late Mr. George Eennie, who, writing to Mr. Fairbairn 
 on December 4, 1849, said: 
 
 Few men would have a better chance, as your name and 
 reputation are too well known to the world at large to- permit 
 of any doubt of your success. I will desire the assistant secre- 
 tary to send you a printed form to be filled up, and to be sent 
 R
 
 242 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIKBAIRN. CHAP. xv. 
 
 round to your friends for signature, in which I will assist, 
 although I am precluded from signing it myself. 
 
 The form, or certificate, as it is called, was ultimately 
 filled up as follows : 1 
 
 William Fairbairn, Engineer, Manchester, author of nume- 
 rous papers which have been from time to time published in the 
 Transactions of the British Association for the Advancement of 
 Science, in the Memoirs of the Literary and Philosophical 
 Society of Manchester, and the Transactions of Institution of 
 Civil Engineers. These papers embrace an enquiry into the 
 comparative strength of hot and cold blast iron, an extended 
 investigation of the strength and other properties of all the 
 irons of Great Britain, and of the Samakoff Turkish iron ; an 
 Essay on the Combustion of Fuel, on the most Economical 
 Method of Eaising Water from Mines, &c. The author also of 
 a work descriptive of the Conway and Britannia Tubular 
 Bridges, and containing also an experimental research to deter- 
 mine the law which governs the strengths, &c., of Wrought- 
 Iron Tubular Bridges and Girders ; being desirous of admission 
 into the Eoyal Society of London, we, the undersigned, propose 
 and recommend him as deserving that honour, and as likely to 
 become a useful and valuable member. Dated this 31st day of 
 January, 1850. 
 
 It was signed by the following names, among which 
 many will be recognised as of great scientific eminence : 
 
 Henry Holland, Henry Moseley, John Rennie, J. Walker, 
 W. Cubitt, Joshua Field, James Booth, F. Beaufort, W. C. 
 Mylne, G. R. Porter, Robert Willis, John Barrow, Charles 
 Babbage, Andrew Ure, William Brockedon. 
 
 The council included Mr. Fairbairn 's name in the 
 selected list of candidates ; and he was elected into the 
 Society, June 6, 1850. 
 
 1 Inserted by permission of the Society.
 
 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 243 
 
 Within a year after Mr. Fairbairn's election into the 
 .Royal Society another honour was paid him, which was 
 still more distinguished, on account of the very few of his 
 countrymen on whom it has been bestowed that of 
 admission into the National Institute of France. As the 
 nature and constitution of this body are not generally 
 known in this country, a few explanatory words may be 
 in place here. 
 
 The Institute of France was founded by the Republic 
 on the 5 Fructidor (August 22), 1795, its declared object 
 being : 
 
 1. A perfectionner les sciences et les arts par des recherches 
 non interrompues, par la publication des decouvertes, par la 
 correspondance avec les societes savantes et etrangeres. 2. A 
 suivre, conformeraent aux lois et arretes du Directoire executif, 
 les travaux scientifiques et litteraires qui auront pour objet 
 Futilite generale et la gloire de la Kepublique. 
 
 It was confirmed by Bonaparte some years later ; and 
 again by Louis XVIII. in 1816, and by Louis Philippe in 
 1832. 
 
 The body termed ' ITnstitut de France ' comprises 
 five 'Academies,' the constitution of which is as follows : 
 
 1. L'AcADfiMiE FRAN^AISE. 
 
 This consists of forty members chosen from the most 
 eminent literary and public men of the kingdom. 1 
 
 1 This body is older than the Institute generally, having been ' employed 
 in settling the French language and editing the celebrated dictionary ' before 
 Johnson's time. Garrick's complimentary epigram on Johnson's Dictionary 
 says, alluding to them : 
 
 I And Johnson, well arm'd like a hero of yore, 
 
 Has beat forty French, and will beat forty more ! 
 E2
 
 244 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xv. 
 
 2. L'ACADfiMIE DES INSCRIPTIONS ET BELLES LETTRES. 
 
 This consists of men eminent in antiquarian and polite 
 literature, and the members are : 
 
 Acade"miciens . . . . . . 40 
 
 Academiciens libres . . . . . . . 10 
 
 Associe"s Strangers ....... 8 
 
 Correspondants, French . . , . . . 20 
 
 Foreigners 30 
 
 3. L'ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES. 
 
 This is divided into eleven sections, and the numbers 
 of members of different grades are : 
 
 Academiciens. 
 
 Geometry 6 
 
 Mechanics fj 
 
 Astronomy . 6 
 
 Geography and Navigation 3 
 
 General Physics 6 
 
 Chemistry . .6 
 
 Mineralogy ......... 6 
 
 Botany 6 
 
 Rural Economy g 
 
 Anatomy and Zoology 6 
 
 Medicine and Surgery 6 
 
 63 
 
 Academiciens libres . 10 
 
 Associ^s Strangers 8 
 
 Correspondants. 
 
 Geometry g 
 
 Mechanics g 
 
 Astronomy jg 
 
 Geography and Navigation 8 
 
 General Physics 9 
 
 Chemistry g 
 
 Mineralogy g 
 
 Botany. . . . . . \ \ \ '.10 
 
 Rural Economy JQ 
 
 Anatomy and Zoology .... 10 
 
 Medicine and Surgery ... g 
 
 loo
 
 NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FRANCE. 245 
 
 4. L'ACADEMIE DES BEAUX ARTS. 
 
 This also is divided into sections, with numbers as 
 follow : 
 
 Academidens: 
 
 Sculpture 
 Architecture .... 
 
 8 
 8 
 
 Engraving 
 Musical Composition 
 
 4 
 6 
 
 
 40 
 
 Academidens libres .... 
 
 . 10 
 
 Assodes etranyers .... 
 Correspondants .... 
 Correspondants honoraires 
 
 . 10 
 . 40 
 3 
 
 5. L'ACADEMIE DES SCIENCES MORALES ET POLITIQUES. 
 
 The subdivisions in this Academy are : 
 
 Academidens. 
 
 Philosophic 6 
 
 Morale 6 
 
 Legislation, Droit public, et Jurisprudence ... 6 
 
 Economic politique, et statistique G 
 
 Ilistoire ge"nerale et philosophique .... 6 
 
 30 
 
 Academidens libres ....... 7 
 
 Assodes etrangers o 
 
 Correspondants. 
 
 Philosophie 7 
 
 Morale 7 
 
 Legislation 7 
 
 Economie politique 10 
 
 Histoire _7 
 
 38 
 
 TOTAL OP THE INSTITUTE. 
 
 Academiciens 213 
 
 Acade"iniciens libres 35 
 
 Associes etrangers 31 
 
 Correspondants 228 
 
 Correspondants honoraires 3 
 
 610
 
 246 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIKI3AIUX. CHAP. xv. 
 
 When a vacancy occurs by the death of any acade- 
 mician, a list of at least three names is drawn up and 
 presented to the Institute by the Academy in which the 
 vacancy arises, and the choice between them is made by 
 the general body. The corresponding members in each 
 Academy are elected by that Academy, on the presenta- 
 tion of a list by the section in which the vacancy occurs. 
 
 In the middle of the year 1851, a. vacancy occurred 
 among the corresponding members of the Mechanical 
 Section of the Academy of Sciences by the death of Sir 
 Mark Isambard Brunei. Mr. Fairbairn had previously 
 made the acquaintance of some influential members of 
 the Institute, among whom were Generals Poncelet and 
 Morin, Baron Dupin, and M. Arago ; and on the en- 
 couragement of these and other friends, he decided to 
 offer himself as a candidate. He went to Paris in Sep- 
 tember, and shortly afterwards sent over full particulars 
 of his claims, accompanied with the following letter to 
 General Poncelet : 
 
 Manchester: October 1, 1851. 
 
 Dear General Poncelet, The interest you have taken in 
 wishing me to become a candidate for admission as a corre- 
 sponding member of the Institute of France, induces me to lay 
 before you a brief statement of facts in connection with my 
 past and present history. I would not have ventured to aspire 
 to the dignity but for the encouragement I received from your- 
 self and M. Arago ; nor is it my intention even now to present 
 myself before the members of the Academy unless well supported 
 by friends who may consider me worthy of such a distinction. 
 I have no doubt there will be found many claimants of higher 
 standing and much greater learning than myself, entitled to 
 such an honour, but I should deem myself ungrateful, after the 
 encouragement I have received, if I did not lay before the 
 Academy a list of my qualifications, with copies of such as I 
 have in my possession, which, I now forward for acceptance by 
 that distinguished body.
 
 OFFICIAL LKTTKK. 247 
 
 I have further drawn up for your guidance a short account 
 of my early history, and a brief statement of my endeavours to 
 be useful in my professional capacity, and the advancement of 
 practical science. In these attempts I have laboured under an 
 imperfect education, and many other disadvantages, which 
 nothing but an indomitable perseverance could overcome. How 
 far I have been successful I must leave my works to determine ; 
 and all I have now to offer is (in case of my election) the same 
 determined spirit to be useful to the Institute of France, as I 
 humbly trust I have been to the Institutions I have been con- 
 nected with in this country. 
 
 Yours faithfully and obliged, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIKN. 
 
 The Academy named a commission of three members 
 to investigate Mr. Fairbairn's claims ; and, the result of 
 this being satisfactory, an official letter was addressed to 
 him as follows : 
 
 Paris, le 13 Novembre, 1851. 
 
 Moil cher Monsieur, II y a en ce moment une vacance de 
 Meuibre Correspondant de la Section de Mecanique a 1'Academie 
 des Sciences a Paris. 
 
 Les grands et beaux travaux que vous avez diriges et executes 
 vous mettent au nombre des personnel sur lesquelles doit se 
 porter la pensee de 1'Institut. Je vous prie done de me faire 
 savoir si votre intention est de vous porter comme candidat en 
 titre de Membre Correspondant de 1'Academie des Sciences 
 (Section de Mecauique), et dans le cas de i'affirmative, de 
 m'envoyer une note des principaux travaux sur lesquels s'appuie- 
 rait votre candidature. 
 
 Kecevez, Monsieur, 1'expression de la haute considera- 
 tion de votre devoue serviteur, 
 
 Le Colonel d'Artillerie, Membre de 1'Institut, Adminis- 
 trateur du Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, 
 
 A. MORIN, 
 
 Monsieur WM. FAIEBAIRN. 
 
 This letter was answered in due course, but the 
 stirring political events of the end of the year so inter-
 
 243 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FA1BBAIRN. CHAI-. xv. 
 
 rupted the even course of routine business that nothing 
 was done towards the elections for some months. Many 
 vacancies had occurred, and the French members had to 
 be elected before the claims of the Corresponding 
 members could be entertained. Mr. Fairbairn, however, 
 continued to receive strong expressions of support from 
 his distinguished friends, as is shown in the following 
 interesting letter from one of the greatest mechanics of 
 the age : 
 
 Paris, le 4 Fevrier, 1852. 
 
 Mon cher et ties estime Collegue, Mou long silence n'aurait 
 aucune excuse legitime, sans les evenements politiques qui sont 
 venus nous surprendre. D'une autre part, lors de vos premieres 
 communications et de 1'envoi de vos nombreux titres aux 
 suffrages de 1'Institut, la plupart de mes collegues de la section 
 de mecanique etaient absente de Paris, et il afallu attendre leur 
 retour pour les mettre au courant de notre projet d'election, sans 
 trop en brusquer le denouement et leur faire penser que notre 
 parti etait pris et arrete a 1'avance. Aujourd'hui, malgre les 
 evenements, les choses sont beaucoup plus avancees, et j'ai tout 
 bien de croire que votre nom sera porte en tete de ia liste des 
 candidates de la section de mecanique. 
 
 A l'egard de vos titres et des divers travaux de votre labo- 
 rieuse carriere, ils seront, vous pouvez en etre sur, apprecies a 
 leur juste valeur. Pour moi, je les trouve, en tous point?, 
 dignes des suffrages de 1'Academie des Sciences, soit au point de 
 vue pratique, soit a celui de 1'invention et des recherches experi- 
 mentales entreprises en vue d'eclairer la science de construction. 
 Vos immenses travaux comme ingenieur et constructeur, votre 
 ingenieuse machine a river, et la maniere dont vous avez su, 
 1'un des premiers, assouplir la tole et en propager 1'emploi dans 
 Industrie manufacturiere, et les grandes constructions nautiques, 
 sont dignes de la plus haute estime. Enfin je suis tout a fait 
 de 1'avis du Dr. Ure quant aux eloges qu'il donne a votre systeme 
 d'etablissement des arbres de commande dans les filatures, &c. 
 
 Votre bel ouvrage sur les ponts tubulaires ne laisse rien a 
 desirer a cet egard [vos droits comme inventeur et perfection-
 
 LETTERS FROM POXCELET. 249 
 
 neur]; j'en dirai autant de votre machine a river, et de vos con- 
 structions de roues hydrauliques, ou chacun appreciera les belles 
 dispositions adoptees ; neanmoins pour les hommes tels que moi 
 alles peu au courant du progres que les constructions de ce 
 genre ont repu en Angleterre, il serait utile de connaitre la 
 riliere historique des idees. Au sujet de vos grandes et belles 
 roues a augets courbes ventiles a systeme de suspension, je trouve 
 des renseignements precieux dans le memoire que M. Ferey a 
 bien voulu me remettre de votre part, et dont je vous adresse 
 mes bien sinceres remerciments. Vos systemes de construction 
 sont sans contredit superieurs a ceux qui avaient, j usque-la, 
 ete employes, et je les crois tres propres a rendre les services 
 auxquels il sont destines ; cependant je ne pense que 1'evacua- 
 tion de 1'air en dehors les augets soit le seul obstacle oppose a 
 1'introduction de 1'eau dans les augets, et que par consequent 
 le moyen de ventilation si simple que vous employez soit le 
 dernier mot de la question. D'apres des etudes tres anciennes 
 que j'ai faites de cette question, le rapport des vitesses de la 
 roue et de la veine d'eau, les angles des augets et de cette 
 veine avec la circonference exterieure de la roue doivent exercer 
 aussi une tres grande influence, et c'est dans cette vue que j'ai 
 imagine des dispositions nouvelles, pour les roues en dessus et 
 de cote, qui different beaucoup de tout ce que Ton avait imagine 
 jttsqu'a present, outre que j'ai eu aussi en vue une acceleration 
 de vitesse. 
 
 GrENEUAL PONCELET. 
 
 M. Poncelet added a lucid description of his im- 
 provements in water-wheels, illustrating it with sketches. 
 These improvements have now long been known, and 
 have become highly appreciated among engineers, for 
 their elegant scientific merit and their practical utility ; 
 but the description is too technical for insertion here. 
 
 A little later, another great mechanic wrote : 
 
 Paris, le 14 Mars, 1852. 
 
 Mon cher Fairbairn, J'ai tarde bien longtemps a vous 
 ecrire au sujet de 1'affaire qui vous interesse ici, parce que je
 
 250 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAI1JI3AIRX. CHAP. xv. 
 
 voulais pouvoir vous en donner quelques nouvelles certaines. 
 Apres des pourparlers assez longs, et difficiles, nous sommes par- 
 venus, MM. Dupin, Poncelet et moi, a faire decider par la 
 section de mecanique que vous seriez presente pour etre nomme 
 membre correspondant de Hnstitut avec MM. Babbage, Hodg- 
 kinson et Willis ; mais que la section declarerait que dans 1'etat 
 actuel des besoins de la science elle demande que vous soyez 
 choisi. M. Dupin se charge de faire le rapport. 
 
 Votre bien affectionne, 
 
 M. MORIN. 
 
 The final proceedings are detailed in the following- 
 letters, which are given verbatim, as they were written in 
 English by the great man whose signature they bear. 
 
 Paris, May 6, 1852. 
 
 Dear Sir, Monday last I had the honour and pleasure to 
 read my report, in the name of Mechanics' Section of the Insti- 
 tute of France, to propose the candidates for the place of cor- 
 respondent, vacant by the death of Sir M. I. Brunei. 
 
 I have been happy enough to obtain that your name should 
 be the first of all candidates. 
 
 I can say you that I have been quite enthusiastic with the 
 study of your numerous and so meritorious works and inven- 
 tions ; the picture of them did strike the whole Academy with 
 admiration. 
 
 I hope next week to be able to write again to you a letter 
 announcing your election as our worthy Correspondent, and 
 nobody will be more happy for that result than I shall be. 
 
 I am, Sir, 
 Your most devoted servant, 
 
 BARON CHARLES DUPIN. 
 
 Paris, May 11, 1852. 
 
 Dear Sir, I rejoice very much in giving .to you notice that 
 you have been elected to-day Correspondant of the National 
 Institute of France, and your majority has been enormous, thirty- 
 seven against four. 
 
 I am, dear sir, 
 Your most devoted colleague and friend, 
 
 BARON CHARLES DUTIN.
 
 ELECTIUX. 251 
 
 The official announcement of the election was as 
 follows ; 
 
 Institut de France, Academic des Sciences, Paris, le 11 Mai, 1852. 
 
 Le Secretaire perpetuel de 1'Academie pour les Sciences 
 Mat hematiques. 
 
 Monsieur, J'ai 1'honneur de vous adresser 1'extrait ci -joint 
 du Proces-verbal de la seance du Mardi 1 1 Mai, dans laquelle 
 1'Academie vient de vous nommer 1'un de ses Correspondants 
 pour la Section de Mecanique, en remplacement de feu Mr. 
 Brunei. 
 
 En vous offrant ce titre comme un temoignage de son estime, 
 1'Academie vous invite, Monsieur, a lui faire part du fruit de 
 vos recherches dans les sciences dont elle s'occupe. 
 
 Veuillez, Monsieur, agreer 1'assurance de ma consideration la 
 plus distinguee. 
 
 F. AKAGO. 
 Enclosure. 
 
 L' Academic precede par la voie du scrutin a 1'election d'un 
 Correspondant, appele a remplir la place devenue vacante par 
 suite du deces de Mr. Brunei. 
 
 Le resultat du scrutin donne la majorite absolue des suf- 
 frages a Mr. Fairbairn a Manchester. 
 
 En consequence M. le President le proclame elu corres- 
 pondant. 1 
 
 Pour extrait conforme, 
 
 F. ABAGO. 
 
 1 It may be interesting to add a list of the Englishmen who were mem- 
 bers of the Institute about the time of Mr. Fairbairn's election : 
 
 Academic des Inscriptions. 
 
 Horace Hayman Wilson, Oxford, Associe Etranger. 
 William Martin Leake, London, Correspondant. 
 Thos. Gaisford, Oxford, 
 
 Thos. Wright, London, 
 
 H. Rawlinaon, Bagdad, 
 
 B. H. Hodgson, Bengal, 
 
 Academic des Sciences. 
 
 Hubert Brown, Agsocie" Etranger. Capt. Scoresby, Correspoudant. 
 
 Michael Faraday, Admiral Beaufort,
 
 252 
 
 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FA1RBAIRN. CHAP. xv. 
 
 In 1853 came a third distinction, one highly appre- 
 ciated by those who know its nature, namely, his election 
 without ballot, into the Athenaeum Club. 
 
 This institution was founded in 1824, with an object- 
 independent of all political or party views, namely, 'for 
 the association of individuals known for their scientific or 
 literary attainments, artists of eminence in any class of the 
 fine arts, and noblemen and gentlemen distinguished 
 as liberal patrons of science, literature, or the arts.' 
 The number of members is 1,200 ; and although ad- 
 mission into the club has not been exclusively confined to 
 persons who come within the avowed classification, it is 
 
 David Brewster, Associe Stranger 
 
 W. R. Hamilton, Correspondant. 
 
 H. Moseley, 
 
 W. Fairbairn, 
 
 Sir John Herschel, 
 
 General Brisbane, 
 
 G. D. Airy, 
 
 Capt. Smyth, 
 
 J. R. Hind, 
 
 Dr. Buckland, Correspondant. 
 
 Sir R. Murchison, 
 
 Sir H. de la Beche, 
 
 Wallich, 
 
 Sir Edward Parry, Correspcndant 
 Sir John Franklin, 
 Sir James Clark Ross, 
 Prof. Barlow, 
 
 Prof. Forbes, Edinburgh, Correspon- 
 dant. 
 
 Prof. Wheatstone, Correspondant. 
 Prof. Graham, 
 
 Prof. ConybearR, 
 
 Bracy Clark, Correspondant. 
 
 Lindley, 
 Richard Owen, 
 Sir B. Brodie, 
 
 Academic ties Beaux Arts. 
 
 Chas. Cockerell, Associe Etranger. 
 T. L. Donaldson, Correspondant. 
 Howard Vyse, 
 
 Academic des Sciences Morales et Politiques. 
 
 William Jacob, London, Correspon- 
 dant. 
 
 Nassau Senior, London, Correspon- 
 dant. 
 
 Lord Brougham, Associe Etranger. 
 H. Hallam, 
 
 J. R. MacCulloch, 
 
 Sir W. Hamilton, Edinburgh, Corre- 
 
 spondaut. C. Babbage, London, Correspon 
 
 Dr. Whateley, Dublin, Correspon- dant. 
 
 dant - Tooke, London, Correspondant. 
 
 John Austin, London, Currespon- T. B. Macaulay, 
 
 dant.
 
 ATHENAEUM CLUB. 253 
 
 understood that the club is distinguished from all others 
 by the predominance of members of scientific, literary, 
 and artistic pursuits and tastes. 
 
 The ordinary mode of admission into the club is by 
 the usual process of a ballot among the members gene- 
 rally; and so great is the demand for admission that there 
 are at present above 1,500 candidates on the books 
 waiting their turn for election, and a name has to stand 
 about fifteen years on the list before it is called on. 
 
 The club has, however, a feature peculiar to itself, 
 namely, the existence of a rule which requires the 
 managing committee to keep up its special character by 
 introducing into it, without being subject to the general 
 ballot, nine members annually, chosen for their eminence 
 in the objects for which the institution was founded. 
 The following is the rule in question : 
 
 It being essential to the maintenance of the Athenaeum, in 
 conformity with the principles upon which it was originally 
 founded, that the annual introduction of a certain numher of 
 persons of distinguished eminence in science, literature, or the 
 arts, or for public services, should be secured, a limited number 
 of persons of such qualifications shall be elected by the com- 
 mittee. The number so elected shall not exceed nine in each 
 year. The elections shall take place during the months of 
 January, February, March, and April. The committee shall be 
 specially summoned for the purpose, at least one week before 
 the intended election ; no election shall take place unless nine 
 at least of the committee be actually present, and the whole of 
 those present be unanimous in their election. Not more than 
 one-third of the total number of persons to be thus admitted 
 within the year shall be elected at any one meeting. 
 
 The club intrust this privilege to the committee, in the 
 entire confidence that they will only elect persons who shall 
 have attained to distinguished eminence in science j literature, 
 or the arts, or for public services. The names of members so 
 elected are to be immediately hung up in the public rooms.
 
 254 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xv. 
 
 In December, 1852, Mr. Fairbairn's name was 
 entered in the candidates' book, being proposed by Mr. 
 George Eennie, and seconded by Sir Eoderick Murchison. 
 On February 1, 1853, he was elected by the committee 
 under the rule above cited. Among those similarly intro- 
 duced in the same year were Thomas Carlyle, Baron 
 Marochetti, and Sir Francis Grant, now P.R.A. 
 
 The following honours were paid him at subsequent 
 periods of his life, on account of his scientific merits. 
 
 In November, 1855, he was elected member of the 
 Academic Nationale Agricole, Manufacturiere et Com- 
 merciale, Paris ; 
 
 In December, 1856, a Corresponding Associate of the 
 Eoyal Academy of Sciences, Turin ; 
 
 In November, 1860, an Honorary Member of the 
 Prussian 'Verein fur Beforderung des Gewerbfleisses,' 
 Berlin ; 
 
 In July, 1861, an Honorary Member of the Royal 
 United Service Institution, London ; 
 
 In November, 1861, a Corresponding Member of the 
 Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool ; 
 
 In the same month, an Honorary Associate of the 
 Institution of Naval Architects, London ; 
 
 In February, 1862, an Honorary Member of the 
 Yorkshire Philosophical Society ; 
 
 In June, 1862, an Honorary Associate of the Society 
 of Arts, Geneva ; and 
 
 In October, 1867, an Honorary Member of the Society 
 of Engineers, London.
 
 CHAPTER XVL 
 
 STEAM BOILERS AND MATTERS CONNECTED THEREWITH 
 1844-1874
 
 STEAM-BOILERS MR. FAIRBATRN ENGAGED LARGELY IS THEIR CON- 
 STRUCTION IMPROVEMENT IX THEIR DESIGN THE TWO-FLUED, OR 
 LANCASHIRE BOILER BOILER EXPLOSIONS THEIR FREQUENCY IN THE 
 MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS MR, PAIRBAIRN's FREQUENT EVIDENCE AT 
 CORONERS' INQUESTS LECTURES AT LEEDS AND OTHER TOWNS PAPER AT 
 THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOUNDATION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE 
 PREVENTION OF BOILER EXPLOSIONS FIRST IDEAS FIRST STEPS FOR THE 
 FORMATION OF THE SOCIETY FAIRBAIRN AND WHITWORTH NOTICES BY 
 THE PRESS PRELIMINARY MEETINGS FORMAL ESTABLISHMENT MR. 
 FAIRBAIRN BECOMES PRESIDENT PRESENT STATE OF THE ASSOCIATION 
 THEORETICAL INVESTIGATIONS UNDERTAKEN BY MR. FAIRBAIRN PAPER 
 TO THE ROYAL SOCIETY THE RESISTANCE OF TUBES TO COLLAPSE THE 
 STRENGTH OF GLASS THE PROPERTIES OF STEAM LETTER FROM 
 REGNAULT LEGISLATIVE INTERFERENCE LN REGARD TO STEAM BOILERS 
 MR. PAIRBAIRN'S OPINIONS THEEEON COMMITTEES OF THE BRITISH 
 ASSOCIATION AND OF THE HOUSE OP COMMONS SIR WILLIAM'S LATE 
 IMPROVEMENTS IN BOILERS COMMUNICATION WITH THE ASSOCIATION 
 NEAR THE CLOSE OF HIS LIFE TRIBUTE BY THEM TO HIS MEMORY.
 
 257 
 
 CHAPTEE XVI. 
 
 A SUBJECT that much interested Mr. Fairbairn during the 
 best part of his life, and one on which he did most valu- 
 able service, was that of steam-boilers. 
 
 In his large practice as a manufacturer of steam- 
 engines, he could not fail to see the extreme import- 
 ance of that element of the machine from which its power 
 was derived. He had his attention directed to the fre- 
 quent occurrence of disastrous explosions ; and hence he 
 was led to study carefully the mechanical principles in- 
 volved in the construction and arrangement of boilers. 
 He noticed many defects, and introduced several impor- 
 tant improvements. He further made it his business to 
 promulgate knowledge by writings and lectures on the 
 structure and management of boilers ; and last, though 
 not least, he founded a public association for the object 
 of promoting safety in their use for manufacturing pur- 
 poses generally. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn began to make steam-engines soon after 
 1832, and the construction of the boilers for them formed 
 an extensive manufacture in itself. In 1837 he applied 
 to them his new invention of the riveting machine, as 
 described in Chapter X. ; and a few years later, viz., in 
 1844, he introduced a valuable change in boiler design. 
 
 He was always an advocate for high-pressure steam, 
 on account of its economical advantage ; but its use was 
 s
 
 258 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvr. 
 
 limited by a fear of danger in the vessel wherein it 
 was generated. The kind of boiler which had been 
 found by experience to be best adapted for this purpose 
 was that known as the Cornish or Trevithick's boiler. 1 
 This was of cylindrical form, having a tube running 
 through it in which the fire was placed, in the manner 
 shown in the first of the following figures. 
 
 This had the disadvantage that the tube must ne- 
 cessarily be of large size, so as to admit sufficient 
 fire, and it was on that account exposed to a severe 
 external crushing strain, which its form was not well 
 calculated to bear. It had also the evil that the water 
 over the top of the tube was only of small depth, and 
 that if by accident the water level happened to get 
 low, the top of the tube, being exposed to the most 
 intense action of the fire, was liable to become over- 
 heated, which would lead to danger of explosion. The 
 steam space was also contracted by the necessary height 
 of the water line. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn's improvement consisted in using two 
 internal fire-tubes, of smaller size, instead of one large 
 one. These tubes were subject to a much diminished 
 external strain, while at 'the same time they allowed of 
 an increase of the fire-grate and heating surface ; and, 
 what was of more importance, a much greater depth 
 of water could be maintained over them, and the level 
 could, if necessary, be lowered so as to enlarge the steam 
 room. The second figure shows the improved arrange- 
 ment. 
 
 The idea, though extremely simple, was admirably 
 practical and useful ; and the invention was patented by 
 Wm. Fairbairn and John Hetherington (an engineer who 
 had aided him in it), on April 30, 1844 (No. 10,166). 
 
 1 See Pole on the Cornish Engine, Arts. 124 to 150.
 
 CORNISH AND LANCASHIRE BOILERS. 259 
 
 TREVITHICK'S, OR THE CORNISH BOILER. 
 
 FAIRBAIRN'S, OR THE LANCASHIRE BOILER. 
 s 2
 
 260 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIKBAIRN. CHAP. xvr. 
 
 This form of boiler found great favour. It was soon 
 widely adopted, and is now by far the most usual con- 
 struction for high-pressure boilers in the manufacturing 
 districts. Indeed, so common is it there that it is often 
 called the ' Lancashire Boiler ' in contradistinction to 
 the ' Cornish ' one, which prevails in the south-western 
 counties. 
 
 Independently, however, of his practice in the con- 
 struction of boilers, Mr. Fairbairn had his attention 
 called to them in another way, as it had been his lot to 
 see many lamentable cases where either inattention to the 
 proper principles of construction, or careless management, 
 had caused disastrous explosions and fearful destruction of 
 life and property. 
 
 The great extension of manufacturing industry in the 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire towns had led to the employ- 
 ment of steam-power to a vast extent ; steam-engines 
 were required in great numbers, and their manufacture 
 was often undertaken by persons not well instructed in 
 scientific principles, and at prices which did not admit 
 of all possible care being taken in regard to the propor- 
 tions or the practical workmanship. 
 
 Moreover, these engines were not unfrequently worked 
 under careless management, being put into the charge 
 of incompetent or ignorant men, unable to see where 
 danger arose, or unscrupulous as to overtaxing the 
 powers of the apparatus. Hence, boiler explosions be- 
 came but too common in these districts ; and when they 
 did occur, from the magnitude of the buildings and the 
 great number of people employed, the consequences were 
 usually very severe. 
 
 The worst feature of the case was that the causes of 
 these explosions were often very difficult to trace out. 
 The destruction was so complete that tangible evidence
 
 BOILER EXPLOSIONS. 261 
 
 was in a great measure destroyed; and it usually hap- 
 pened that the persons who would have been best able to 
 throw light on the causes were killed. The proprietors 
 or managers, not wishing to criminate themselves, were 
 loth to admit that there had been anything amiss in con- 
 struction or attention, and hence all sorts of fanciful 
 theories were conjured up, such as electric action, 
 chemical decomposition of the steam, and mysterious 
 agencies of many kinds, to account for what was merely 
 a natural sequence from simple mechanical conditions. 
 
 At the inquests held on such occasions the juries were 
 often puzzled by these various theories, and it became a 
 common custom for coroners or magistrates to call in an 
 independent and impartial engineer to aid in the investi- 
 gations, and to endeavour to throw light on the causes of 
 the accidents. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, from his great experience and high 
 reputation, was much in request on these occasions, a few 
 of which may be named. 
 
 In November 1845 he attended at Bolton, to examine 
 into the circumstances of a disastrous explosion, by which 
 fourteen lives were lost. He gave evidence at the 
 inquest, pointing out defects in the boiler arrangements, 
 and the jury returned a verdict of manslaughter against 
 one of the partners, with a recommendation that Mr. 
 Fairbairn's report ' should be forwarded to the Secretary 
 of State for the Home Department, with a view of 
 bringing the subject of steam-boilers before the legis- 
 lature.' 
 
 In December 1850 he was called in by the magis- 
 trates of Halifax, to investigate a serious explosion that 
 had taken place there, and which he succeeded in tracing 
 to the weakness of a certain part of the boiler. 
 
 In November 1853 he attended at Blackburn, to give
 
 262 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. XYI. 
 
 evidence on the bursting of a boiler at a mill in that 
 town, by which seven persons were killed, and which he 
 traced clearly to the defective condition of the boiler. 
 He declined to receive remuneration for his services, 
 directing that the fee offered him should be applied for 
 the benefit of the families of the sufferers. 
 
 Many similar accidents were investigated by him, 
 among which was the unfortunate explosion of a locomo- 
 tive durin^ its testing at the Atlas Locomotive Works of 
 Messrs. Sharp, Eoberts & Co., Manchester, in July 1858, 
 by which nine persons were killed. 
 
 It was felt that it would be very useful both to the 
 manufacturers and users of steam machinery if Mr. Fair- 
 bairn would make some publication of the knowledge he 
 had gained on this subject, and at the beginning of 1851 
 he received the following letter : 
 
 Leeds, January 11, 1851. 
 
 My dear Sir, It has occurred to the Committee of the 
 Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes that you might 
 confer an important boon on the manufacturing classes of York- 
 shire if you could deliver a lecture on ' Steam-Engine Boilers, 
 the causes of explosion, and the means of prevention,' or some- 
 thing to that effect. 
 
 You have bestowed so much attention on the boiler explo- 
 sion at Halifax, that we hope the preparation of the lecture 
 would not be attended with much trouble. 
 
 That, and other similar calamities, would cause your lecture 
 to be received with great interest. Our idea is that it should 
 be a lecture expressly adapted to practical men, both to masters 
 and engine tenters. We should ask the favour, if your numerous 
 engagements would permit, of your delivering the lecture first 
 to the Leeds Mechanics' Institution ; and should say that you 
 would lay the public under additional obligation if you could 
 afterwards repeat the lecture in the Mechanics' Institutions of 
 the three other great manufacturing towns of Yorkshire, Brad- 
 ford, Halifax, and Huddersfield.
 
 LECTURES OX BOILERS. 263 
 
 We feel that this is a very bold request to make, and we 
 could not have made it had we not known your public spirit, 
 and also that you are already fully charged with all the facts 
 on the subject. 
 
 The report of the lecture in the papers would make it useful 
 through the whole of Yorkshire and far beyond. 
 
 You are aware that the Earl of Carlisle has set a noble ex- 
 ample by delivering two lectures to our Mechanics' Institution ; 
 but you do not need an example, as you have always been friendly 
 to the diffusion of science and the advancement of the operative 
 classes. 
 
 Requesting your kind consideration of our proposal, 
 I am, dear sir, yours truly, 
 
 EDWARD BAINES, 
 President of the Yorkshire Union of Mechanics' Institutes. 
 
 \Vm. Fairbairn, Esq. 
 
 He complied with this request, and on April 23rd 
 and 24th he delivered two lectures before the Leeds 
 Mechanics' Institution. In the first lecture, ' On the 
 Construction of Boilers,' he discussed the forms, propor- 
 tions, and material of such vessels, and the forces they 
 were subject to ; in the second, ' On Boiler Explosions,' 
 he explained the various probable causes of such acci- 
 dents (giving many examples in illustration), and de- 
 scribed various precautionary measures with the object 
 of guarding against them. The lectures were repeated 
 in several manufacturing towns, and were printed by the 
 committee in the form of a cheap tract, 'in the hope 
 that much practical benefit might result from their 
 publication in that manufacturing district.' They were 
 afterwards re-published in ' Useful Information for En- 
 gineers,' and in several foreign scientific periodicals. 
 
 At the meeting of the British Association at Hull, in 
 September 1853, Mr. Fairbairn communicated a paper, 
 entitled ' Experimental Eesearches to determine the
 
 '264 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xvi. 
 
 Strength of Locomotive Boilers, and the causes which 
 lead to explosion.' This was brought about by the 
 bursting of a locomotive boiler belonging to the London 
 and North-Western Eailway at Manchester. Difler- 
 ences of opinion had arisen among engineers in regard 
 to the causes of the failure of the boiler, and Mr. 
 Fairbairn instituted a series of experiments for the pur- 
 pose of settling the question. They were directed to 
 the resistance of locomotive boilers generally, and in par- 
 ticular to the strength of the screwed stays by which 
 the internal fire-box is secured to the outer shell. A 
 locomotive boiler was subjected to hydraulic pressure, 
 increased till the boiler gave way, and it was inferred 
 that it would bear 300 to 350 Ibs. pressure per square 
 inch before bursting. A trial was also made to determine 
 the rate at which the pressure would rise, supposing the 
 fire kept up and the safety-valve closed, and it was found 
 that in about half-an-hour a bursting force would be 
 attained. 
 
 But, not satisfied with merely talking or writing about 
 boiler explosions, the idea occurred to Mr. Fairbairn of 
 doing something practical to prevent them, or at least 
 to render them less frequent; and this idea led to the 
 foundation by him of an ' Association for the Prevention 
 of Steam Boiler Explosions,' which has been of incalcu- 
 lable benefit in the saving of life and property, and, in 
 fact, has become, under his guidance, one of the most 
 valuable mechanical institutions of the country. It is 
 only due to him to give an account of the rise and pro- 
 gress of this excellent society. 1 
 
 1 The early particulars are chiefly taken from a report by Mr. Lavington 
 Fletcher (the engineer to the society), made in August 1874, immediately 
 after Sir Wm. F.iiibairn's death.
 
 BOILER ASSOCIATION. 265 
 
 His notion was that, as he was convinced all boiler 
 explosions arose from ordinary mechanical causes easily 
 avoidable, it would be possible, by careful and fre- 
 quent inspection or examination, to discover when any- 
 thing was likely to go wrong, and so to apply a remedy 
 in time. And he conceived that, by the formation of a 
 society, this inspection might be made systematic, and 
 might combine other advantages with that of safety. 
 
 It was about 1851 that he first gave expression to 
 this idea. In his evidence with regard to a boiler ex- 
 plosion at Stockport, about April of that year, he said : 
 
 It seems to me that there should be some association, either 
 under the local authorities or under Government, by which 
 registers should be kept, not only with reference to the safety 
 of the public, but also to show what duty engines and boilers 
 perform. The best results have arisen from such regulations in 
 Cornwall, and it has led there to the greatest possible economy. 
 
 Further, at the Blackburn case in 1853, he again 
 called attention to the subject : 
 
 I think the inspection would be better in the hands of the 
 proprietors of steam-engines, if they would undertake it, than 
 in those of the Government. If the proprietors undertook the 
 work it would have to be done under an Association of em- 
 ployers, and I have no doubt it would be much more acceptable 
 to manufacturers that they should have the control of their own 
 engines and boilers than that the Government should interfere. 
 
 The following extract of a letter shows that he had 
 about this time been discussing the subject with his 
 friends : 
 
 Manchester, July 29, 1854. 
 
 Dear Sir, The recent lamentable boiler explosion has re- 
 called to my mind the subject of a conversation we had some 
 time since, when we accidentally met in a railway carriage.
 
 266 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xvi. 
 
 I think you then expressed the opinion that much would be 
 done to prevent these catastrophes if owners of steam-engines 
 couid agree to retain the services of a suitable inspector, who 
 should periodically examine and report upon the condition of 
 the boilers and engines. 
 
 I hope that the importance of the subject will lead you to 
 lay your views in some practical form before the public, and 
 thus add one more to the many services you have already con- 
 ferred upon it. 
 
 I remain, dear sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 KICHARD JOHNSON. 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIHN, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn replied, and promptly gave attention 
 to the matter. His first step was to find an influential 
 manufacturer and mill-owner who would take an interest 
 in the scheme ; and he made a happy choice in Mr. 
 Henry Houlclsworth, the chief partner in a large firm of 
 cotton spinners in Manchester. Some other gentlemen 
 were spoken to, and a preliminary meeting was held on 
 August 15 ; the general feeling was found to be favour- 
 able to the formation of such a society, and Mr. Fairbairn 
 was deputed to sketch out its objects and rules, with 
 the view of submitting them to a larger and more general 
 meeting to be called for the purpose. 
 
 Meantime the attention of the public was attracted to 
 the proposal. A notice of the first meeting had appeared 
 in the ' Manchester Guardian ' of August 16, and the same 
 paper, on September 16, devoted a leading article to a 
 further explanation of the nature and objects of the 
 proposed association, warmly recommending it to the 
 attention of engineers and manufacturers. 
 
 The ' Mining Journal ' of September 9, 1854, recorded 
 the verdict of the coroner's jury on a fearful boiler ex- 
 plosion at Eochdale, which concluded with the following 
 paragraph :
 
 THE MINING JOURNAL. 267 
 
 The jury cannot separate without pressing on the considera- 
 tion of the owners and users of steam-boilers throughout the 
 kingdom the necessity there is that measures should be taken 
 by them to ensure a thorough and frequent inspection of boilers, 
 so as to prevent, as far as human foresight can, the recurrence 
 of explosions. 
 
 In giving his evidence on this tragic case (where ten 
 persons were blown to atoms and an immense deal of 
 property was destroyed), Mr. Fairbairn 
 
 Suggested it was possible, and indeed quite practicable, to 
 establish associations in the several districts, the members of 
 which should appoint inspectors to take cognizance of the 
 boilers within their respective precincts, and to report to the* 
 association weekly in what state they found them, and the causes 
 which prevented them from being in working order, if the in- 
 spectors should consider such to be the case. He did not con- 
 ceive that it would be any tax on the proprietors of boilers to 
 pay a trifling sum yearly to meet the expense of such an asso- 
 ciation, for it struck him forcibly that, in addition to preventing 
 those very serious accidents, it would be productive of benefit to 
 the proprietors themselves, and save a great deal of money. 
 
 The ' Journal ' added : 
 
 Since the above observations were written, we perceive that 
 Mr. Fairbairn's earnest recommendation has been adopted, and 
 that an association has been formed in the district for the 
 inspection of steam-boilers and the prevention of boiler ex- 
 plosions. We cannot avoid anticipating from it the best 
 results. 
 
 On the 19th of September a second meeting, con- 
 vened by circular, was held in the Manchester Town Hall, 
 the Mayor in the chair, when a committee was appointed 
 for making arrangements for the formation of the asso- 
 ciation. They set vigorously to work, and for some time 
 met every week, the minutes being usually signed either 
 by William Fairbairn or Joseph Whitworth, or both.
 
 268 LIFE O^F SIR WILLIAM FAIKBAIRX. CHAP. xvr. 
 
 They succeeded in enrolling 271 steam-users as mem- 
 bers, and on Jan. 23, 1855, they called another public 
 meeting at which the Society was formally established. 
 
 Mr. Houldsworth was the first president, but in April 
 1 858, he retired, and Mr. Fairbairn was elected in his 
 place, a position which he held till his death. He was 
 ever one of the most active and persevering supporters 
 of the association, always accessible to the chief en- 
 gineer when seeking his advice, and always one of the 
 most regular in his attendance at the meetings of the 
 executive committee. He always advocated the view that 
 steam-boiler explosions arose simply from a greater pres- 
 sure of steam than the boiler was able to withstand, and 
 never afforded any countenance to those fanciful and 
 visionary theories that would have attributed them to 
 mysterious causes. He maintained that periodical inspec- 
 tion was adequate to prevent the greater number of explo- 
 sions, and he wished inspection to be the fundamental 
 principle of safety. 
 
 The institution is now in a most flourishing condition. 
 Its full title is, The Manchester Steam Users' Association, 
 for the Prevention of Steam-boiler Explosions, and for the 
 attainment of Economy in the Application of Steam. 
 
 Its objects and constitution are stated as follows: 
 
 This association undertakes the periodical inspection of 
 steam-boilers, and gives a pecuniary guarantee of the integrity 
 and efficiency of its inspections to the amount of 3001. on each 
 boiler enrolled, so that in the event of the explosion of an 
 approved boiler, whether that explosion arise from collapse 
 of the furnace tubes, or from rupture of the shell, or failure of 
 any part of the boiler whatever, all damag-e done thereby, other 
 than by fire, whether to the boiler itself or to the surrounding 
 property, will be made good to the extent of 300L 
 
 The association also assists its members by taking indicator 
 diagrams when requested, as well as by affording competent
 
 THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES. 269 
 
 engineering advice with regard to the working of boilers and 
 engines, the prevention of smoke, the economy of fuel, and any 
 other points calculated to prove of value to the members of the 
 association as steam-users. 
 
 Its system of inspection is voluntary, and permissive on the 
 part of its members. Its reports are suggestive and recom- 
 mendatory on the part of its officers. Its benefits are mutually 
 shared by all enrolled. There are no shareholders to whom 
 dividends are paid out of the members' subscriptions, but the 
 funds are devoted solely to promote the direct objects of the 
 association. The executive committee are appointed by the 
 general voice of the members of the association. They receive 
 no remuneration for their services. They employ a considerable 
 amount of steam-power themselves, and are thus interested in 
 everything that affects its use. 
 
 The object of the guarantee is not so much to ensure the 
 members against pecuniary loss in case of explosion, as to give 
 a pledge of the bond fide intention of the association to pre- 
 vent the occurrence of explosions by efficient supervision and 
 careful periodical boiler inspection. 
 
 The number of members in 1874 was 768, and the 
 annual income 5,236/. The number of boilers under 
 regular inspection was 2,689. 
 
 Soon after the foundation of the Boiler Association, 
 Mr. Fairbairn determined to follow out one of the ideas 
 which had been present to his mind when he established 
 the society. It was originally his intention that the asso- 
 ciation, in addition to the commonplace work of inspect- 
 ing boilers and finding out faulty or weak places, should 
 undertake the investigation of theoretical principles. The 
 practical views of his coadjutors were opposed to this, and 
 it was struck out of the programme ; but Mr. Fairbairn, 
 nothing daunted, resolved to effect the investigations in 
 his own way.
 
 270 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvi. 
 
 At the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow, 
 in 1858, he urged the subject upon many scientific 
 friends, and as the importance of it was admitted, it was 
 agreed that the Eoyal Society and the British Association 
 should jointly authorise the enquiry, and should furnish 
 a grant of money for the expenses. 
 
 The objects immediately named were to investigate 
 certain doubtful points in the construction of boilers, and 
 in the nature of steam. The former was first undertaken, 
 and Mr. Fairbairn availed himself of the assistance of a 
 practical mathematician, Mr. Thomas Tate (who had pre- 
 viously aided him in other labours) and Mr. Unwin, a 
 young engineer, whom he had engaged as secretary. 
 
 The first result was a paper * On the ^Resistance of 
 Tubes to Collapse,' read before the Eoyal Society May 20, 
 1858, and afterwards published in the Philosophical 
 Transactions. It has already been mentioned that the 
 internal tubes, or fire flues, of high pressure boilers, are 
 subject to a severe external pressure, tending to cause 
 them to collapse or crush in ; in fact, they form the 
 weakest and most dangerous element of the construction, 
 inasmuch as the external crushing force is uncertain and 
 obscure in its action, and the resistance to be provided 
 against it is difficult to determine. When accidents have 
 occurred with this kind of boiler, it is almost always the 
 internal tube that has given way ; and some cases of col- 
 lapse have occurred with a very moderate pressure. 
 
 No scientific or well-founded rule existed to guide the 
 design or proportions of this part of a boiler, and hence it 
 was desirable in the first place to make some experiments 
 of a general nature to ascertain the resistance of tubes to 
 strains acting in this way. 
 
 For this purpose, tubes of various dimensions, thick- 
 nesses, and lengths, were constructed, and were subjected,
 
 COLLAPSE OF TUBES. 271 
 
 in a closed water bath, to external hydrostatic pressure 
 till they collapsed, the pressures and the circumstances of 
 collapse being carefully recorded. 
 
 The particulars were given in the paper, but the 
 general result deduced from the whole was that the 
 strength of the tubes diminished in an important degree 
 as their length increased, a principle of much importance, 
 on account of the great length steam-boilers were usually 
 made. 
 
 It was always Mr. Fairbairn's principle to give, if he 
 could, a practical value to his enquiries ; and having 
 discovered the defect, he set to work to find a remedy. 
 It occurred to him that it would be possible effectively 
 to shorten the tubes, without shortening the boiler. For 
 this purpose he inserted stiff rings of iron at various 
 points in the length, which served as supports to the tube 
 in the places where they were fixed, so that the effective 
 length of the tube was shortened to the distance between 
 two of these rings. For example : in a boiler 24 feet 
 long, by inserting two rings, the effective length of the tube 
 became reduced from 24 feet to 8 feet, and the resistance 
 to collapse was increased accordingly. He further sug- 
 gested some improvements in the riveting, the advan- 
 tages of which were described in the paper. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, in his Autobiography, thus alludes to 
 this memoir : 
 
 Shortly after the meeting of the British Association in 
 Glasgow, I entered upon a long series of experiments on the law 
 of the resistance of tubes to collapse. These investigations were 
 the more interesting as they led to the establishment of the law 
 of collapse from pressure on the external surfaces ; and the im- 
 provements deduced from this law led to the security of steam- 
 boilers, by doubling or trebling their powers of resistance, and 
 thus were the means of saving many valuable lives from violent 
 death by explosion.
 
 272 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvr. 
 
 This was an important discovery, for in the case of steam- 
 boilers with tubes it was found that the internal tubes were, in 
 most cases, only one-third of the strength of the outer shell, and 
 hence the fallacy of the ordinary belief, that the tubes from 
 their reduced diameters were stronger than any other part of the 
 boiler. 
 
 Another important feature in these investigations was, that 
 by simply encircling the tube with two or more rigid rings, the 
 resistance to collapse was increased in the inverse ratio of the 
 distances between the rings. 
 
 The experiments were very expensive, as large and powerful 
 apparatus had to be prepared to sustain a pressure of upwards of 
 300 Ibs. per square inch. In this I was assisted by a grant from 
 the Royal Society, out of the Government fund, and I had every 
 facility for conducting them at the engine shed of the London 
 and North Western Company at Longsight, Manchester, who 
 were interested in the subject. 
 
 This essay was one of the most meritorious works of 
 Mr. Fairbairn's scientific and professional career, and 
 deserves more credit than it has generally received. The 
 process of investigation was admirably philosophical; 
 there was first the ascertaining of facts by careful and 
 well-directed experiment and observation ; then there was 
 the deduction from them, by scientific reasoning, of a 
 general theoretical law ; and finally there was the in- 
 vention and application of a measure founded on that 
 law, which rendered the whole of practical utility and 
 advantage. Mr. Fairbairn's anti-collapse flue rings, 
 which arose out of this investigation, have been in con- 
 stant use ever since, and have been the salvation of the 
 high pressure stationary-engine boiler. 
 
 An abbreviated account of the investigation was pub- 
 lished in the Eeport of the British Association for 1857. 
 
 On May 12, 1859, a second paper* was read at the 
 Eoyal Society, as a sequel to the former one, and in this 
 Mr. Fairbairn connected Mr. Tate's name with his own.
 
 STRENGTH OF GLASS. 273 
 
 It was entitled ' On the Eesistance of Glass Globes and 
 Cylinders to Collapse from Internal Pressure, and on the 
 tensile and compressive Strength of various kinds of Glass,' 
 and was published in the Philosophical Transactions for 
 the year. 
 
 The novel results arising out of the first trials had 
 suggested the propriety of carrying them farther, with a 
 variation in the nature of the material; and glass was 
 chosen, as a homogeneous crystalline and rigid substance, 
 to contrast with the ductile and fibrous one at first em- 
 ployed. Moreover it was remarked that, much as glass 5 
 was employed in philosophical experiments, there was a 
 want of information as to its properties, which it was very 
 desirable to supply. 
 
 Accordingly, the strength of glass to resist tensile and 
 compressive forces was first experimented on ; after which 
 trials were made on the power of glass vessels to resist 
 external crushing force. The law of their strength was 
 found to correspond with that deduced for iron tubes. 
 
 An anticipatory notice of this series of experiments 
 was communicated to the British Association at their 
 Leeds meeting, September 1858. 
 
 A third paper, which arose out of the boiler enquiry, 
 was presented to the Eoyal Society on May 10, 1860. It 
 was entitled ' Experimental Eesearches to determine the 
 Density of Steam at Different Temperatures ; and to deter- 
 mine the Law of Expansion of Superheated Steam, by 
 William Fairbairn, Esq., F.E.S., and Thomas Tate, Esq.' 
 This paper was considered of such importance and merit 
 that it was selected by the Society as the ' Bakerian 
 Lecture ' for the year, and it was published in the Phil. 
 Trans., vol. cl. 
 
 The first object of the enquiry was to determine by 
 direct experiment the law of the density and expansion
 
 274 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvi. 
 
 of steam and other condensible vapours at all tempera- 
 tures. Theoretical laws had been propounded and ex- 
 tensively adopted, but no trustworthy direct experiments 
 had been made to test their truth. The paper gave 
 full details of a large number of carefully conducted 
 observations made with this object, with a deduction 
 of generalised formulae from the results obtained. 
 
 The second part of the paper was devoted to an in- 
 vestigation of the laws of what is called superheated steam. 
 A plan had been coming into use, for steam-engines, of 
 heating the steam after it had left the boiler, with the 
 object of evaporating any water it might contain, and 
 rendering it dry. This process, which was called super- 
 heating, was supposed to offer practical advantages, but 
 no sufficient investigation had previously been made 
 of the properties of steam so treated. The paper supplied, 
 to a certain extent, this deficiency. 
 
 The authors were assisted by Mr. Unwin, and Mr. 
 Fairbairn testified to the great precision and care with 
 which the experiments were conducted. The substance 
 of the enquiry was laid before the mechanical section of 
 the British Association at their Aberdeen meeting in Sep- 
 tember 1859. 
 
 In this paper Mr. Fairbairn had occasion to refer to 
 the great researches on vapours by the eminent French 
 philosopher, Eegnault. From the wide reputation of these 
 researches and of their author, the following letter may 
 be placed on record : 
 
 Mon cher Mr. Fairbairn, J'ai recu votre lettre, et je 
 m'empresse d'y repondre par ecrit, afin de pouvoir vous 1'envoyer 
 de Paris, car lundi prochain je pars pour Londres, et j'espere 
 bien que j'aurai 1'occasion de discuter oralement avec vous les 
 questions importantes que vous avez traitees. 
 
 Vous pouvez faire 1'usage que vous voudrez du tableau
 
 REGNAULT. 275 
 
 numerique que je vous ai donne sur les forces elastiques des 
 vapeurs. Grace au Ciel, le gros volume qui contient 1'ensemble 
 de mes experiences est enfin termine. Voici sept ans que Pim- 
 primeur a commence ; vous jugerez facilement que le volume 
 represente une enorme labeur. 
 
 J'espere apporter ce volume moi-meme a la Societe Royale 
 de Londres. II ne manque que la planche qui renferme les 
 courbes grapbiques et qui n'est pas entierement termine a la 
 gravure. 
 
 J'aurai 1'honneur de vous en offrir aussi un exemplaire 
 quand le tirage sera termine. 
 
 Veuillez me croire 
 
 Votre serviteur devoue, 
 
 V. REGNADLT. 
 
 Some years before Mr. Fairbairn's death the question 
 was much agitated whether it would be advisable to 
 introduce any legislative measures to ensure the safety of 
 boilers, or to prevent or diminish the danger of explosion. 
 Mr. Fairbairn took much interest in the controversy. It 
 seems that the matter had also excited interest in France, 
 for in 1863 the eminent French mechanical engineer, M. 
 Chas. Combes, wrote to ask Mr. Fairbairn's opinion, which 
 was given as follows : 
 
 Manchester : March 28, 1863. 
 
 My dear Sir, In this country we are always jealous of 
 Government interference, in matters relating to the industrial 
 projects of individuals in their single or collective capacity, and 
 that for two reasons ; firstly, that official inspection is not always 
 j udicious ; and, secondly, that it removes the responsibility off 
 the shoulders of those that ought to bear it. 
 
 I am quite aware of the regulations which exist in'France 
 as regards the construction of boilers, but in this country^we 
 prefer that the owners of boilers should be responsible for their 
 own actions, and the Government holds them responsible in 
 every instance where loss of life or injury to the person arises 
 from any neglect on their part. This is the extent of the 
 i 2
 
 276 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XYI. 
 
 English law, and every man is at liberty to make any description 
 of boiler he pleases, but he must be answerable for the results. 
 It is true, and we admit it to be the duty of every Government 
 to afford protection to life and property, but not to interfere so 
 as to cramp the energies and enterprise of individuals in their 
 pursuit of knowledge, and the advancement of industrial re- 
 sources. 
 
 In this country, as in France, but at a later period, there 
 was a transfer from the low-pressure system, as adopted by Watt, 
 to that of high pressure, working the steam expansively, by 
 which a considerable saving of fuel was effected. During the 
 time of this change, which spread over a series of years, many 
 serious accidents, attended with loss of life, occurred, and the 
 public in this district became alarmed to such a degree, that we 
 found it necessary, in order to prevent Government interference, 
 to establish the association of which I send you the rules. Being 
 the founder of this association, I have never ceased to advocate 
 its efficiency, and the principles on which it is founded. Out of 
 an average of 1,600 boilers under the inspection of the associa- 
 tion only three accidents, with the loss of two lives, have occurred 
 during the eight years of its existence. 
 
 This association takes cognizance of the construction, form, 
 and quality of material used, and the monthly reports point 
 out, in every case, but without mentioning names, the defects 
 that require attention, and of which a written statement is 
 immediately forwarded to the proprietor, leaving it to his 
 option to apply the remedies or not as he may deem expedient. 
 
 I have now to reply to your queries as follow, viz. : 
 
 1. Is it desirable to fix by law, under penalty of fines, the, 
 thickness of plates, &c. 
 
 Ansiver. It is not desirable, as there is a great difference in 
 the quality of plates. These points are left to the makers, and 
 the association make no recommendations. They simply inspect 
 existing boilers, and point out the defects, if any, and suggest 
 the remedies to be applied. 
 
 2. Do you consider the previous testing necessary ? 
 Ansiver. We consider a hydraulic test necessary up to one 
 
 and a half times, or in some cases to double the pressure at 
 which the boiler is worked.
 
 BOILER LEGISLATION. "277 
 
 3. (Question not quoted.) 
 
 4. Is it desirable to prescribe, under penalty of fine, the 
 combustion of smoke ? 
 
 Answer. Yea, under local acts applied to towns, as the 
 emission of smoke from furnaces may be prevented. 
 
 5. Are there any rules in England respecting the condition 
 of the boiler house, &c. ? 
 
 Ansiuer. There is no condition by law, but it is desirable 
 in every case to have boilers in a separate building, distinct from 
 the factory where a number of persons are employed. 
 
 Yours faithfully, 
 
 WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 M. CHAELFS COMBES, Member of the Institute. 
 
 A little later the subject was taken up at the British 
 Association, who, at their meeting at Norwich in 1868, 
 appointed a committee, consisting of Messrs. Fairbairn, 
 Whitworth, Penn, Hick, Bramwell, Webster, Fletcher, 
 and others, to consider ' how far coroners' inquisi- 
 tions are satisfactory tribunals for the investigation of 
 boiler explosions, and how these tribunals may be im- 
 proved.' The committee reported at the Exeter meeting 
 in 1869, to the general effect that the inquests were un- 
 satisfactory, and with a recommendation that coroners 
 should get the assistance of skilled engineers. The report 
 alluded to the fact that during the past session a bill had 
 been introduced into Parliament for placing all steam- 
 boilers under Government inspection ; but the committee 
 expressed a strong dread of any such legislative interfe- 
 rence, in which the meeting of the Association con- 
 curred. 
 
 The next year, 1870, the bill was re-introduced, when 
 Sir William personally exerted himself to procure its 
 rejection, and to obtain instead the appointment of a select 
 committee to investigate the question. His efforts were 
 successful, and the committee was appointed on May 16.
 
 278 LIFE OF S1K WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XTT. 
 
 They sat many days, and took evidence, but could not 
 conclude their labours, and adjourned over the recess. 
 
 In the meantime the committee of the British Associa- 
 tion, at their meeting at Liverpool in 1870, took up the 
 matter again, and presented a long report, the gist of 
 which was in the last paragraph : 
 
 They are convinced that explosion might be, and ought to 
 be, prevented ; that competent inspection is adequate for the 
 purpose ; and that any well-organised system of inspection 
 extended throughout the entire country would partially ex- 
 tinguish boiler explosions. 
 
 But they did not point out what was the best means 
 of ensuring this inspection. 
 
 The House of Commons Committee met again in March 
 1871, and took more evidence; but Sir Wm. Fairbairn, 
 conceiving that some of this was misleading, at once wrote 
 an energetic letter to Mr. John Hick, the chairman, pro- 
 testing against it, and showing its fallacy. The committee 
 reported in June, but their report did not go farther than 
 to recommend that the responsibility of explosion should 
 remain upon the steam users ; and that the efficiency of 
 coroners' enquiries should be somewhat improved. 
 
 This left the question just where it was, and Sir Wil- 
 liam had the gratification of seeing that, although his 
 favourite remedy of inspection had not received Parlia- 
 mentary confirmation, he had at any rate succeeded in 
 defeating the attempt to introduce Government interfer- 
 ence. 
 
 In April 1871 he published an article in the ' Quar- 
 terly Journal of Science,' embodying his views on this 
 subject. 
 
 Sir William, in his late years, again exercised his in- 
 vention on the subject of boilers. In 1870 he took out
 
 NEW BOILER. 279 
 
 a patent (March 18, No. 810) for improvements in them. 
 He had long held the opinion that it would be ad- 
 vantageous to use a still higher pressure of steam. 
 It had already been much increased in locomotives, 
 and he believed it might be also increased with benefit 
 in stationary engines, if the boilers could be made 
 strong enough to bear the requisite strain with safety. 
 He had, in his two-flued boiler with the stiffening 
 rings, added greatly to the strength ; but still, when 
 
 FAinBAHLN'S IMPROVED BOILER FOR HIGH-PRESSURE STEAM. 
 
 any great power was required, it was necessary to have 
 the outside shell of a large diameter, which always 
 involved more or less danger, the risk being proportionate 
 to the size. He strove, therefore, to contrive a form of 
 boiler which, while retaining ample heating surface and 
 evaporating power, should enable him materially to 
 reduce the diameter of the vessels used ; and the arrange-
 
 280 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRS AIRX. CHAP. xvi. 
 
 ment he hit upon was to substitute three or more smaller 
 vessels for one large one. He placed the fire or furnace 
 tubes within external shells, not much larger than them- 
 selves (thus leaving merely annular water spaces round 
 them) and he added above them other vessels for the 
 purpose of obtaining the requisite water and steam room ; 
 proper communication pipes being made to connect the 
 various vessels together. The annexed figure will illus- 
 trate the nature of the new construction. 
 
 By this means he could make, he stated, boilers which 
 would have a resistance equal to 750 Ibs. pressure per 
 square inch. He also added arrangements by which the 
 examination, cleaning, and repair of the boilers might be 
 much facilitated, knowing how much the safety and 
 economy of working depended on these precautions. 
 
 In 1873 he took out another patent (January 23, No. 
 270), in conjunction with Mr. Thos. Beeley, a boiler-maker 
 at Hyde, near Manchester, for improvements in the 1870 
 form of boiler, which rendered it more especially suitable 
 for steam vessels ; and in February 1874, he sent to the 
 Admiralty a design for the adaptation of the new boiler 
 to one of Her Majesty's frigates, the ' Daring.' 
 
 At the beginning of 1874, a few months before his 
 death, he expressed a wish to resign the chairmanship of 
 the Boiler Association ; receiving the following letter in 
 reply from one of his colleagues : 
 
 Groby Lodge, Ashton-under-Lyne, March 10, 1874. 
 My dear Sir William, Your letter of resignation was read 
 at our meeting to-day, and there was evoked one united response 
 expressive of the feelings which in every heart arose on the 
 reading of it. A resolution was promptly adopted, which will 
 be sent to you officially. It conveys a very inadequate and 
 imperfect recognition of the honour and esteem in which you
 
 Th e Po 1 Y9 on 
 Ar&tokfc, Manchester. 
 
 JL*~J^-
 
 MB. FLETCHER. 281 
 
 are held by your colleagues. We cannot let you break your 
 official connection with us yet. So long as the Almighty is 
 pleased to spare your valuable life, I earnestly hope we may 
 have the great honour of your presidency. Your name and 
 high character are a tower of strength to the Association of 
 which you are the founder. Your services can never be realised. 
 You have been the instrument of saving very many valuable 
 lives by means of the Association. Allow us to continue to 
 receive the lustre of your great name. For your sake we will 
 do our best to uphold the reputation of the society. I feel it a 
 very great honour to have been associated with you. May the 
 years of your declining life be blessed with every mercy. 
 With great respect, I remain, 
 
 My dear Sir William, yours sincerely, 
 
 HUGH MASON. 
 
 Sir WILLIAM FAIEBAIRN, Bart. 
 
 The last letter he wrote on engineering matters was 
 one dated June 8, 1874, to Mr. Fletcher, the engi- 
 neer of the Association, referring to a proposed test 
 of one of his new boilers by hydraulic pressure up 
 to the bursting point. The Association had a fac-simile 
 taken and distributed, as a memorial of their respected 
 founder ; a copy is inserted on the opposite page. 
 
 Mr. Fletcher has favoured the editor with the following 
 remarks on the subject of boiler explosions, which, in 
 consideration of the importance of this subject, and the 
 great interest Sir William Fairbairn took in it, may be 
 inserted here. 
 
 Manchester, July 5, 1876. 
 
 Dear Sir, In addition to the information already furnished 
 with regard to the Manchester Steam Users' Association, it may 
 perhaps be of further assistance if I add a few lines thereto. 
 
 When the association first started its operations, a good
 
 282 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAHIBAIEX. CHAP. xvi. 
 
 deal of mystery was attached to the subject of steam boiler 
 explosions, and they were apt to be attributed to very recondite 
 causes. The association has been at the expense, however, of 
 investigating the cause of every boiler explosion which has 
 occurred for many years in any part of the country, carefully 
 recording the results, and circulating amongst the members 
 and the public generally, by means of its printed monthly 
 reports, an abridged account of the cause of each of these 
 catastrophes. 
 
 The association has always advocated the view that explo- 
 sions are not mysterious and not accidental, but that they arise 
 from simple causes, the cause being, in the great majority of 
 cases, merely that the boiler is too weak for the pressure at 
 which it is worked, the weakness in some cases resulting from 
 original malconstruction, such as the want of encircling hoops 
 round the flues, &c., and in others from wear and tear, wasting 
 of the thickness of the plate by corrosion, &c. All our investi- 
 gations go to support the simple statement of the late Joshua 
 Field, when President of the Institute of Civil Engineers, viz., 
 that ' boilers burst because they are not strong enough.' That 
 we find to be the whole secret. The association does not 
 take credit to itself for having arrived at this conclusion, but it 
 has endeavoured persistently to keep this view before the public, 
 and those not brought face to face with the circumstances of 
 the case will scarcely believe how difficult it is to get this view 
 accepted after an explosion has occurred. The boiler owner and 
 the boiler maker have both an interest in throwing the blame 
 on the attendant, so that they always attempt to show that the 
 explosion was due to shortness of water, through the attendant's 
 failing to keep up the regular supply. In some cases the most 
 absurd and fanciful theories have been suggested to account 
 for explosions. They have been attributed to the formation 
 of gases inside the boiler, ignited by the fire outside through 
 cracks in the plates. In some cases they have been attributed 
 to a sudden accession of pressure through the mixture of two 
 steams flowing from different boilers. They have been some- 
 times attributed to magnetism or, in fact, to any cause but un- 
 scientific construction or the bad condition of the boiler. In 
 Cornwall we find it most difficult to induce boiler owners to
 
 GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE. 283 
 
 strengthen the furnace tubes with hoops. They cannot be per- 
 suaded that a boiler can burst unless short of water. 
 
 Sir William Fairbaim and the members of the executive 
 committee, as steam users, always entertained a very wholesome 
 dread of Governmental interference with private industries, and 
 therefore hoped, by taking up the system of periodical boiler 
 inspection, to render Governmental inspection unnecessary, so 
 that they had in view a double object one, to prevent the 
 sacrifice of life by steam-boiler explosions; the other, to prevent 
 Governmental interference, which it was feared this loss of life 
 would provoke. It is interesting to trace how the working of 
 the association for years has somewhat led to a modification of 
 the view with regard to Governmental interference, and this is 
 a point to which I would call attention. It was found that, 
 in spite of all the association could do, steam users still 
 persisted in working old and dangerous boilers, and continued 
 year after year to incur on an average fifty explosions, killing 
 between sixty and seventy persons, and injuring about 100 
 others. Seeing that inspection was competent to prevent these 
 disasters, the association felt at length compelled to urge on the 
 Government to interfere in the interest of the public safety, and 
 to take some measures to stimulate steam users to a due sense 
 of their responsibility. What the association recommends is 
 that the Government should institute an impartial and 
 thoroughly competent tribunal to make a most searching 
 investigation in the event of every explosion, so as to bring the 
 blame home to the right party, the tribunal being empowered 
 to institute a prosecution. The association has twice waited 
 on the Home Secretary with memorials to this effect ; the first 
 time in June, 1875, and the second in June, 1876. The depu- 
 tation was favourably received on each occasion (the memorials 
 are published in our proceedings). Prior to this, the association 
 had presented a memorial to the Home Secretary, in April, 
 1869, very much to the same effect as those referred to, the 
 primary difference being that in the memorial of 1869 we pro- 
 posed that the investigation should be conducted by the coroner's 
 court, aided by scientific assessors, and in the memorials of 
 1875-76 it was to be conducted by another and more competent 
 court, entirely independent of the coroner's.
 
 284 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIEBAIRN. CAP. xvi. 
 
 Between the presentation of the memorial of 1869 and the 
 one of 1875, public opinion seemed to set in favour of a direct 
 compulsory system of enforced inspection, and Mr. Henry B. 
 Sheridan, then member for Dudley, brought in a Bill for placing 
 all the boilers in the country under the inspection of the Board 
 of Trade. To this measure the association strongly objected, 
 and instigated the appointment of a Select Committee to enquire 
 into the whole quest 1 ' on of steam-boiler explosions. Evidence 
 was given before the committee by Sir William Fairbairn, by 
 Mi\ Hugh Mason, our present president, by the late Mr. Charles 
 F. Beyer, member of our executive committee, and by myself. 
 
 The association has now fallen back from any system of 
 compulsory inspection of boilers when in use, to a searching 
 investigation of boilers after explosion, with a view of increasing 
 the owner's responsibility. The question, like many others, has 
 assumed different phases in different stages. 
 
 I have troubled you with this little history of the association's 
 movement with regard to steam-boiler legislation, as it seems 
 to me to open a very interesting and important question, and one 
 that is being raised with reference to the conduct of other of 
 the world's industries, such as mining, shipping, &c., the pro- 
 blem being how to control the careless without hampering the 
 careful, and how to save human life and check recklessness with- 
 out hampering progress. That questions of such interest should 
 spring out of the simple subject of boiler inspection might not 
 perhaps at first be anticipated. 
 
 We have at these offices very full illustrated reports of all 
 the explosions the association has investigated, and which form 
 a most valuable record. 
 
 LAVINGTON E. FLETCHER, Chief Engineer.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 ME. HOPKINS'S EARTH EXPERIMENTS 
 
 1851-1857
 
 MR. WILLIAM HOPKINS OF CAMBRIDGE HIS INVESTIGATIONS IN THE 
 APPLICATION OF MECHANICS TO GEOLOGY IGNEOUS ORIGIN OF THE 
 EARTH CONDITION OF ITS CRUST INTERNAL HEAT SCIENTIFIC DIS- 
 CUSSIONSEXPERIMENTS WANTED OF A PRACTICAL NATURE APPLI- 
 CATION TO MR. FAIRBAIRN EXPERIMENTS BEGUN IN 1851 GRANT OF 
 THE ROYAL SOCIETY MR. JOULE PROFESSOR WILLIAM THOMSON 
 INGENIOUS MAGNETIC INDICATOR SCIENTIFIC CORRESPONDENCE BE- 
 TWEEN MR. HOPKINS AND MR. JOULE PROGRESS OF THE EXPERIMENTS 
 LIVERPOOL MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN 1854 MR. 
 HOPKINS'S ILLNESS AND DEATH CONCLUSIONS DRAWN FROM THE 
 EXPERIMENTS.
 
 287 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN was engaged for some years on an ex- 
 perimental investigation of great scientific interest, in 
 regard to which, although the results were not published 
 in his own name, he was entitled to much credit. This 
 was an enquiry into certain physical properties of the 
 materials of the earth's crust, undertaken at the instance 
 of the late Mr. William Hopkins, of Cambridge. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins was an eminent mathematician and phy- 
 sicist ; but he had chiefly made himself celebrated for 
 studies of a novel and peculiar character, involving the 
 application of high mathematical and mechanical prin- 
 ciples to the science of geology. 
 
 The study of the structure of the earth, although from 
 the time of Hutton and Werner it had occupied the 
 earnest attention of scientific men, had involved only de- 
 ductions and reasonings of a comparatively simple cha- 
 racter. Mr. Hopkins had set himself to investigate, in a 
 much deeper and more comprehensive manner, the nature 
 of the mechanical forces and conditions which had been 
 at work in order to produce the observed appearances ; 
 and he had shown that they were as capable of being re- 
 duced to rule and law as the phenomena of astronomy, 
 although of course the processes were more obscure and 
 the demonstrations more difficult to obtain. He had pub- 
 lished many papers, for example, on the mechanism of 
 glacier motion ; on the influence of mechanical forces on 
 the conformation of rocks, their elevation, denudation,
 
 288 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 &c. ; on the theories of volcanoes and earthquakes ; on 
 the temperature of the earth ; on climate ; and many 
 other subjects involving mathematical reasoning. 
 
 In the course of investigation it occurred to him that 
 it would be possible to extend mathematical enquiry to 
 the problem of the share that igneous action had had in 
 the formation of the crust of the earth. There had always 
 been a leaning in the minds of cosmical philosophers to 
 the hypothesis that our planet had originally been a globe 
 of matter in a state of fusion, on which a crust had 
 become formed by the gradual cooling of the exterior, 
 leaving the interior in all probability still a molten igneous 
 mass. In support of this hypothesis were brought the 
 well-known phenomena of volcanoes, earthquakes, and 
 hot springs, as well as the established fact of the gradual 
 increase of temperature in descending below the surface 
 of the ground. 
 
 In January and March 1839, Mr. Hopkins laid before 
 the Eoyal Society two papers, ' On the Phenomena of 
 Precession and Nutation, assuming the Fluidity of the 
 Interior of the Earth/ in which were some profound 
 speculations and calculations as to the refrigeration and 
 internal heat of the globe, and their effects on astro- 
 nomical phenomena. These were followed by another 
 paper in January 1842, on the ' Thickness and Constitu- 
 tion of the Earth's Crust,' in which he pointed out that 
 the problems would be materially affected by the effect 
 of pressure on the temperature of fusion of the different 
 matters forming the earth's crust, which were sup- 
 posed to have been in a liquid state. He added, ' With 
 the aid of a proper series of experiments on this point, a 
 direct method of arriving at an approximation to the 
 thickness of the crust of the globe, or rather to its least 
 limit, might be easily explained.' 
 
 At the meeting of the British Association at Oxford,
 
 MR. WILLIAM HOPKINS. 289 
 
 in June 1847, Mr. Hopkins presented a long and elaborate 
 report 'On the Geological Theories of Elevation and 
 Earthquakes,' in which the problems of the fluidity, solidi- 
 fication, form, and thickness of the earth's crust, were 
 largely treated of, and he again urged (p. 52) the im- 
 portance of the experimental determination of the influence 
 of pressure in the process of solidification. To show in 
 what a remarkable manner this would bear on the theory 
 of the earth, he said : 
 
 If this influence can be detected at all by experiment, it is 
 probably considerably greater than stated above, as sufficient to 
 justify the conclusion of the earth's solidity to a great depth ; 
 and there could, I conceive, in such case be little doubt as to 
 the earth's entire solidity. If, on the contrary, it should appear 
 that pressure exerts no such influence, or that it tends to retard 
 solidification, we must conclude that the interior temperature of 
 the earth cannot be due to its original heat. Whatever, then, 
 may be the results of experiment on this subject, they must 
 probably lead us, should they be sufficiently determinate, to con- 
 clusions of the first importance in speculative geology respecting 
 the state of the interior of the globe. 
 
 To obtain these data by experiment, it became ne- 
 cessary to consult a mechanical engineer ; for the means 
 of producing and resisting the enormous pressures re- 
 quired were far beyond the scope of any ordinary 
 laboratory arrangements. Mr. Fairbairn was known to 
 Mr. Hopkins, not only as a practical engineer, but as a 
 man devoted to science, and Mr. Hopkins, early in 1851, 
 wrote to him as follows : 
 
 Cambridge, April 25, 1851. 
 
 My dear Sir, I am very anxious to get some experiments 
 made for the purpose of determining whether great pressure has 
 any sensible effect on the temperature of fusion of any pro- 
 posed substance (a metallic substance for instance), or what will 
 
 U
 
 290 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XYII. 
 
 probably be found to be the same thing, on the temperature at 
 which any substance, in a previous state of fusion, will become 
 solid. 
 
 For this purpose I want the means of producing an enormous 
 pressure on a cylinder of perhaps an inch or rather more in 
 diameter, such as Mr. Hodgkinson produced on similar cylinders 
 in his experiments on the crushing forces for them. My friend, 
 Professor Willis, informs me that the lever which Mr. Hodg- 
 kinson made use of for this purpose is still, as he believes, in 
 your hands at Manchester. And my object in now writing to 
 you is to ask whether you could allow me the use of it, sup- 
 posing the experiments to be made under my own superinten- 
 dence, at Manchester. I have no doubt of being able to pro- 
 cure considerable pecuniary assistance from the committee for 
 disposing of the annual grant made by Government for scientific 
 purposes, but I should not like to apply to them till I can see 
 my way clearly to the means of performing the experiments 
 effectively. With the exception of the lever, the apparatus 
 required would be of very small magnitude. 
 
 If you would have the kindness to give me an answer as 
 soon as may be perfectly convenient to you, I shall feel very 
 much obliged to you, as my application for pecuniary aid must 
 be made during the present year. 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. HOPKINS. 
 
 To this Mr. Fairbairn replied : 
 
 Manchester, April 29, 1851. 
 
 My dear Sir, I have a lever such as you describe, with all 
 the requisite apparatus, the whole of which is very much at 
 your service. The strength of the lever is computed to a pres- 
 sure of about fifty tons, but this may be doubled by an addi- 
 tional apparatus if required. 
 
 It will afford me great pleasure to render any assistance 
 towards the completion of your interesting experiments, and I 
 shall be glad if you will inform me when you can visit Man- 
 chester for that purpose. In the interval you will perhaps 
 inform me further of the nature of your experiments, and the
 
 GOVERNMENT GRANT. 291 
 
 preparations you will require to render them effective and satis- 
 factory. 
 
 I am, My dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins then applied for the Government grant, 
 and obtained an allowance of 250/. 4 for investigations on 
 the effect of pressure on the temperature of fusion of 
 certain substances.' 
 
 It was stipulated in the terms of the grant that the 
 expenditure of the money should be under the superin- 
 tendence of a committee, in which the name of Mr. Joule 
 was inserted. This gentleman had, as is well known, 
 identified himself especially with the study of the me- 
 chanical action of heat, and he took, thenceforward, an 
 active share in the investigations. 
 
 In July Mr. Hopkins gave some further explanations, 
 of which a few extracts may be inserted, as illustrating 
 the nature of some of the difficulties Mr. Fairbairn had 
 subsequently to overcome. 
 
 One of the most important, and perhaps difficult points, will 
 be the determination of the time when the solidification of the 
 matter experimented on (concealed from sight) takes place, and 
 its temperature at that time. It has occurred to me that this 
 may be done by carefully observing the change of temperature, 
 as the matter is allowed to cool from a temperature which 
 maintains it in a state of perfect fluidity. The temperature 
 will decrease pretty uniformly till the solidification begins, but 
 will remain nearly stationary r , I conceive, till the solidification 
 is completed, after which it will again regularly decrease. This 
 is the first point I wish to have clearly tested, to ascertain with 
 what degree of exactness the stationary temperature can be 
 determined. If it can be done with accuracy I anticipate no 
 serious difficulty in the experiments.
 
 292 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. S.TH. 
 
 He then went on to describe certain preliminary 
 experiments on easily fusible substances, and added 
 suggestions as to how these might be extended further, 
 recommending Mr. Fairbairn to consult with Mr. Joule 
 on the subject generally. 
 
 After some further correspondence, Mr. Hopkins, in 
 the middle of December, visited Manchester, and conferred 
 fully with Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Joule ; the nature of the 
 apparatus was settled, and it was put in hand, Mr. Hopkins 
 paying another visit in January 1852, to examine what 
 was being done. 
 
 The construction appears to have occupied some 
 months, for in April, Mr. Fairbairn, in writing an account 
 of what he was doing to his friend Dr. Eobinson, of 
 Armagh, remarked that he had some difficulty in ' pro- 
 curing vessels sufficiently strong at an increased tempera- 
 ture, to retain the substances on which the experiments 
 were to be made.' 
 
 Constant discussions went on between the parties, and 
 on May 8 Mr. Fairbairn wrote : 
 
 I had a long conversation with Lord Rosse this morning, 
 and he informed me he has written to you on the subject of a 
 report as to what you are about. I think that report should be 
 that we are only beginning ; that we shall want all the money, 
 and that it will be well spent. I think your views on the 
 subject are correct. I make no doubt that a new theory on 
 the laws of solidification will be the result ; at all events we 
 shall be able to show how nature works in the cooling of bodies 
 under severe pressure. 
 
 On May 20, 1852, Mr. Hopkins wrote : 
 
 I much approve of your latest suggestion respecting our 
 apparatus. The idea of the arrangements which you propose 
 was the first I recollect which occurred to me ; but the mecha- 
 nical difficulties seemed to me so great that I at once abandoned
 
 EARLY EXPERIMENTS. 293 
 
 it. If, however, you can overcome them, I believe it will be 
 the best arrangement possible. [This was done.] 
 
 On June 26 Mr. Fairbairn wrote from London: 
 
 I had no time to write you on the subject of our experi- 
 ments, which in some respects were highly satisfactory, in others 
 not so. The apparatus is now completely insulated and per- 
 fectly tight, but we had some difficulty in reading off the tem- 
 perature, &c., &c. 
 
 The earlier experiments were directed to the be- 
 haviour of a substance easily fusible namely, spermaceti, 
 the object being to make very exact observations on the 
 temperature of fusion ; and for a long time the aim 
 was simply to verify by careful observation the sugges- 
 tions in Mr. Hopkins's letter of July 1851 as to the tem- 
 perature remaining stationary for a time at the point of 
 solidification. When this was settled the spermaceti was 
 put under heavy pressure, with the object of observing 
 what effect this had in varying the point at which the 
 congelation occurred. The experiments appear to have 
 been conducted by all three of the persons mentioned. 
 Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Joule were living at Manchester, 
 but Mr. Hopkins paid, as appears from the papers, ' long 
 and frequent visits,' during which he was generally a guest 
 at Mr. Fairbairn's house. 
 
 Writing to Baron von Humboldt on August 23, 1852, 
 Mr. Fairbairn said : 
 
 I am at present engaged, in conjunction with Mr. Hopkins, 
 of Cambridge, on a series of experiments to determine the laws 
 of the solidification of bodies under severe pressure. It is a 
 subject in which I am sure you take a deep interest, as it in- 
 volves a question in physics most difficult to solve ; namely, 
 under what circumstances solidification is effected at great 
 depths under the surface of the earth, and how nature works 
 under superincumbent pressure. I have a powerfid apparatus
 
 294 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 for the purpose, and can give a pressure of nearly 6,000 Ibs. 
 upon the square inch; but we have many difficulties to en- 
 counter, and considerable trouble in preventing the radiation 
 of heat from the vessel which contains the substances under 
 pressure. I have got the apparatus so far complete as to indi- 
 cate with certainty the progressive changes of temperature 
 during the progress of crystallisation in passing from the fluid 
 to the solid state ; nevertheless, we have still much to do. 
 
 In September Mr. Hopkins was again at Manchester, 
 arranging further contrivances for increasing the accu- 
 racy of the experiments, which it still took two months 
 to carry out; and on November 23 Mr. Fairbairn wrote 
 to Mr. Hopkins : 
 
 Enclosed you have the results of our experiments on Satur- 
 day last, which on examination you will find a nearer approach 
 to the stationary temperature than any of those yet made. 
 
 On a consultation with my friend, Mr. Joule, we have come 
 to the decision to let the matter stand over for a time, till we 
 hear from, or rather till we have the pleasure of seeing you 
 either here or in London. At our next meeting something 
 must be determined upon, and I think it may be desirable to 
 vary the form and character of our proceedings, in order to 
 arrive at conclusions, that will enable you to deduce your laws. 
 
 Some further experiments were made, and Mr. Hop- 
 kins replied on December 21 : 
 
 I thank you for the account of your last experiments. I 
 have no doubt whatever of the temperature of solidification 
 having been obtained very approximately in both of the last 
 experiments under pressure. We are manifestly approximating 
 to unquestionable results. 
 
 After this, new apparatus was prepared according to 
 the plans jointly agreed on. 
 
 In March 1853, Professor (now Sir) William Thomson,
 
 MAGNETIC INDICATOR. 295 
 
 who had been previously consulted on the subject by Mr. 
 Hopkins and Mr. Joule, devised an improvement in 
 the apparatus, so elegant and ingenious as to deserve 
 a brief mention. It had been difficult to find out, 
 while the heat was increasing, the exact point of time at 
 which the fusion took place. As the only feasible mode 
 thought of, the spermaceti was enclosed in a glass tube, 
 through which it could be observed, and the fusion 
 determined by its loss of opacity. Professor Thomson 
 suggested that a small piece of magnetised steel wire 
 should be put into the spermaceti before it was enclosed 
 in the tube, and so placed as to be at the upper part 
 of it when operated on. A small compass was then 
 placed outside the vessel, in such a position that its 
 needle might be acted on by the magnetised wire inside. 
 When fusion took place, the wire, being no longer sup- 
 ported by the solid material, fell to the bottom, and the 
 moment of its doing so was made evident by the motion 
 of the compass outside. This was tried in July, and 
 answered admirably, allowing the containing tube to be 
 made of brass, and so avoiding the danger of the use of 
 glass under such great heat and pressure. 
 
 On August 12, 1853, Mr. Joule wrote to Mr. Fair- 
 bairn : 
 
 Salford, August 12, 1853. 
 
 My dear Sir, Our experiment this morning was satisfactory, 
 the needle having fallen at 373, the exact temperature ex- 
 pected by Mr. Hopkins, and which shows that the temperature 
 of fusion rises with the pressure in arithmetic progression. The 
 lead box answered capitally. I have sent a line to Mr. H. to 
 communicate the result. 
 
 I am yours truly, 
 
 JAMES P. JOULE. 
 
 WM. FAIKBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins, remarking on this in a letter dated 
 August 22, said :
 
 296 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 I had previously heard from Mr. Joule of his completely 
 successful experiment, for such it has manifestly been. Its 
 agreement with my calculated result is most satisfactory. In 
 this case the law is clear, that the increase of the temperature 
 of the fusion is proportional to the pressure. 
 
 With respect to the conductive power of the substances 
 pressed, we had better leave those experiments till my next 
 visit to Manchester, or at least till after the meeting at Hull. 
 
 Could you send to Professor Phillips a drawing (it does not 
 signify how rough) of our apparatus ? It may be as small, too, 
 as you please. He will get an enlarged drawing of it made for 
 exhibition at Hull [British Association meeting] if I should 
 find it expedient, as I think I shall, to exhibit it at the time of 
 my address. 
 
 The subject was brought forward at the Hull meeting, 
 and the nature of the experiments and apparatus was 
 explained ; but no written paper upon it was presented, 
 and therefore no record of it appeared in the published 
 report for the year. 
 
 The following letter may be put on record on scien- 
 tific grounds : 
 
 Salford, August 24, 1853. 
 
 My dear Sir, I transmitted to Mr. Hopkins yesterday, an 
 account of some experiments on the physical properties of 
 beeswax, which may perhaps serve to throw some light on the 
 experiments on the alteration of the point of liquefaction by 
 pressure. The results arrived at are as follow : 
 
 Specific heat between 48-88 Centigrade and 18-74 = -991 
 39-8 and 19-1 = -923 
 
 32 and 18-34 = -647. 
 
 The wax softened gradually until the point of absolute fluidity, 
 54 Cent., was reached. The increase of the specific heat at 
 high temperatures was owing to the heat due to a change of 
 state being mixed therewith. 
 
 I find the specific heat of wax in the perfect fluid condition 
 to be -506, and another experiment gave -509.
 
 DR. JOULE. 297 
 
 Taking the specific heat both at perfect solidity and perfect 
 fluidity to be *5, I find the heat absorbed in changing the 
 state of one grain of wax from perfect solidity to perfect fluidity 
 to be 33*2 Cent, per one grain of water. 
 
 I find the expansion of beeswax weighing 61*828 grains to 
 be 
 
 From 16-6 to 26-8 = 0-793 gr. of water volume, 
 26-8 to 37-4 = 2-739 
 37-4 to 49 = 4-255 
 49 to 53-4 = 1-609 ., 
 53-4 to 67-4 = 0-578 
 
 The total expansion of 61-828 grs. of wax between 26-8 
 and 53*4 Cent, being equal in volume to 8*603 grs. of water. 
 The volume of 6T828 grs. of wax at 
 
 26-8 being 04-795, 
 and at 53-4 73-398. 
 
 Professor Thomson's formula gives, with the above data, 96 
 divisions of the thermometer used in the pressure experiments, 
 or 24 Cent, as the theoretical elevation for our greatest pressure, 
 the actual result being 68 divisions, or 17 Cent. The difference 
 is not great under the circumstances. 
 
 I am afraid I shall not be able to get to Hull, unless, indeed, 
 I contrive to get off for one day. 
 
 Believe me, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 J. P. JOULE. 
 
 W. FAIKBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 To this time the experiments had only been preliminary 
 i.e., on substances which had no immediate connection 
 with the enquiry, but were used to obtain general laws. 
 But, emboldened by the success of these trials, Mr. Hopkins 
 now proposed to carry them out on a large scale, to apply 
 them to other substances, and to make use of greater pres- 
 sures and higher temperatures. He accordingly, on No- 
 vember 7, 1853, gave Mr. Fairbairn suggestions for the 
 necessary alterations and additions to the apparatus, and 
 requested his advice and co-operation thereon. At the
 
 298 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 beginning of 1854 he again spent some days at Man- 
 chester, but the new arrangements took some time. 
 In April thermometers were still in construction (extend- 
 ing to 640 Fahr.), and it was the middle of the year 
 before Mr. Hopkins could get the new experiments fairly 
 in hand. 
 
 The following letter, written by Mr. Hopkins to Mr. 
 Joule, has not much bearing on Mr. Fairbairn's share of 
 the work, but it will be interesting to scientific men as an 
 important part of the investigation, and as a specimen of 
 the author's able reasoning ; and as it does not appear 
 to have been already published, it is inserted entire : 
 
 Cambridge, June 6, 1854. 
 
 My dear Sir, I have been lately considering the formula 
 given by Thomson. 
 
 8 P = L.fc. 
 
 y-r 
 
 I think I some time ago expressed my doubts as to its ap- 
 plicability to the case in which a mass passes from a solid to a 
 fluid state, or the converse, by slow gradations extending through 
 a considerable range of temperature, as was the case in your 
 experiments with wax. At all events the mode of investigating 
 the formula, as given in Thomson's memoir, does not seem to be 
 founded sufficiently on the physical conditions of the problem, 
 in this case of gradual solidification, to prove the formula to be 
 strictly applicable to it. An infinitesimal portion of the fluid 
 is supposed by Thomson to pass into the gaseous state, or if a 
 solid into a fluid state instantaneously on an indefinitely small 
 increase of heat, the physical state of the remaining portion of 
 the fluid in one case and that of the solid in the other being 
 supposed unaltered, as in the case of water passing into steam or 
 ice into water. In the case, on the contrary, of a gradual change, 
 it would seem that the ivhole solid mass undergoes an infinitesimal 
 change in its physical state, by an increase ?>t of temperature, 
 instead of an infinitesimal portion of it undergoing its whole 
 change, leaving the rest unaffected.
 
 MATHEMATICAL INVESTIGATION. 299 
 
 We have by this theory, you will recollect, 
 
 With respect to any particular substance, M has of course to 
 be determined experimentally. Now if a mass whose volume 
 = v be compressed till its volume = v, the temperature being 
 constant, M(v v) or M.Sv = the quantity of heat which must 
 be given out by the mass when thus compressed. Let Q be this 
 quantity of heat, then 
 
 M(v -v) = Q, 
 
 or if q = the quantity of heat thus given out by a unit of 
 volume, Q = qv and 
 
 M(v v) = qv 
 
 This is easily put under another form. Let Q be such as 
 will raise a unit of the volume V of water r. Then 
 
 W o- 
 
 . T. 
 
 When W and a> are the weights of the water whose volume 
 = V, and of the mass experimented on, s and a being the specific 
 gravities of water, and the substance. Here 
 
 M = ^v ?' 
 
 -- ^ W.*. r . 
 
 V Q -V CD S 
 
 T might, I suppose, be determined as you have done in many 
 of your experiments, provided a compression can be at once 
 produced to develop a sufficient quantity of heat to make T 
 large enough to be accurately observed. The compression, I 
 imagine, might be produced by means of a piston worked by a 
 screw, the motion of which might be measured by its having a 
 graduated head. But you could manage all this better than 
 any way I can suggest. 
 
 It would be necessary to repeat the experiment on any pro-
 
 300 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 posed substance at several different temperatures between those 
 of perfect solidity and perfect fluidity, for it would seem pro- 
 bable that the values of M may be different for different physical 
 states of the substance. We should thus get 
 
 Pi -Po - M {K/=i + M 3 (r - f) + &c. + M a <<"> - < ( -'>} . 
 
 Mj being supposed constant for the difference of temperature 
 if t , M 2 for the difference f' f, and so on, and n being sup- 
 posed the same between the temperatures of solidity and fluidity. 
 
 That the values of M for different values of t between the 
 temperatures of solidity and fluidity are different, would seem 
 perhaps probable from the following reasoning. The quantity 
 q may be supposed to consist of two parts, q l and q 2 , the former 
 being the value which q would have supposing no physical 
 change to take place in the substance in its compression from 
 v to v ; and q 2 to be that part which is due to such physical 
 change. It seems not improbable that q { may be constant or 
 nearly so, while q 2 may be very different for different values of 
 t between the above-mentioned limits. q x is probably always 
 positive, while q 2 may be positive or negative, and greater or 
 less also than q l so that M may be positive or negative according 
 to the substance operated on. 
 
 The reason why pressure, affects the temperature of fusion 
 may, I conceive, be thus explained. Conceive a substance to be 
 retained at a given volume. Then a general theorem asserts 
 that if a quantity of heat be added which shall raise the tem- 
 perature St we must have 
 
 Now the pressure must generally be affected by the change of 
 physical state (as well as by the mere fact of adding a quantity 
 of heat) by the expansion or contraction superinduced by that 
 change. But the whole change of pressure must be consistent 
 with the condition expressed by the above equation ; and there- 
 fore if the physical change tends to produce a value of &p 
 different from the above for an increase Bt of temperature, the 
 physical change must be arrested. Hence the dependence of 
 the temperature of fusion on the pressure. 
 
 The formula above given for p l p o is that which corre- 
 sponds to the extreme case in which every part of the substance
 
 
 CONDUCTIVE POWER. 301 
 
 is supposed to pass simultaneously and gradually from a state 
 of solidity to that of fluidity or the converse, the corresponding 
 limiting temperatures being different from each other. Thom- 
 son's formula applies to the other extreme case, in which the 
 passage of any infinitesimal portion of the substance from solidity 
 to fluidity is instantaneous, but takes place at consecutive times 
 for consecutive portions. To these latter cases belong (very 
 approximately) those of ice and water, and water and steam ; 
 to the former the case of wax would seem, from your experiments, 
 to approximate much more nearly. The actual cases in nature 
 are, I doubt not, really between these extreme limits, and 
 formulae for intermediate hypotheses might be easily investi- 
 gated should it be found that those for the two extreme hypo- 
 theses give considerably different results. The formulae for 
 these hypotheses are not derivable, as far as I see, the one from 
 the other, though each may be derived from a more general 
 formula, founded on the union of both extreme hypotheses. 
 
 These experiments ought to be made, and assuredly you are 
 the man to make them. I expect to be at Manchester next 
 Wednesday, and should then like to have some talk with you 
 on the subject. I send this sketch beforehand, that you may 
 have time to give it a little previous consideration. I will 
 bring your results obtained for wax with me. 
 
 Some of our magnetised needles have been lost or broken. 
 Will you have the kindness to have five or six more prepared 
 for us by Wednesday. I have procured the requisite thermo- 
 meters. They go up to above 600 Fahr., I believe (I have 
 not yet seen them). Oil, I believe, can be elevated to that 
 temperature without difficulty. 
 
 Believe me, yours truly, 
 
 W. HOPKINS. 
 
 At this time the second element was brought into the 
 investigation. Mr. Hopkins desired to ascertain the capa- 
 bilities of the various substances for the conduction of 
 heat, and the influence of compression on this property. 
 Mr. Fairbairn had accordingly to prepare specimens, in 
 the form of small cubes, which were compressed under
 
 302 
 
 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 pressures sometimes reaching to 80,000 Ibs. on the square 
 inch. 
 
 At the meeting of the British Association at Liver- 
 pool, in September 1854, Mr. Hopkins presented to the 
 Physical Section ' An Account of some Experiments on 
 the Effect of Pressure on the Temperature of Fusion of 
 different Substances.' 1 In this he stated ' his great obli- 
 gations to Mr. Fairbairn for the promptitude with which, 
 in the first instance, he proffered his assistance and co- 
 operation ; and the manner in which he had since afforded 
 the aid of his great practical knowledge, and the ample 
 means which his establishment afforded for conducting 
 experiments of this nature.' 
 
 Mr. Hopkins described the apparatus, and the causes 
 of the failures which had occurred successively, till by 
 degrees apparatus had been devised and constructed which 
 was likely to prove successful. He then gave the results 
 obtained, which showed that the temperature of fusion 
 increased in regular ratio with the pressure. The fol- 
 lowing were the substances tried, and the melting points 
 (Fahrenheit) at different pressures : 
 
 
 At Atmospheric 
 Pressure 
 
 At 7,790 Ibs. 
 per square in. 
 
 At 11, 880 Ibs. 
 per square in. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Spermaceti . 
 
 124 
 
 140 
 
 176-5 
 
 Wax . 
 
 148-5 
 
 166-5 
 
 176-5 
 
 Sulphur 
 Stearine 
 
 255 
 138 
 
 275-5 
 155 
 
 285 
 165 
 
 On October 20, 1854, Mr. Fairbairn wrote to Mr. 
 Hopkins : 
 
 1 Report for 1854. Transaction* of the Sections, p. 57. Mr. Fairbairn 
 also gave, at the same meeting, some account of the experiments and appa- 
 ratus; pp. 56, 140.
 
 NEW MACHINE. 303 
 
 The tubes, cylinder and furnace, and other parts of the 
 apparatus for the compression of substances, are now complete, 
 excepting- only the electric wires and the float for measuring 
 the amount of compression. Altogether it is a complete ap- 
 paratus, and may be used in a laboratory or elsewhere, with 
 tolerable certainty as to the results. It is rather an expensive 
 piece of machinery, something above 20., but it is very com- 
 plete, and I make no doubt will effect good and satisfactory 
 results. The only difficulty will be the working of the wires 
 and the float, but that can only be determined by a few ex- 
 periments. 
 
 It was decided to make the first trial of the new 
 machine at Manchester ; but Mr. Hopkins could not get 
 there till the Easter vacation of 1855. 
 
 On June 16 of that year, Mr. Fairbairn, writing to Sir 
 David Brewster, said : 
 
 I am the more anxious to see you, as I wish to consult you 
 upon the experiments on densities, which I mentioned to you 
 some time since. Some of them are very curious and inte- 
 resting, and I make no doubt, with the powerful apparatus I 
 have at command, that some new facts are almost sure to present 
 themselves. You shall see them, and at the same time give me 
 your advice, when you come down. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins spent some further time at Manchester 
 in the long vacation, and afterwards, on October 8, 1855, 
 he wrote Mr. Fairbairn a letter from which the following 
 are extracts : 
 
 I was prevented writing to you as I had intended, at Glasgow, 
 by the difficulties which continued to beset me in my experi- 
 ments till the last moment of my being at Manchester. It was 
 only on the last day of my sojourn there that I considered 
 myself to have overcome, as I believe, the last difficulty, and 
 to have obtained results which I could rely upon with the more 
 difficult substances, such as tin and bismuth. With respect to 
 the latter, there is clearly no increase, but probably a decrease
 
 304 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 of the temperature of fusion resulting from pressure. According 
 to our new theory of heat, this ought to be the case, provided 
 there be no increase of volume while the substance passes from 
 the solid to the fluid state. I had just time before I left to try 
 the experiment, and assure myself that bismuth in a fluid state 
 probably occupies less volume than in its solid state, while such 
 substances as wax, spermaceti, &c., of which the temperature of 
 fusion is so much increased by pressure, occupy much larger 
 space in a fluid than in a solid state. This is all accordant 
 with theory ; but requires still to be worked out with accuracy, 
 which there will be no difficulty now in doing. This, with some 
 other things, must remain for my Christmas visit. 
 
 But this Christmas visit never took place ; Mr. 
 Hopkins's health began to fail, and he was obliged to give 
 up any further active labour in the experiments. In 
 August, 1864, he wrote to Mr. Fairbairn as follows : 
 
 During the winter I have repeatedly formed the intention 
 of writing to you. My old enemy, the bronchial cough, attacked 
 
 me again in the summer of 1 863 I became very feeble 
 
 and ill. I was sure also that my memory for abstractions, and 
 my power of continued application to that kind of mental effort 
 which, during the latter and best part of my life has afforded 
 me the most intellectually active and agreeable employment, 
 was in danger of being affected. 
 
 I understand that there is 100Z. with which the Royal 
 Society has accredited me over and above what I have drawn 
 on account of our experiments. I will see, whatever it may be, 
 that it be paid to yourself. I wish you also to keep all the 
 instruments, about which I think I spent myself some 50. or 
 60. All this, in addition to what the Royal Society has ad- 
 vanced to you before, will, I fear, be but a very poor compen- 
 sation for all the expense and trouble you have undertaken for 
 me. My age now numbers too many years to allow me to 
 work as I have done, and for the last eighteen months or more 
 I believe that I have injured my health by too close application. 
 I am not strong enough at present to carry on the experiments, 
 and from what I have stated above you will understand that I am
 
 DEATH OF MR. HOPKINS. 305 
 
 not sanguine of ever being able to do so. They have already 
 enabled me to produce two memoirs, which perhaps will here- 
 after be found of some value to those interested in the subject ; 
 but I fear now that I shall not have sufficient strength to finish 
 the final memoir which I had contemplated, though I 'have 
 obtained a certain amount of materials for it. But it would 
 require still much labour to make it complete enough for pub- 
 lication, except as an abstract. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins's prognostications were but too well 
 founded. Soon after this, his powerful mind succumbed 
 to the great strain he had put upon it, and lie died in 
 October 1866. 
 
 In December, 1865, the Royal Society wrote to Mr. 
 Fairbairn on the subject of the balance of money ; but he 
 declined to receive anything further. 
 
 The results of the whole matter were given, in a 
 scientific form, in a paper read by Mr. Hopkins before 
 the Koyal Society, June 18, 1857, 1 entitled 'Experi- 
 mental Eesearches on the Conductive Powers of various 
 Substances, with the Application of the Results to the 
 Problem of Terrestrial Temperature.' 
 
 In the opening paragraph he says : 
 
 I am likewise bound to express in the strongest terms my 
 obligations to my friends Mr. Fairbairn and Mr. Joule. With- 
 out the aid of the former of these gentlemen I should have been 
 unable even to commence the series of experiments which I have 
 now nearly concluded ; and among the many ways in which this 
 assistance has been so promptly rendered, I may mention his 
 having constantly placed at my disposal the invaluable services 
 of one of his principal workmen, William Ward, without whose 
 
 1 Phil. Trans. 1857, p. 805. 
 X
 
 306 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. cn^r. xvn. 
 
 untiring activity and mechanical resources I should have utterly 
 despaired of bringing my experiments to any successful issue. 
 
 This paper contains an elaborate mathematical dis- 
 cussion of the subject ; but a more popular account of 
 the results arrived at may be gathered from a lecture 
 <nven by Mr. Hopkins before the Koyal Institution, on 
 May 13, 1859. 1 
 
 After stating the facts, showing a gradual increase of 
 temperature in descending below the surface of the earth, 
 which (excluding local anomalies) he estimates at 1 
 Fahr. for every sixty feet depth, he formulates the 
 inference from it as follows : 
 
 If a sphere of very large dimensions, like the earth, were 
 heated, and left to cool in surrounding space, it is shown by 
 accurate investigation, that after a sufficient and very great 
 length of time, the law according to which the temperature 
 would increase in descending beneath the earth's surface, would 
 be that the increase of temperature would be proportional to 
 the increase of depth, which coincides with the observed law. 
 Now, according to this law, the temperature at the depth of 
 sixty or seventy miles would probably be sufficient to reduce to 
 fusion nearly all the materials which constitute the earth's ex- 
 ternal solid envelope ; and hence it had been concluded that the 
 earth probably consists of a central molten mass, or a fluid 
 nucleus, and an external solid shell, of not more than sixty or 
 seventy miles in thickness, or even less. 
 
 This has been the ordinary supposition, not only 
 popularly, but also generally among scientific men. But 
 Mr. Hopkins goes on to show that the experiments, of which 
 it has been the object of this chapter to give an account, 
 throw doubt on the conclusiveness of the reasoning on 
 which this opinion is founded. 
 
 He points out that an important element of the argu- 
 
 1 Proc. vol. viii. p. 139.
 
 RESULTS. 307 
 
 merit is wanting. It involves the hypothesis that the 
 conductive power of the rocks which constitute the lower 
 portions of the earth's crust is the same as that of the 
 rocks which form its upper portion. For if the con- 
 ductive power of the lower portions of the earth's solid 
 crust be greater than that of the thin upper portion of it 
 through which man has been able to penetrate, the depth 
 to which we must proceed to arrive at a certain tempera- 
 ture (as that of fusion for the lower rocks) will be pro- 
 portionately greater. 
 
 He then shows that the experiments in question 
 lead to the conclusion that the conductivity of the inferior 
 portions of the earth's solid crust, which are consolidated 
 under very heavy pressure, must be much greater, and 
 may be very much greater, than that of the less consoli- 
 dated and more superficial sedimentary beds. 
 
 Moreover, the temperature of fusion under heavy 
 pressure is another element in the argument. The 
 experiments show that in regard to certain substances 
 that also is much increased by great pressure ; and by 
 analogy, it may be concluded that such will, at least in 
 some considerable degree, be the case with the mineral 
 matter of the earth's crust. 
 
 Judging by the data obtained, Mr. Hopkins infers that 
 the actual thickness of the solid crust of the earth must 
 probably be at least about 200 miles, and may be con- 
 siderably greater, even if we admit no other source of 
 terrestrial heat than the central heat here contemplated. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins then goes on to explain another kind of 
 argument, of a mathematical nature, bearing on the same 
 subject, derived from the phenomenon of the precession 
 of the equinoxes, which brings out a similar result ; and 
 he concludes : 
 
 Thus, both the modes of investigation described lead to 
 x 2
 
 308 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvn. 
 
 like conclusions respecting the least thickness which can be 
 assigned to the solid envelope of our globe. It must be much 
 greater than geologists have frequently imagined it to be. 
 
 The following paragraph from the Eoyal Society paper 
 may be added : 
 
 After the preceding investigations, it appears to me ex- 
 tremely difficult, if not impossible, to avoid the conclusion that 
 a part at least of the heat now existing in the superficial crust 
 of our globe is due to superficial and not to central causes. It 
 should be remarked, however, that the argument thus afforded 
 is not directly against the theory of a primitive heat, but only 
 against the manifestation of the remains of such heat as the 
 sole cause of the existing terrestrial temperature at depths 
 beyond the direct influence of solar heat. 
 
 The conclusion that the earth's solid crust is so thin as many 
 geologists have believed it to be, as well as those theories rest- 
 ing on that conclusion, whether of volcanic action or of eleva- 
 tion or depression of the earth's surface, at least in more recent 
 geological times, must be in a great degree invalidated. 
 
 Mr. Hopkins stated in this paper his intention of 
 following it with another, in which a further portion of 
 the experiments, not included here, would be given and 
 reasoned on ; but this he had not strength to do. 
 
 It will be gathered from the above account what great 
 and difficult questions these experiments were directed to ; 
 and although of course it is not intended to claim for 
 Mr. Fairbairn any of the more abstruse portions of the 
 researches, there is no doubt that his excellent practical 
 skill contributed largely to the success of the inves- 
 tigation.
 
 CHAPTER XVm. 
 THE MANCHESTER MANUFACTURING BUSINESS
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN AS A MANUFACTURING ENGINEER THE MANCHESTER 
 WORKS THEIR ORIGIN IMPROVEMENTS IN DRIVING MACHINERY 
 WATER-WHEELS TESTIMONY TO THEIR EFFICIENCY DISSOLUTION OF 
 PARTNERSHIP NEW BRANCHES OF BUSINESS SHIP-BUILDING THE 
 MANUFACTURE OF STEAM-ENGINES AND BOILERS LOCOMOTIVES THE 
 TANK ENGINE WORK FOR CONSTANTINOPLE ENTRANCE OF MR. FAIR- 
 BAIRN'S SONS INTO THE BUSINESS LIVERPOOL LANDING STAGE THE 
 TUBULAR BRIDGE PATENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STEAM-ENGINE 
 CAISSON FOR KEYHAM DOCKYARD EXPRESS LOCOMOTIVES TUBULAR 
 CRANES STRIKE OF THE ENGINEERING WORKMEN LETTERS OF 
 'AMICUS' TO THE ' TIMES 'LORD SHAFTESBURY THE SMALL ARMS 
 FACTORY AT ENFLELD 8ALTAIRE WOOLLEN FACTORY GREAT PROS- 
 PERITY OF THE MANCHESTER BUSINESS RETIREMENT OF MR. FAIR- 
 BAIRN FLOUR-MILL AND BAKERY FOR THE CRIMEAN WAR REBUILD- 
 ING OF VIADUCTS ON THE MANCHESTER AND SHEFFIELD RAILWAY 
 LIMITED LIABILITY COMPANY WINDING UP.
 
 311 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ALTHOUGH it is the object of this biography to record the 
 work of Mr. Fairbairn, during his long career, in many 
 different capacities, as consulting engineer, as scientific 
 investigator, as writer on mechanical subjects, and so on, it 
 must not be forgotten that the principal occupation of his 
 life was that of an engineering manufacturer. It was by 
 this he earned his livelihood in his early years, and ac- 
 quired his fortune at a later time ; and it was by his 
 mechanical constructive skill that his widest reputation 
 was obtained. 
 
 For this reason it is desirable to give a somewhat 
 more connected account of the Fairbairn manufacturing 
 establishments, which have been occasionally referred 
 to in various parts of this work. 
 
 There were two establishments of this kind, namely, 
 the shops for general engineering work in Manchester, 
 and the ship-building yard and marine engine factory 
 at Millwall, on the Thames. These were so distinct in 
 their character that they may occupy separate chapters 
 in the description. 
 
 The account of the origin of Mr. Fairbairn's manu- 
 factory at Manchester is given by himself in Chap. VII. 
 Having resolved to free himself, at the age of twenty- 
 eight, from the bondage of employment as a hired work- 
 man, he succeeded in obtaining some small orders to be
 
 312 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvm. 
 
 executed on his own responsibility, and this led to the 
 formation of the firm of Fairbairn and Lillie, manufac- 
 turing engineers, in 1817. 
 
 The establishment at first consisted only of a ' miser- 
 able shed,' in High Street, containing a single lathe, 
 which the two partners made with their own hands, and 
 which was turned by their one workman, a muscular Irish 
 labourer. With these small means, however, aided by 
 willing hearts and clever hands, they contrived to execute 
 their work so creditably as to obtain a much larger order, 
 namely, the construction and erection of the driving ma- 
 chinery for a new cotton-mill of considerable size. 
 
 But the rough shed and the single lathe were not 
 sufficient to carry out this work, and it was necessary to 
 remove to a better building, to engage a few more 
 workmen, and to add a few more tools ; and so, with 
 an improved establishment fixed in Mather Street, 
 they succeeded in making a thoroughly good job of the 
 new mill. 
 
 It was in this work that Mr. Fairbairn's true character 
 began to appear. He stepped out of the ranks of the mere 
 manufacturer, the workman carrying out the designs of 
 others ; he became really an engineer, studying the princi- 
 ples of mechanics, and applying those principles in original 
 mechanical conceptions of his own. 
 
 In the execution of his first orders, small though they 
 were, he had the acuteness to perceive important defects 
 in the machinery used for driving the cotton spinning 
 mills. This branch of industry was new, and the mechani- 
 cal arrangements had been usually carried out by 
 millwrights in a rough and clumsy way, without the 
 application of anything like scientific design. Mr. Fair- 
 bairn perceived how the defects could be remedied; 
 he predicted, with admirable foresight, the advantages that
 
 CANAL STREET WORKS. 313 
 
 would arise from iihe change ; and he carried out the 
 improvements in the new mill with perfect success. 
 
 The advantages of the new system of driving machinery 
 were so obvious that the author of it suddenly found 
 himself famous as a mechanical engineer, and the cha- 
 racter of the firm became established as manufacturers 
 possessing more than ordinary skill and intelligence. The 
 result ,vas a large accession of orders, among which came, 
 in the year 1824, that for the water-wheels at Catrine 
 Bank, an account of which is given by Mr. Fairbairn 
 in Chap. Vm. 
 
 This was of such magnitude and importance that the 
 firm considered it justified them in making a further ex- 
 tension of their manufacturing means. With this view 
 they took a small plot of land in Canal Street, Ancoats, 
 purchased a steam-engine to drive their tools, and laid 
 out a manufactory in a more complete and perfect form. 
 This was the foundation of the Canal Street Works, which, 
 subsequently much extended, were carried on under the 
 name of Fairbairn for half a century. 
 
 The water-wheels and machinery were constructed 
 and remodelled with the same ability and mechanical skill 
 that had been shown in former cases; new improve- 
 ments were introduced ; the whole work was efficiently 
 done, and the proprietors were thoroughly satisfied and 
 pleased. Writing to Mr. Fairbairn in July 1828, Mr. 
 Buchanan said : 
 
 We are very sensible of your valuable assistance. What 
 you have done for us equals every expectation, and the Muckle 
 wheels continue the admiration of all who see them. Nout o* tJC 
 sort can do better. 
 
 Their satisfaction, however, was manifested in a way 
 more to the purpose by another large order immediately
 
 314 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XYITI. 
 
 following, from the same firm, for other works belonging 
 to them at Deanston. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, speaking of these works some years 
 afterwards, said : 
 
 The constructions at the Deanston Works were commenced 
 in the year following those at Catrine. They consisted of eight 
 wheels of 100 horse power each. Two of these were completed 
 in 1827 and two in 1832, the others subsequently. These are 
 perhaps the largest hydraulic machines in existence. 
 
 In this way, by perseverance and industry, the partners 
 continued to thrive, gradually increasing their shops and 
 plant by the profits they made, until, by the year 1830, 
 they had amassed property to the amount of 30,000 /., 
 and were masters of an establishment employing 300 
 hands. 
 
 Soon after this the circumstances took place (detailed 
 in Chap. IX.) which led to the dissolution of the partner- 
 ship, and the lapse of the Canal Street Works into Mr. 
 Fairbairn's sole hands. This change was effected in the 
 year 1832. 
 
 During the partnership the work undertaken had con- 
 sisted almost entirely of mill machinery, including water- 
 wheels ; such work in fact as the old millwrights used to 
 undertake, but done in much better style, both as to 
 design and manufacture. The firm had never made steam- 
 engines, which are generally looked upon in the trade as 
 a specialty, requiring a superior class of workmanship, 
 and more extensive tool arrangements. 
 
 But no sooner did Mr. Fairbairn find himself free from 
 the obligation to consult a partner in his proceedings, than 
 he began to give more scope to his natural ambition by 
 launching out into new branches of manufacture. The 
 object of this was not merely to extend his transactions
 
 COMPETITION WITH LILLIE. 315 
 
 and increase his profits. Nothing could be more remu- 
 nerative than the kind of business he was already doing, 
 and he could obtain as much of it as he liked ; but he 
 wished to get more exercise for his skill in the art of 
 mechanical design. 
 
 Probably also he may have been influenced, in some 
 measure, by the fact of his late partner setting up business 
 iii competition with him, close in the same neighbourhood. 
 Lillie was a good mechanic ; he had done his fair 
 share in the manufacturing business, and was no doubt 
 quite competent to continue successfully the construction 
 of such work as that the firm had been engaged in ; but 
 Mr. Fairbairn felt his own superiority in the higher gifts 
 of design and invention, and generally in the true qualifica- 
 tions of an engineer, and he anticipated that by applying 
 these to new subjects he would soon raise himself above 
 all rivalry. 
 
 He accordingly directed his attention to two new 
 branches of manufacture, in which he hoped to distinguish 
 himself as an engineer as well as a manufacturer, namely, 
 iron ship-building and the construction of steam-engines. 
 
 The iron ship-building business arose, as explained in 
 Chap. X., out of the professional investigation made by 
 him on the Forth and Clyde Canal. The little iron steamer 
 he had built, the ' Lord Dundas,' although she did not 
 enable the canals to compete with the railways in speed, 
 did him much credit, and excited much attention, and he 
 at once received an order to build another, the ' Man- 
 chester,' of a larger size, 100 tons. She was also suc- 
 cessful, and in the two succeeding years several more 
 were built, when the prospects of the trade appeared so 
 promising that Mr. Fairbairn decided to remove this 
 branch altogether to a more convenient place, as will be 
 described in the next chapter.
 
 316 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvm. 
 
 The Canal Street Works were much enlarged and 
 improved, with considerable increase of plant and tools ; 
 and here the manufacture of the other new description 
 of work, namely, steam-engines, was taken up energeti- 
 cally. Mr. Fairbairn did not immediately introduce 
 any striking novelties, for the general design of the 
 machine had been well thought out by Watt and his 
 successors, and there were already many good firms en- 
 gaged in its manufacture ; but he paid great attention to 
 the details and to the quality of workmanship, and the 
 engines erected by him were noted for efficiency and for 
 economy of fuel. 
 
 He also made his own boilers. Boiler-making is 
 usually considered a separate trade, and many manufac- 
 turers of steam-engines are content to order their boilers 
 from others, rather than introduce into their factories a 
 rough branch of the business, requiring great room, and 
 causing a great deal of inconvenience. But Mr. Fairbairn 
 entertained a strong opinion of the importance of this fun- 
 damental part of the steam-engine, and would not trust 
 either its design or its manufacture out of his own hands. 
 He had, in fact, a great partiality for boiler-engineering 
 all through his life, as has been sufficiently explained in 
 Chapter XVI. 
 
 Boiler-making therefore formed, after 1832, a large 
 and important branch of the manufacture carried on at 
 the Canal Street Works ; and it was on the occasion of a 
 strike among the workmen employed in this department 
 in 1837, that Mr. Fairbairn introduced, with the help of 
 his foreman, Eobert Smith, the ingenious and useful inven- 
 tion of the riveting machine. 
 
 About 1837 or 1838 Mr. Fairbairn further extended 
 his business to the construction of locomotive engines. 
 The London and Birmingham railway was just completed,
 
 FAIRBAIRN AND SONS. 317 
 
 and many more lines were in progress in various 
 parts of the country. The locomotive was a new inven- 
 tion, and there were, down to that time, only two or 
 three firms who had paid attention to its peculiarities. 
 Mr. Fairbairn saw that there was an opening, not 
 only for a large business in the manufacture, but for 
 engineering skill in the design, and he seized the oppor- 
 tunity promptly and successfully. He became a large 
 and celebrated locomotive maker. More than 600 loco- 
 motives were built at his shops, and this branch of the busi- 
 ness furnished much occupation for them for many years. 
 It is believed that he was the first designer of the tank 
 engine, in which the fuel and water are carried on the 
 engine itself, dispensing with the separate tender; a 
 form now become perhaps the most useful known. 
 
 In 1839 came the large Turkish orders for woollen- 
 mills, silk and cotton-mills, engineering workshops, iron- 
 making establishments and machinery, iron houses, and 
 mechanical work, in great variety. These occupied him 
 in the designs, and the manufactory in the execution, for 
 some years, and were very profitable. 
 
 About this time, however, he began to get into diffi- 
 culty with the management of the Millwall establishment ; 
 and this led, as will be explained in the next chapter, to 
 the introduction into the business of his son Thomas, who 
 joined him as a partner about 1841. A few years later, 
 in 1846, another son, William Andrew, joined, and the 
 business was thenceforward carried on under the name of 
 William Fairbairn and Sons. 
 
 Both sons actively exerted themselves in aid of their 
 father, and this accession of strength led to the further ex- 
 tension of the manufactory, and to increased energy in the 
 prosecution of the Manchester business, which from that
 
 318 LIFE OF STK WILLIAM FAIRBAIHN. CHAP. xvm. 
 
 date forward became highly prosperous. The work done 
 was so large in its quantity, and so multifarious and varied 
 in its character, that it would be impossible, as indeed it 
 is unnecessary, here to give any account of it at all ap- 
 proaching completeness. It must suffice to mention a 
 few of the most important things that were done. 
 
 In 1846 the firm made, in conjunction with Mr. (after- 
 wards Sir) William Cubitt, the iron arrangements for the 
 large landing stage at St. George's Pier, Liverpool. This 
 was by far the largest thing of the kind that had 
 been projected ; the two movable girder bridges, for con- 
 necting the floating stage to the shore, were each 150 
 feet long ; they had to rise and fall with the tide, and 
 the general arrangements, to give stability and strength 
 combined with convenience, were laid out with great 
 skill. 
 
 In 1846 Mr. Fairbairn took out the Tubular Bridge 
 Patent, mentioned at the end of Chapter XIII., and soon 
 afterwards began the manufacture of wrought- iron bridges 
 on that plan. 
 
 That was about the time of the great railway mania, 
 when, although numbers of railway schemes were abor- 
 tions, yet the actual construction of bond-fide lines was 
 pushed energetically. These lines required bridges in 
 large numbers, and Mr. Fairbairn's invention was most 
 opportune, as the kind of bridge it introduced was strong, 
 convenient, reasonable in cost, and easy and expeditious 
 in erection. 
 
 He was at that time the person who best understood 
 its design, and, consequently, as soon as the merits of the 
 invention became known, he was inundated with orders ; 
 he had, in fact, a complete monopoly at high and re- 
 munerative prices ; and the manufacture of these alone
 
 PLYMOUTH CAISSON. 319 
 
 realised a fortune. Before 1851, he had erected more 
 than a hundred of them, from 40 to 180 feet span, and 
 subsequently the number was augmented tenfold, extend- 
 ing to much larger sizes. It is estimated that the total 
 quantity of this work executed cannot have been less 
 than 100,000 tons. 
 
 In the course of his large practice in steam-engine con- 
 struction, he made, as already stated, many improvements 
 in detail ; but he seldom gave to the world any special 
 description of them. In the middle of 1849, however, he 
 communicated to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 
 at Birmingham, a paper ' On the Expansive Action of 
 Steam, and a new Construction of Expansion Valves for 
 Condensing Steam Engines.' He had seen the advantage of 
 the well-known principle of expanding the steam, intro- 
 duced by Watt and Hornblower in the last century, and 
 with his usual skill and practical judgment, he introduced 
 modifications in the form and arrangement of the valve 
 apparatus, by which this principle might be more effec- 
 tually carried out ; and these novelties it was the chief 
 object of the paper to describe. 
 
 About 1850 Mr. Fairbairn was engaged in a large 
 work at Keyham Dockyard, near Plymouth, namely, the 
 construction of a huge wrought-iron caisson for closing 
 the entrance to one of the docks. 
 
 The Keyham docks extend for some distance along 
 the Eastern shore of the Hamoaze, and early in 1844 it 
 was determined by the Admiralty to form an establish- 
 ment there, of sufficient capacity and extent to admit 
 simultaneously, to the basins and dock#, the largest ships 
 and steamers of the navy. For this purpose, two large 
 basins, communicating with each other, but having sepa- 
 rate entrances from the sea, were laid out. In one
 
 320 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP, xvirr. 
 
 of these entrances it was resolved to -adopt a modification 
 of the ordinary floating caisson, and as it involved a 
 structure of great size, and subject to peculiar strains, 
 Mr. Fairbairn (who had shortly before built a caisson 
 for Portsmouth, of a smaller kind) was requested to 
 consider the subject and to undertake the construction 
 of the caisson. It was 80 feet long and 43 feet high, 
 and its total weight was 290 tons. It was finished in 
 1850, and was tested by careful experiment in July of 
 that year. A description of the work was presented to 
 the Institution of Civil Engineers on May 9, 1854, and 
 was published in their Minutes of Proceedings for that 
 year. 
 
 The same year, an attempt was made to quicken the 
 speed of the express passenger trains on some of the 
 great railways of the country. The recent battle of the 
 gauges had brought out the claims of the broad gauge 
 for superiority of speed and power, and the narrow gauge 
 companies desired to show that they could also do great 
 things in this way if they pleased. Messrs. Fairbairn 
 accordingly built, for Mr. MacConnell, the locomotive 
 engineer of the North Western, a locomotive of hitherto 
 unparalleled power, intended to run from London to Bir- 
 mingham (112 miles) in two hours. It was a fine speci- 
 men of design and construction, and it was no doubt 
 capable of performing a large duty ; but the company 
 found that such high speed might be bought too dearly, 
 and the time of the transit between the two places has 
 remained at three hours. 
 
 In November 1850, Mr. Fairbairn took out a patent 
 for an invention which was very successful, namely 
 an improvement in the instrument called a crane, for 
 hoisting and lifting purposes. Ordinary cranes are usually
 
 CRANES. 
 
 321 
 
 constructed on one of the plans shown in the two first 
 of the following figures : 
 
 ORDINARY CRANES. 
 
 FAIBBAIRN'S CRANK. 
 
 In these the inclined strut, called the 'jib,' is placed 
 at an angle of about 40 or 45 degrees with the verti- 
 cal, so as to obtain the greatest strength. But if the 
 article to be raised be at all bulky, this position of the 
 jib will interfere with the height to which it may be 
 raised. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn's improvement consisted in making the 
 projecting arm of the crane of iron plates riveted together 
 so as to form a hollow tubular girder of curved form, as 
 shown in the third figure. It allowed the article to be 
 raised to a greater height, and at the same time offered 
 greater strength and security. 
 
 Six large cranes were soon afterwards made on this 
 plan by Messrs. Fairbairn and Sons for Keyham Dock- 
 yard. A description of them was given by Mr. Fair- 
 bairn to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and was 
 published in their Proceedings for 1857. Each crane 
 was calculated to lift 12 tons to a height of 30 feet from 
 the ground, and to sweep a circle 65 feet in diameter. 
 These answered so well that a few years afterwards a still 
 larger one was ordered for the same place to lift 60 tons 
 60 feet high, with a circle of 106 feet diameter. Cranes 
 of this kind were soon appreciated by the public for their 
 convenience and strength, and became largely used. 
 
 The following figure represents a crane of this descrip-
 
 322 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP, 
 
 tion erected at one of the Eoyal Dock Yards, and worked 
 by steam power. 
 
 LARGE STEAM CRANE ON FAIRBATRN ? S PRINCIPLE. 
 
 In 1851-2 occurred the great strike of the engineering 
 workmen. It originated in Lancashire, and was the first 
 of those contests between capital and labour which com- 
 manded the marked attention of the general public, and 
 have since spread with such rapidity and fierceness that 
 not only all trades, but all countries have been embraced 
 in the struggle. 
 
 The Amalgamated Society of Engineers, through 
 its Council, made demands upon some of the mechani- 
 cal firms in Manchester and Oldham, which appeared 
 to the employers incompatible with freedom of action 
 in the control of their affairs. After protracted but vain
 
 THE GREAT STRIKE. 323 
 
 efforts to adjust the differences, on December 17, 1851, 
 the leading engineering and machinist firms in Lanca- 
 shire gave notice that they would simultaneously close 
 all their establishments at the close of the year, if a 
 threatened ' turn-out ' of the workpeople of one of their 
 number should be persisted in. No compromise was 
 listened to, and the first week of the new year 1852 saw 
 the gates closed against 10,000 skilled workmen, in- 
 volving the forced idleness of at least 40,000 persons. 
 Immediately the Metropolitan and other employers, seeing 
 the dangers involved, followed the example of the Lanca- 
 shire masters, and during the bitter fight of four months, 
 not less than 100,000 hands went without wages. Of 
 course there could be but one result to such a contest ; 
 but it may be well to observe that public opinion at a very 
 early period sided with the masters and against the men. 
 It was seen almost instinctively, and expressed unhesi- 
 tatingly, that a movement, to dictate to employers what 
 men they should employ, how long they should work, 
 and in what way they should work, was not to be en- 
 couraged. But when an exposure of the secret workings 
 and intentions of the ' Executive Council ' of the Amal- 
 gamated Society was made public ; when it became 
 known that this irresponsible body had proclaimed that 
 ' If our recommendations be adhered to, and our mem- 
 bers are active and energetic in their trade proceed- 
 ings, we shall soon still further improve our condition, 
 and make our Society the real ruler of the destinies of our 
 trade' a general indignation was aroused, and it was 
 felt that the masters could not yield without permitting 
 an entire social revolution. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn did not take any active part in the 
 proceedings of the Committee of Associated Employers ; 
 but his son and partner (the present Sir Thomas Fair- 
 bairn) was one of the most prominent figures in the 
 
 T 2
 
 324 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvm. 
 
 contest. Under the well-known signature of Amicus, 7 
 he contributed to the ' Times ' a long series of letters, 
 which excited great interest and curiosity. The social 
 and political consequences of the labour question were 
 argued at great length, and these letters created a dis- 
 cussion of the strike, by the press, so comprehensive and 
 exhaustive that a reproduction of the newspaper articles 
 would fill volumes. Lords Shaftesbury and Ashburton, 
 and other well-known ' friends of the working classes,' 
 used all their influence to wean the workmen from their 
 folly. Lord Ashburton sought the arbitration of the then 
 Lord Chancellor, Lord Cranworth, who replied in a long 
 letter of admirable temper and argument. Writing to 
 Lord Ashburton, he said : 
 
 I have been thinking more and more of the unfortunate 
 matter to which our conversation referred. I confess it is one 
 which gives me great pain, and the more so because I cannot 
 but come to the conclusion that these men are in the wrong. 
 The masters have greater wealth, and perhaps therefore, greater 
 instruction, if not greater intelligence, on their sides. I wish 
 therefore, not unnaturally, that, in talking over the matter with 
 you, I could take the part of the weaker body ; but I really 
 
 cannot The masters ought, surely, to be at liberty to 
 
 employ whomsoever they may please, for each and every portion 
 of the work. If it is work only to be done well by skilled 
 workmen, they must employ skilled workmen ; and unless they 
 do so, the work will be badly done, and the masters will be the 
 sufferers. If it is not work requiring skilled workmen, on what 
 possible principle can the masters be called on to employ them ? 
 The master ought to be at liberty to employ whom he may 
 choose. Of course the workman would equally be left at liberty 
 to accept the terms offered by the master, and work, or to reject 
 those terms, and abstain from working. Both parties ought to 
 be left at liberty to do what they think most for their own 
 interest. So as to piece-work or overtime all the relations 
 between employer and employed are, or ought to be, those of 
 contract between perfectly free agents. The master may pro-
 
 LETTERS OF AMICUS. 325 
 
 pose whatever terms he chooses ; the workman may accept or 
 
 reject those terms I cannot wonder that the masters 
 
 refuse to agree to any arbitration that is to impose on them any 
 restriction whatever as to the terms on which they are to con- 
 tract with their men I should have been very glad if 
 
 we could have seen our way to suggest any sort of arbitration 
 which would solve the difficulty ; but I really cannot. 
 
 Lord Cranworth's kindly expressed, but decided opin- 
 ion, the arguments of the press, and the entreaty of 
 friends were all in vain. The blood was up ; and the fight 
 went on until all available funds were exhausted, and the 
 savings of years and household treasures were parted with. 
 Then the inevitable conclusion took place, after much 
 misery had been endured on the one side, and heavy 
 losses sustained on the other. 
 
 The authorship of the 'Amicus' letters was hotly 
 disputed'; they had been attributed to Mr. W. J. Fox, 
 M.P. for Oldham, who in seeking his re-election had to 
 challenge the direct avowal of the ' Times,' to protect him, 
 as he said, from a persevering report which had been made 
 to damage his chances at the poll. For many years after- 
 wards ' Amicus ' was a constant contributor to the columns 
 of the leading journal on many topics of social and political 
 interest. 
 
 The following letters on this subject have been found 
 among Mr. Fairbairn's papers : 
 
 December 29, 1851. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, You have taken, I see, the bold, 
 manly, and righteous course of resistance to this Louis Blanc 
 conspiracy of the mechanics and engineers. 
 
 It is very sad ; all was looking so well, and, were it not for 
 some evil-disposed men, would continue to look so well ! But 
 we are fallen on troublous times ; and I much fear that, in the 
 language of Scripture, ' there will be wrath ' on this our country. 
 
 God forgive us, for we are a very thankless people !
 
 326 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xvni. 
 
 I rejoice that none of my operatives, as I regard them, are 
 connected with this movement of wickedness and folly. 
 
 Now let me thank you and Mrs. Fairbairn for your agreeable 
 hospitality during my manufacturing tour. I am very happy 
 that I have been introduced into the interior of your family. 
 May God prosper you all. 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 SHAFTBSBURY. 
 
 W. FAIKBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 Manchester, December 31, 1851. 
 
 My dear Lord Shaftesbury, I needed not the assurance 
 contained in your note to satisfy me that your lordship coidd 
 never approve the arbitrary demands made by the Amalgamated 
 Society upon their employers, and that you would yourself em- 
 phatically condemn the agitation got up by a few dangerous 
 demagogues who form the Executive Council. The whole course 
 of your public life, and your unwearied and most disinterested 
 labours for the amelioration of the moral and physical condition 
 of helpless children, women, and all the working class, were to 
 my mind a sure guarantee that the promulgation of socialist 
 doctrines would receive your resistance, from whatever quarter 
 they might spring. From your conversations I have further 
 gathered that it was never your lordship's intention to interfere 
 with adult labour. 
 
 It appears, however, that the leaders of the Amalgamated 
 Society drag in your lordship's name to give colouring or a kind 
 of sanction to their dangerous proceedings, and such a remark 
 as the following is by no means uncommon in this district, from 
 unthinking but perhaps well-meaning persons : * Oh ! you see 
 what Lord Shaftesbury has brought upon you ! ' 
 
 I had intended writing to your lordship on this very im- 
 portant subject, and suggesting that it might have a desirable 
 effect were your lordship to address a letter embodying your 
 views on the subject, either to myself or direct to the ' Times.' 
 Your lordship's faithful servant, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 Exactly a year after this date Mr. Fairbairn says, in a 
 letter to General Morin :
 
 ENFIELD FACTORY. 327 
 
 We have at last got over our troubles and effected a settle- 
 ment in the establishment with our workmen. It has taken us 
 nearly twelve months to restore matters to their regular routine 
 state, but we are now all right again, and I make no doubt we 
 shall continue to be so for many years to come. 
 
 About 1852 the Government called in Mr. Fairbairn's 
 aid in the establishment of the now well-known Small 
 Arms Factory at Enfield. In conjunction with the officials 
 of the Ordnance Department, he laid out the works, 
 arranged the general design of the mechanical provisions, 
 and constructed most of the machinery and ironwork, 
 with the exception of the wood-working machines. This 
 order was a large and important one ; it occupied much of 
 his careful attention, and the successful working of the 
 establishment has proved how well he fulfilled the trust 
 reposed in him. 
 
 About 1852 or 1853 he finished the largest work he 
 had undertaken in mill construction, the great woollen 
 works of Mr. (afterwards Sir Titus) Salt, at Saltaire, near 
 Bradford, Yorkshire. 
 
 This kind of work was peculiarly his own ; it was by 
 it that he first acquired his fame ; his practice in it was 
 exceedingly large, and he kept up his interest in it during 
 the whole of his manufacturing career. In addition to the 
 improvements originally introduced by him in the re- 
 arrangement of the driving machinery, he had continued to 
 add other beneficial changes from time to time ; and among 
 others he was the first to take the driving power from the 
 rim of the fly-wheel of the steam-engine, by providing it 
 with teeth working into an adjoining pinion of smaller size, 
 which he considered had much advantage in the directness 
 of the action and the convenience of the mechanical 
 arrangements.
 
 328 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xvnr. 
 
 But it was not only the machinery of mills that he 
 improved ; at a later period he devoted considerable 
 attention to the design and construction of the buildings 
 in which the machinery was placed, more particularly as 
 to their strength and the preservation of them from fire. 
 Many accidents from malconstruction had come under his 
 notice, and he had turned every opportunity of this kind 
 to account in the improvement of his designs. Iron was 
 largely used in these structures, and he made it his busi- 
 ness to perfect the experimental knowledge of the strength 
 of the material in its different forms, and of the best modes 
 of applying it to the purposes in question. 
 
 The Saltaire mill was remarkable not only for its 
 great extent, but for the perfection of its design. It was 
 entirely planned by him, except the architectural features. 
 A description of it, with plates, is given in Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's book ' On the application of cast and wrought iron 
 to building purposes,' published in 1854. 
 
 The mills and dependencies extend over 6J acres of 
 ground. The main range of buildings, or the mill proper, 
 is 550 feet in length, 50 feet in width, and about 72 feet 
 (6 storeys) in height. The loom-shed, one storey high, is 
 nearly 300 feet long by 200 feet wide ; and another, the 
 combing shed, is a little smaller. 
 
 The engines are 1,250 horse-power, and the length of 
 shafting is very nearly 2 miles, weighing upwards of 60 
 tons, and making from 60 to 250 revolutions per minute. 
 The mills contain within themselves every means of pre- 
 paring from the raw material the supply for 1,200 power 
 looms, the yield of which is 30,000 yards of alpaca per 
 ftay, or upwards of 5,000 miles per annum. 
 
 From the commencement of the new partnership in 
 1846, for many years onward, the Manchester business 
 enjoyed very great prosperity. The managers were able
 
 GREAT PROSPERITY. 329 
 
 and energetic, and the circumstances of the time were 
 eminently favourable. 
 
 During the railway mania immense orders were given 
 for railway work of various kinds, at very high prices, 
 yielding large profits ; and large contracts were under- 
 taken for locomotives, the execution of which extended 
 over many years. But these formed only a portion of the 
 work done. Mr. Fairbairn's reputation was so great 
 that he was consulted from all parts of the world, and the 
 consultation almost always led to large orders for works, 
 which were professionally designed in the offices and 
 executed in the manufactory. He was the person, par 
 excellence, applied to when any great mechanical works of 
 novel or unusual character had to be undertaken, and his 
 scientific investigations, which were so frequently before 
 the world, drew attention to his position in a manufacturing 
 capacity. The firm, with him at their head, undertook all 
 sorts of engineering work, and in the manufacture of 
 bridges, girders, cranes, caissons, &c., and in fact all the 
 novel applications of wrought iron to structural and 
 mechanical purposes, they had absolutely their own way. 
 
 Between 1848 and 1860, the large loss at Mill wall 
 (100,000/.) was not only all made good by the Manchester 
 works, but considerable fortunes were amassed by all the 
 partners. 
 
 In December 1853, Mr. Fairbairn having realised a 
 competency, resolved to give up his more active part in 
 the business, which was thenceforward conducted by his 
 two sons. 
 
 He did not however on that account relinquish his 
 engineering occupations ; for he was afterwards constantly 
 engaged in giving advice on engineering and mechanical 
 matters, and he afforded active assistance to the manufac- 
 turing firm whenever he found it would be useful to them.
 
 330 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XYIII. 
 
 During the siege of Sebastopol it was determined to 
 supply the troops daily with new bread and fresh flour 
 from the grain of the surrounding country, by providing 
 the means of converting the wheat into flour, and baking 
 it upon the spot. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn was consulted as to the best means of 
 carrying out this proposal, and he at once prepared 
 designs for a floating flour mill and bakery. Two iron 
 screw steamers were purchased by Government and 
 placed in his hands for adaptation to the purpose ; the 
 firm prepared the machinery with all expedition, and the 
 whole apparatus was fitted and completed in less than 
 three months. 
 
 An interesting description of this arrangement was 
 communicated by Mr. Fairbairn to the meeting of the 
 Institute of Mechanical Engineers at Newcastle-on-Tyne, 
 August 24 and 25, 1858, and is published in their Trans- 
 actions for that year. 
 
 The flour mill machinery was similar to that ordinarily 
 used on shore, with such modifications only as were neces- 
 sary to adapt it to its novel position, and fit it to sustain 
 the constant and varying motion of a ship at sea. These 
 difficulties were overcome, and the mill was found to 
 answer admirably, grinding in almost all weathers at the 
 rate of 20 bushels, or 1,120 Ibs. of flour per hour, and 
 that at a time when the vessel was steaming at seven 
 and a half knots ; both the mill machinery and the ship 
 being propelled by the same engines. From the official 
 reports sent home, it appeared that important advantages 
 were gained by the introduction of this machinery, and it 
 is calculated that great numbers of lives were saved by 
 the abundant supply of wholesome bread and flour fur- 
 nished to the camp during the latter part of the siege. 
 
 In 1859 William Fairbairn, Junior, retired, leaving
 
 KAIL WAY VIADUCTS. 331 
 
 Thomas the sole proprietor, after which the works were 
 carried on under the title of Fairbairn and Company. 
 
 About 1860 the firm undertook, under Mr. Fairbairn's 
 direction, a work of considerable difficulty, namely, the 
 rebuilding of two large viaducts on the Manchester and 
 Sheffield Eailway. These had been originally built about 
 1844, of wood, each was some hundreds of feet long 
 and 100 to 120 feet high above the valley below. After 
 a few years the wooden ribs became distorted, and the 
 entire structure of one of them was so unsafe, that it 
 had to be trussed with iron rods to keep it in form. 
 Within ten or twelve years after erection the timber in 
 both became so much decayed as to endanger their 
 security, and Mr. Fairbairn was consulted as to the best 
 mode of reconstructing them in iron. The difficulty and 
 expense, however, frightened the directors, and temporary 
 repairs were resorted to. But these did not last long, and 
 in 1858 the viaducts were again in such a state as to alarm 
 the passengers and the people in the neighbourhood, who 
 drove and travelled several miles to avoid crossing either 
 bridge. Under these circumstances it was finally resolved 
 to renew them with iron, and Mr. Fairbairn being again 
 referred to, designs were made and carried out. 
 
 The timber arches had to be removed and iron girders 
 substituted, under however a stringent condition by the 
 directors that the railway traffic on the viaducts should 
 not be interrupted during the progress of the works. 
 This was agreed to, and Mr. Fairbairn states that in 
 carrying it out he incurred heavy responsibilities, and much 
 anxiety ; but the works were completed without accident ; 
 and although there were about seventy trains per day 
 passing over the bridges, no stoppage, even of a single 
 minute, occurred with any one of them. 
 
 The mode of executing this difficult work is too
 
 332 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xvm. 
 
 technical to be stated here ; it was fully described by 
 Mr. Fairbairn in a paper read before the Institution of 
 Civil Engineers, February 24, 1863, and published ic their 
 Proceedings for that year. 
 
 About 1864 the business was transferred to a Limited 
 Liability Company, who thenceforth traded under the 
 title of ' The Fairbairn Engineering Company.' Mr. Fair- 
 bairn and his family retained, however, a considerable 
 pecuniary interest in the concern, and Mr. Fairbairn him- 
 self still kept an office on the works, and gave much 
 personal attention to them. The firm undertook several 
 large contracts, among which was the construction of some 
 forts for the Government to be erected at Spithead ; the 
 roof of the Eoyal Albert Hall ; many large bridges and 
 roofs for railways, &c., &c. But about the time of Sir 
 William's death, the tide of a long continued prosperity 
 seemed to have turned, and in the face of a serious depres- 
 sion in the iron trade, which was obviously coming on, 
 it was considered expedient not to risk further losses, but 
 to wind up the concern. The shops were accordingly dis- 
 mantled, the plant was sold, and probably by the time 
 this biography reaches the public, the Canal Street Engi- 
 neering Works will have altogether disappeared.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 THE MILLWALL SHIP-BUILDING FACTORY
 
 CONTRAST WITH THE MANCHESTER BUSINESS EARLY HISTORY OF IRON 
 SHIP-BUILDING THE 'AARON MANBY ' AND SIR CHARLES NAPIER MR. 
 FAIRBAIRN'S EARLY EXPERIMENTS CHOICE OF A LOCALITY FOR THE 
 SHIP-BUILDING MANUFACTURE MILLWALL OUTLAY MANAGEMENT 
 ORDERS WORK FOR THE ADMIRALTY, THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, AND 
 THE MERCANTILE MARINE ROYAL PLEASURE YACHTS PATENTS 
 DIFFICULTIES COMPETITION WANT OF EXPERIENCE UNFAVOURABLE 
 REPORTS AS TO MR. FAIRBAIRN'S CREDIT DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY 
 RESOLUTION TO GET RID OF THE WORKS THEIR SALE MR. FAIR- 
 BAIRN'S SONS LARGE AMOUNT OF LOSS BY THESE WORKS.
 
 335 
 
 CHAPTEE XIX. 
 
 THE great prosperity which attended the Manchester 
 business was considerably marred by results of an oppo- 
 site character arising from the other manufacturing estab- 
 lishment with which Mr Fairbairn was connected, the 
 ship-building yard at Millwall. It was in existence about 
 twelve years ; it was never in a paying condition, it 
 absorbed capital to a large amount ; it was an incessant 
 source of anxiety and annoyance to everybody concerned, 
 and it ended with a loss which, if not met by the Man- 
 chester profits, would have sent Mr. Fairbairn into the 
 Bankruptcy Court, and ruined his prospects for ever. 
 
 The origin of the Millwall establishment has been ex- 
 plained by Mr. Fairbairn in that portion of his auto- 
 biography given in Chap, X. He entered upon it soon 
 after his separation from Lillie in ] 832. 
 
 The application of iron to ship-building was then 
 almost new. Some few canal boats made of iron appear 
 to have been in use on the Midland Canals about J 812 or 
 1813, but the first iron boat that ever put to sea was a 
 small steamer, built in 1821 at the Horseley Iron Works, 
 Staffordshire, by Mr. Aaron Manby, whose name she was 
 given. She was 120 feet long and 18 feet beam, and was 
 propelled by an engine of 80 horse-power. She was sent 
 to London in parts, and having been put together there 
 was navigated, down the Thames, across the Channel, and
 
 336 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIEBAIRN. CHAP. xix. 
 
 up the Seine to Paris. This unique voyage was per- 
 formed under the command of Captain (afterwards Admi- 
 ral Sir Charles) Napier, E.N., who was largely interested 
 in the undertaking, and devoted much time, and his usual 
 skill and energy, to the enterprise. 
 
 Other iron boats of small size were made at the same 
 works, and shortly afterwards Mr. John Laird, of Birken- 
 head, and another ship-builder in Scotland took up their 
 construction ; but the manufacture had made but little 
 progress, when in 1830, Mr. Fairbairn directed his atten- 
 tion to the use of steam-power on the Forth and Clyde 
 canal, and built the famous little iron steamer the ' Lord 
 Dundas.' This was succeeded by others, built at his 
 works at Manchester, and he may be said to have been^ 
 among the first to show the superior strength and security 
 of the new material. He found that the resisting power 
 of an iron vessel, when properly constructed, could be 
 depended on for navigating the open sea ; and, moreover, 
 that she was much better calculated for lightness, and 
 capacity for cargo, than one composed of timber. 
 
 These results were so good as to promise a great and 
 profitable field for the exercise of his designing and 
 manufacturing skill. But it was immediately apparent 
 that this manufacture could not be successfully carried on 
 in an inland town, and he determined to set up another 
 establishment at a seaport. He was undecided for some 
 time between Liverpool and London, but at last fixed on 
 the latter, for the reason, as he says, that he believed it 
 offered more encouraging prospects for the new business. 
 But it is very probable that, as he began to feel a desire 
 to make himself more known in the world, his pre- 
 ference for the metropolitan situation may have partly 
 arisen from the better opportunity it would give him in 
 this respect. The choice no doubt was right in a personal, 
 though wrong in a commercial point of view. It was the
 
 THE MILL WALL WORKS. 337 
 
 London situation that caused, or at least magnified, the 
 financial difficulties (for almost all iron ship-building enter- 
 prises have been unsuccessful on the Thames), and if he had 
 chosen Liverpool, he might have made the business pay, 
 but the course of his life would have been changed ; he 
 would have been less before the world, and would, in all 
 probability never have gained the honour and celebrity 
 that attended his actual career. 
 
 In accordance with this decision Mr. Fairbairn selected 
 a plot of land on the north bank of the Thames, at 
 Mill wall, in the Isle of Dogs, and entered on it early in the 
 year 1835. Here he laid out complete arrangements for 
 building iron ships of considerable size, and, as these 
 might be expected for the most part to be steamers, he 
 had also to erect workshops and tools for the manufacture 
 of their engines and machinery. 
 
 The first outlay was heavy, and it was provided 
 entirely by borrowed money. It was afterwards much 
 increased as the necessities arose, and this capital outlay 
 was one of the causes that hampered the concern, and 
 contributed to the trouble it gave. 
 
 The mode of managing two large establishments two 
 hundred miles apart, each requiring constant attention, 
 was a difficulty very early seen ; but Mr. Fairbairn hoped, 
 by frequent journeys backwards and forwards, to give so 
 much of his personal attention to each as would keep 
 both in order. 
 
 He found no difficulty in getting work for the new 
 factory. The fame he had acquired in his Manchester 
 business told favourably in this, and orders came in plen- 
 tifully. In the first year the firm had made contracts for 
 twelve vessels, and the demand went on year after year 
 at about the same rate, upwards of a hundred vessels 
 
 z
 
 338 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xix. 
 
 having been made at Mill wall during the thirteen years 
 the works were in operation. 
 
 It will suffice to notice some of the larger and more 
 important orders undertaken. 
 
 The Admiralty patronised the firm, by giving them a 
 frigate to build, the ' Megasra,' 2,000 tons, with engines 
 of 600 horse-power; and they also constructed large' 
 engines for several other frigates, among which were 
 the- 'Dragon,' the 'Vulture,' the 'Odin,' and the 'Cor- 
 morant.' 
 
 For the East India Company they built twelve iron 
 vessels for navigating the Ganges, each about 240 tons ; 
 and for the Peninsular and Oriental Company the ' Pot- 
 tinger,' 1,700 tons. 
 
 Many others were constructed for the mercantile 
 marine service, among which wefe the ' Eose ' and the 
 'Thistle,' for Australian lines; eight steamers for the 
 Baltic, and four for the Black Sea, &c. 
 
 The firm also built iron steam yachts for the Emperor 
 of Eussia and the King of Denmark. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn took out two patents for improvements 
 in marine steam machinery. The first was in September 
 1841 (No. 9,072), for ' Certain Improvements in the Con- 
 struction and Arrangement of Steam-engines.' The in- 
 vention consisted of making the engines direct acting, and 
 applying a novel disposition and construction of some of 
 the working parts, particularly the parallel motion; by 
 means of which the necessary motions of the air-pump, 
 force-pump, and other working parts of the engine were 
 brought into a smaller compass than in the ordinary con- 
 struction of marine engines. 
 
 The second patent of this kind, dated March 7, 1846, 
 was for an improvement in the mode of driving the screw 
 propeller, by the application of a large wheel with internal
 
 DIFFICULTIES. 339 
 
 teeth. It is believed that a pair of engines were con- 
 structed on this plan, but it never came into general use. 
 
 But though there was plenty of work at the Millwall 
 yard, it was done in the face of a host of difficulties, and 
 from various causes it produced no profit, but the contrary. 
 
 In the first place, there arose, at an early period, a 
 formidable competition. Other people saw that iron 
 ship-building was likely to be an increasing trade, and, 
 jealous of the interloper from the North, they opened an 
 energetic opposition to him, which kept prices down. 
 Moreover, the business was new, the construction of large 
 iron ships was at first tentative, and much experience had 
 to be gained ; and this, in the face of sharp competition, 
 was necessarily very costly. 
 
 When, four years after the works had been in opera- 
 tion, Mr. Fairbairn was requested to go to Turkey, he 
 consented with considerable hesitation, fearing that his 
 business might suffer in his absence. His fears were but 
 too well founded ; for when he returned from Constanti- 
 nople, he found affairs at both his works (which then 
 together employed more than 2,000 hands) in great con- 
 fusion. In regard to Millwall, he says : 
 
 A short time previous to my departure for Turkey, I was 
 engaged in negotiating with the Admiralty for an iron frigate ; 
 and under the impression that the order was confirmed, a large 
 proportion of the plates were ordered by Mr. Murray, and most 
 of them delivered at the works. On my return, I found that a 
 change had been made in the dimensions of the vessel, which 
 rendered the material next to useless, or little better than old 
 iron. I will not recount the mortification I endured when I 
 found the firm indebted to a large amount for material that 
 was not wanted. There was, however, no alternative but sub- 
 mission. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xix. 
 
 Other difficulties also stood in his way ; he had 
 realised a good deal of property, but it was all invested 
 in buildings, plant, and machinery ; he had little or no 
 ready money ; and this fact, becoming known, gave rise 
 to unfavourable reports as to his circumstances, which, 
 though unfounded, tended to affect his mercantile credit. 
 He says, speaking of this : 
 
 In the philosophy of trade and commerce there appear to be 
 the same fixed and definite laws regulating the transactions 
 between man and man as exist in the physical and moral world. 
 A merchant cannot well afford to be poor. He must never own 
 it if he is ; otherwise it is more than probable the most serious 
 consequences may arise injurious to his credit, as all the com- 
 mercial gossips, of whatever grade, will set upon him, and a 
 hundred to one but he is devoured. Such was nearly my own 
 case at the time I refer to. 
 
 He speaks feelingly of the depression he suffered in 
 consequence of these adverse circumstances. 
 
 In this contest with the world I suffered many heartburn- 
 ings and mortifications. Mrs. Fairbairn was confined of her 
 last child. My sons were all at school, my daughter was nearly 
 of age, and a numerous family were entirely dependent on me. 
 These considerations pressed upon me with a force that was 
 almost past endurance. In the fits of melancholy which some- 
 times overtook me I pictured to myself every possible contin- 
 gency. 
 
 It is pleasant, however, to read the expressions of the 
 determination and energy which he brought to bear on 
 his affairs, and which enabled him, almost unaided, to 
 right himself, and to overcome all his difficulties. 
 
 I never thought of bankruptcy. I never relaxed in my exer- 
 tions, and, above all, I met the difficulties which multiplied 
 around me with a determination which nothing could conquer, 
 and which was sure to mitigate if not entirely to remove their
 
 CLOSING OF THE WORKS. 341 
 
 effects. It was this determined perseverance that enabled me 
 to keep the wolf from the door. 
 
 In another place he says : 
 
 Such was the buoyancy of my spirits, and such my deter- 
 mination to overcome the difficulties of my position, that I 
 resolved to stem, with an energy that nothing could crush, the 
 tide which set in against me, and I set to work with redoubled 
 energy to secure a respectable independence for my family. 
 
 To meet the want of ready money, Mr. E. Smith, the 
 former manager of the Manchester works, put into the 
 business two or three thousand pounds, as an equivalent 
 for a small share in the profits ; and, in addition, a few 
 thousands more were borrowed on the security of the 
 fixed property. 
 
 The Millwall works proved, however, too onerous to 
 be retained ; and after much hesitation and consideration, 
 Mr. Fairbairn, about 1844, came to the conclusion that it 
 would be to his interest to get rid of them, even at a 
 large loss. He accordingly determined to wind up that 
 branch of his business, and the works, which had cost 
 upwards of 50,000/., were sold for 12,000/. 
 
 The place, however, could not be got rid of all at 
 once, as large orders were in hand for iron vessels, which 
 it was necessary to complete. For this reason one-half 
 the freehold and the ship-building yard were retained. 
 One of the ships thus finished was the ' Megsera,' a vessel 
 which was afterwards converted into a troop-ship, and 
 ultimately wrecked in the South Seas. Two or three 
 years were occupied in finishing this vessel, and some 
 other orders in hand from the Peninsular and Oriental 
 and other Companies. 
 
 During the years 1845, 1846, and 1847 the factory 
 was used for the experiments on the great tubular bridges,
 
 342 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRK CHAP. xix. 
 
 described in Chapter XIII. This was the last work done 
 there. 
 
 The whole premises were dismantled and given up in 
 1848. They were purchased by Messrs. Eobinson & Co., 
 and subsequently came, with adjacent lands, into the 
 hands of Mr. Scott Eussell, by whom they were used, 
 among other purposes, for the construction of that mighty 
 monster of iron ship-building, the ' Great Eastern.' 
 
 It was a great relief to Mr. Fairbairn to get rid of 
 the Millwall establishment, as it enabled him to con- 
 centrate the whole of his business in Manchester. 
 And one reason why he wished to do this was, as he 
 states : 
 
 I should have the assistance of my sons, then on the point 
 of leaving school, and likely in a few years to render that sup- 
 port which was then so much wanted, and which I have since 
 had the happiness to experience. 
 
 The present Sir Thomas Fairbairn has given the 
 editor the following memorandum respecting these trans- 
 actions : 
 
 Eight years of my own time and devoted attention were 
 taken up in bringing the disastrous Millwall concern to a close. 
 I was taken away from an intended university career in 1840, 
 and was engaged at Millwall until the final close in 1848, 
 excepting some ten months in 1841-42, which I spent in Italy. 
 
 The loss sustained at Millwall altogether was over 100,OOoL, 
 the whole of which had to be made good from the profits of 
 the business in Manchester.
 
 CHAPTEE XX 
 IRON ARMOUR 
 
 AGE 73-79 
 18611867
 
 APPLICATION OF IKON TO DEFENSIVE PURPOSES CHANGE IN THE 
 CONSTRUCTION OF THE NAVY IRON SHIPS REFUSAL OF THE AD- 
 MIRALTY TO ADOPT THE NEW MATERIAL IGNORANCE AND PREJU- 
 DICE IN REGARD TO IT RIFLED GUNS AND SHELL CASING OF TIMBER 
 SHIPS WITH IRON THE EMPEROR OF THE FRENCH THE RUSSIAN 
 WAR ' LA GLOIRE ' THE ' WARRIOR ' IRON ARMOUR PLAN OF FIRST 
 DOING A THING AND THEN ENQUIRING HOW IT SHOULD BE DONE 
 APPOINTMENT OF THE IRON COMMITTEE THEIR LABOURS EVIDENCE 
 EXPERIMENTS NATURE OF THE MATERIAL MODE OF MANUFACTURE 
 HAMMERING AND ROLLING FORM AND MATERIAL OF THE SHOT 
 LAWS OF RESISTANCE OF PLATES MODE OF APPLYING THE ARMOUR 
 TO THE VESSELS WOOD BACKING MINOR PARTICULARS EXPERIMEN- 
 TAL TARGETS MR. FAIRBAIRN's CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMMITTEE 
 THE GIBRALTAR SHIELD.
 
 345 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 FROM 1861 to 1865 Mr. Fairbairn was engaged in aiding 
 the Government on an official investigation respecting the 
 application of iron to defensive purposes in warfare. 
 The present construction of the iron armoured vessels of 
 our navy has all arisen out of this enquiry ; and on 
 account of the great public interest and importance of the 
 question, it demands a notice at some length. 
 
 It is necessary to give a short preliminary account of 
 the circumstances which led to the investigation. 
 
 Some twenty years ago it began to be perceived that 
 a great change must be made in the construction of ships 
 of war, in consequence of the introduction into heavy 
 artillery of rifled shell. The < Wooden Walls of Old Eng- 
 land,' which had done such good service from the time 
 of the Spanish Armada to that of Trafalgar, were power- 
 less against the long range, the accurate aim, the pene- 
 trating power, and the destructive effect, of these deadly 
 missiles ; and it was seen that unless something could be 
 done to meet the difficulty, the efficiency of our navy 
 must be seriously endangered. 
 
 The use of iron was one of the most obvious modes of 
 resisting the penetration of shells ; but hitherto the appli- 
 cation of this material had not found favour with the 
 naval authorities of the country. 
 
 It has been mentioned in earlier parts of this work 
 how actively Mr. Fairbairn had exerted himself in intro-
 
 346 LIFE OF- SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xx. 
 
 ducing iron ship-building. The first application of this 
 material had been for mercantile purposes, but in 1835-6 
 he had arrived at the conclusion that wrought iron was 
 the safest and most durable material for naval constructions 
 also, and he was anxious to impress on the Government 
 the advisability of its being employed for vessels of war. 
 He was, at an early stage of the manufacture, in commu- 
 nication with the Admiralty, 1 and he urged that iron 
 ships, if applied to war purposes, would be not only supe- 
 rior in power, but safe under all the circumstances of 
 attack and defence. 
 
 There was at that time a great deal of ignorance and 
 prejudice in regard to the use of the new material. 
 Many people (among them persons of influence in naval 
 matters) conceived that the flotation of a timber ship was 
 due to the fact of wood being lighter than water, and 
 seriously argued that if a heavy material, like iron, were 
 substituted, the ship must inevitably go to the bottom. 
 This argument was of course met in a simple way by the 
 direct logic of facts, inasmuch as iron ships, which did 
 really float, were in existence ; but there were other 
 objections less easily disposed of, and one of the most 
 formidable was the great damage likely to be done to 
 the iron plates by heavy projectiles. In a ship with 
 wooden sides, a shot hole was not a very serious matter ; 
 it seldom made a great leak, and the hole could easily be 
 plugged up. But a shot blow on iron plates rent them 
 open with a fearful gash incapable of stoppage. It was 
 suggested that this evil might be diminished by backing 
 the plates with soft or elastic substances, and some 
 experiments were tried, in 1840, by the Admiralty at 
 Portsmouth with this view ; but the results were so un- 
 favourable that they were deemed conclusive against the 
 
 1 Paper read before Inst, Nav. Arck , March 1869.
 
 BIFLED SHELL. 347 
 
 adoption of iron vessels for war purposes, and the 
 Government stood aloot from the general movement, 
 deciding to limit the construction of iron vessels to the 
 mail and packet services. 
 
 Still, however, in regard to wooden ships, the awk- 
 ward difficulty remained of their destructibility by the 
 new rifled shell. With solid shot the improved artillery 
 would have been much less formidable. The entrance of 
 a solid shot into a ship, was an event always expected in 
 action ; and though it often did much damage, it did not 
 destroy the ship, which was capable, in brave hands, of 
 holding out for a long defence, even though ' riddled,' as 
 the expression was, by the fire of the enemy. But large 
 shells, bursting out like fierce volcanoes among the timbers 
 of the structure, or scattering between the decks showers 
 of fragments of jagged iron, every piece dealing destruc- 
 tion in its path, made such havoc as no bravery or skill 
 could hold out against ; and a wooden ship efficiently 
 attacked in this way must, in a very short time, either 
 blow up, or sink, or surrender. 
 
 Shells, in themselves, were no novelties; they had, 
 long before the introduction of rifled guns, been used for 
 bombardment with mortars, and had even been intro- 
 duced as projectiles from ordinary cannon ; but from the 
 uncertainty of aim and want of force when fired from a 
 distance, and from the imperfect construction of the 
 missiles themselves, they were not much more effective 
 against ships than ordinary cannon balls. It was only 
 when rifling enabled them to be fired at long range, with 
 great accuracy and powerful impact, and when the im- 
 provements of their construction gave full scope to their 
 destructive capabilities, that they became so formidable. 
 
 The use of timber ships being retained, there remained
 
 348 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xx. 
 
 the alternative of casing them with an armour of iron 
 plate, of a thickness which shells could not penetrate. 
 There were many difficulties in the way of this, and the 
 first person who made any successful efforts to overcome 
 them, was the late Emperor of the French. At the time 
 of the Eussian War, when rifled guns were first beginning 
 to assume importance, Napoleon III. saw the necessity of 
 an impenetrable armour, and quietly pursued experiments 
 and investigations on the subject till he had succeeded in 
 building three floating batteries, which were protected by 
 thick plates of iron. These were sent out to the Black 
 Sea, where they arrived shortly before the conclusion of 
 the war, and they were employed by the French in the 
 allied attack upon Kinburn, on October 17, 1855. 
 
 These batteries were exposed to a heavy fire, at a dis- 
 tance of 700 yards, for about three hours, unsupported by 
 the fleet ; and though some casualties occurred from shell 
 and shot entering the large old-fashioned port-holes, yet 
 the vessels themselves were comparatively uninjured. 
 This success, so creditable to the skill and perseverance 
 of our ally, settled the question of the practicability of 
 defending ships of war by iron armour ; and in France 
 the further development of the principle was soon rapidly 
 pushed forward. 
 
 In England, however, the authorities were loth to 
 distrust their time-hallowed wooden walls ; and although 
 the subject was looked into, very little was seriously 
 done. In 1858, two floating batteries were experi- 
 mentally cased in iron plates, in imitation of the French 
 batteries at Kinburn, and were fired at for trial. Iron 
 plates were also, about the same time, placed expeii- 
 mentally on the sides of some of Her Majesty's ships, and 
 Mr. Whitworth's new rifled ordnance, with steel pro- 
 jectiles, were used against them. The result demon- 
 strated the value of the protection, though it showed
 
 'LA GLOIRE' AND THE 'WARRIOR.' 349 
 
 much imperfection through want of experimental know- 
 ledge. 
 
 In the mean time the French, profiting by their ex- 
 perience at Kinburn, pushed on vigorously, and, a year 
 or two after the Crimean War, had completed a frigate 
 plated with iron armour, which was named ' La Gloire,' 
 and was launched about 1859. She was timber-built, 
 resembling one of our line-of-battle ships cut clown, and 
 was cased from end to end with iron plates 4^ inches 
 thick ; she was 250 feet long, and was propelled by a 
 screw, with engines of 900 horse-power. 
 
 When the news of the construction of ' La Gloire ' 
 reached this country, our Government became alarmed, 
 and naturally so ; for she was a formidable challenge to 
 our navy. Accordingly, early in 1859, the Admiralty 
 determined, in great haste, to build a ship to oppose her, 
 and they laid down the celebrated iron-plated frigate the 
 ' Warrior,' which was built with great celerity, and was 
 launched in December 1860. This ship was much larger 
 than her opponent, being 380 feet long, 6,000 tons 
 burthen, and having engines of 1,250 horse-power. Her 
 armament was much heavier than that of ' La Gloire,' and 
 her speed much faster. She differed also materially from 
 the French ship, in that she was built of iron instead of 
 timber. The Government had, as already stated, arrived, 
 twenty years before, at the conclusion, that iron was an 
 unfit material for ships of war ; but the subject had since 
 been much discussed, and the opinions of scientific naval 
 constructors in its favour had been urged so strongly, in 
 opposition to the prejudices of the Admiralty, that they 
 were induced, almost against their own will, to fall in 
 with Mr. Fairbairn's original recommendation. This has 
 since become universally adopted, and wooden ships of war 
 are now things of the past.
 
 350 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xx. 
 
 Although, however, there was no timber hull to set 
 on fire, yet the thin plates were easily penetrable both by 
 shot and shell, and hence it was as necessary to protect an 
 iron as a wooden ship. But nothing was known experi- 
 mentally as to how the iron armour could be applied, our 
 authorities having wasted, in indecision, the time that the 
 French Government had employed in investigation and 
 experiment. 
 
 In this state of ignorance our designers considered 
 they could not do better than repeat the plan they had 
 followed with the floating batteries, namely, copy from 
 the French as nearly as they could. They, therefore, 
 first made the hull of the ' Warrior ' represent that of 
 ' La Gloire,' by fastening, on the outside of the iron skin, 
 a thick cushion of timber, on which they proceeded to 
 fix the plates by bolting. They introduced certain novel- 
 ties into the details, which, however, were afterwards 
 found to be no improvement, but rather inferior to the 
 French designs. 
 
 On the finishing of the 'Warrior,' the Government 
 bethought themselves that it would be desirable to do 
 what they ought to have done five years before, namely, 
 to ascertain something about the principles which should 
 guide the design of iron armour. In other words, 
 having already built the ship, they began to enquire how 
 they ought to have built her (a curious line of policy 
 which, it will be seen, was repeated in an analogous case 
 a few years later). It was apparent that the use of iron 
 for such a novel purpose was so complicated by con- 
 siderations of a mechanical and metallurgical character 
 as to demand a more searching technical investigation 
 than it could receive at the hands of purely military or 
 naval authorities ; and at the end of 1860 the Government 
 wisely determined to submit the whole matter to a mixed
 
 THE AEMOUR COMMITTEE. 351 
 
 special committee. The Secretary-at-War, Mr. Herbert 
 (afterwards Lord Herbert) therefore selected six gentle- 
 men, and, having obtained their consent to act, the Com- 
 mittee, called the 'Special Committee on Iron,' was 
 formally appointed on January 12, 1861. The members 
 were : 
 
 Captain (afterwards Sir John) Dairy mple Hay, E.N., 
 
 chairman, to represent the Navy. 
 
 Major Jervois, R.E., to represent the Royal Engineers. 
 Col. W. Henderson, R.A., to represent the Royal Artillery. 
 Dr. John Percy, F.R.S., the eminent metallurgist. 
 Mr. William Fairbairn, F.R.S. ) n . ., -,-, . 
 Mr. William Pole, F.R.S, I ml En ^ neers ' ^ 11 7 
 
 experienced in the uses and properties of iron. 
 
 The Committee were actively at work four years, during 
 which time they presented to the Government four An- 
 nual Eeports, each accompanied with a large volume of 
 minutes of experiments and proceedings. The information 
 contained in these volumes was of the greatest value, but 
 unfortunately they were never published. The Govern- 
 ment, although no particular secresy had been observed 
 in the proceedings (foreigners having been often admitted 
 freely to them), were reluctant to make the mass of 
 knowledge gained public property, and accordingly only 
 extracts and abstracts were made known from time to 
 time. 
 
 It is, however, no breach of confidence, after this 
 lapse of time, to give a summary of the principal matters 
 that occupied the Committee's attention. 
 
 Their first duty was to collect and classify all the 
 meagre information that existed, and the resuUs of all the 
 experiments that had been made on the use of iron for 
 resisting shot.
 
 352 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CBAP. xx. 
 
 They then called before them various persons whom 
 they considered likely to have knowledge of the subject, 
 military and naval officeis, engineers, ship-builders, and 
 iron manufacturers ; and their evidence, given very fully, 
 was recorded and considered. But the great diversity of 
 the opinions thus gathered showed the obscurity in which 
 this novel application of the material was involved. 
 
 The Committee then commenced an elaborate series of 
 investigations and experiments systematically carried out ; 
 first on a small scale on single plates of various sizes and 
 thicknesses ; and then on targets of large size, made to 
 represent actual ships' sides, of a great variety of con- 
 structions. These enquiries extended over several years, 
 and led to the establishment of many important principles 
 as to the nature of the material best adapted to the pur- 
 pose ; the arrangement and dimensions of the armour ; 
 the mode of fastening to the ship ; the effect of the form 
 and material of the shot ; and so on. It may be interest- 
 ing to give an account of some of the trials made and the 
 results arrived at on these points. 
 
 One of the most important considerations was as to 
 the nature of the material best fitted to be used for 
 armour ; for as this was capable of being given many 
 varieties of character, according to the mode of its pre- 
 paration, it was desirable to ascertain which was best 
 for the purpose in view. On this point the opinions of 
 the witnesses had varied a good deal, but there had been 
 a general impression that one of the most important 
 qualities to give was hardness. It was urged that the 
 harder the armour was made the better would it resist 
 the shot, and that in fact the best material, if it could be 
 made and applied conveniently, would be hard steel, or 
 at least a combination of steel and iron. 
 
 This was a plausible idea, but it was not borne out by
 
 
 QUALITY OF IRON. 353 
 
 investigation and experiment. It was found that hard 
 plates were brittle, and were broken up by the blows, 
 when the detaching of the fragments exposed the vessel to 
 penetration ; soft plates, on the contrary, gave way, and 
 became dented, bruised, and distorted, but still held to- 
 gether and formed an efficient protection. 
 
 Both theoretical considerations and practical experi- 
 ments showed that the best principle of defence was not 
 to attempt to resist the blow, but to receive it in such a 
 way as would do the least mischief. The obvious mode 
 of accomplishing this with iron armour was to make it of 
 soft, tough plates, which would allow the energy of the shot 
 to be expended in indenting and battering them without 
 producing fracture. 
 
 The Committee, therefore, came to the conclusion that 
 the best material for armour was wrought-iron, free from 
 hardness and brittleness, but as soft and tough as could 
 be procured. This opinion, though it was arrived at in 
 opposition to the ideas generally prevalent, has been fully 
 confirmed by subsequent experience. 
 
 The mode of making the plates also engaged the 
 attention of the Committee. It was a new thing in the 
 iron trade to fabricate plates of this enormous size; 
 and the first attempts were imperfect, the iron being of 
 inferior quality. The Committee requested the princi- 
 pal houses to produce plates for trial, invited them to 
 witness the experiments, and gave them every aid in their 
 endeavour to perfect the manufacture ; and the result was 
 a marked improvement and a much better approach to 
 the quality required. 
 
 Two processes were used for making the plates 
 hammering and rolling. In the former, large lumps of 
 iron, previously prepared from * scrap ' or from ' puddled 
 A A
 
 354 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xx. 
 
 bars,' were brought to a welding heat, and being laid 
 together, were placed under heavy steam hammers, the 
 repeated blows of which welded the masses together, and 
 shaped them to the required form and dimensions. This 
 process was the first adopted for the manufacture of 
 armour plates ; it was used by the Thames Iron Company, 
 who built the ' Warrior,' and the plates of that ship were 
 made in that way. 
 
 Shortly afterwards a firm in Yorkshire adopted another 
 plan, namely, by rolling a process in fact the same as 
 that used for ordinary boiler-plates, but on a much larger 
 scale. The masses of iron, first prepared, were flat in 
 shape, and several of these, being laid one on the other, 
 were heated to the welding point in a furnace, and then 
 passed between large rollers, which rolled them out into 
 one solid plate of the required size. The process was a 
 difficult one, from all the apparatus requiring to be 
 of such great size, and the machinery of such immense 
 power. 
 
 The Iron Committee tried extensive experiments on 
 plates made by both these systems. They found the 
 hammered plates had a tendency to be hard and unequal. 
 The repeated blows of the hammer hardened the material, 
 and this effect was not always the same in different parts, 
 some receiving more action than others. Moreover, from 
 the irregular form of the primitive masses, the parts were 
 not always perfectly welded together. The rolled plates, 
 on the other hand, from the more uniform and less sudden 
 action of the compressing force, were softer and more 
 uniform in quality, but they still had the defect of what 
 was called ' lamination,' i.e. a want of perfect Avelding 
 between the different layers. The Committee, on the 
 whole, preferred the rolled plates, and this mode of 
 manufacture has now superseded the other almost en- 
 tirely.
 
 MATERIAL OF THE SHOT. 355 
 
 Another point investigated by the Committee was the 
 effect of the form and material of the shot. They con- 
 sidered, however, that too much importance had been 
 attached to these particulars. The shot was merely a 
 means of transferring to the plate a certain amount of 
 mechanical energy generated at a distance by the powder ; 
 and the only way in which form and material influenced 
 the result was by causing a greater or less proportion of 
 this energy to be absorbed by the shot itself, and so wasted, 
 or diverted from its intended purpose. 
 
 It was attempted by a very ingenious process to 
 ascertain the amount of work absorbed by the shot. It 
 was found that, after striking the plates, the shot, or the 
 fragments of them, became highly heated, and, according 
 to the recently established thermo-dynamic law, by mea- 
 suring the rise of temperature, an approximate estimate 
 could be given of the work absorbed. It was thus found 
 that with a hard-tempered steel shot, the energy expended 
 upon the projectile was about one-tenth of that stored up 
 in it at the moment of striking ; while with softer steel 
 it was two-tenths ; with soft wrought-iron it amounted to 
 above one-half of the whole ; and with cast-iron to pro- 
 bably still more. 
 
 These results, which were fully corroborated by the 
 effects produced on the plates, pointed to hard steel as 
 the best kind of shot to be used against iron armour ; but 
 this expensive material was afterwards superseded, in 
 consequence of a discovery made by Capt. Palliser, that 
 cast-iron shot would answer, if made of a particular 
 quality, and in a particular form. In the ordinary 
 shapes, shot of cast-iron, whatever the quality of metal, 
 broke up with great facility ; but Capt. Palliser showed 
 that if the head were made pointed and the metal 
 were very hard, the shot would penetrate the plate before 
 breaking, and the minimum amount of work would be 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xx. 
 
 lost on the projectile. The shot so designed was accor- 
 dingly adopted in the service. 
 
 The Committee further investigated the laws of re- 
 sistance offered by plates of different thicknesses to pro- 
 jectiles of different natures and weights, and with different 
 velocities. Keverting to the principle that the damage to 
 the iron plate was proportional to the work in the shot, 
 or to the charge of powder, it was assumed that some 
 definite estimate might be made of the thickness of plate 
 necessary to resist certain artillery. As far as could be 
 made out, there appeared reason to believe that, within 
 certain limits, the resisting power of a plate bore a toler- 
 ably near ratio to the square of its thickness ; but there 
 was so much difficulty in estimating the amount of damage 
 done, and the quality of the plates, tried was so variable, 
 that no trustworthy relation could be fixed. In heavy 
 plates, moreover, practical effects came in which disturbed 
 the application of any general law. 
 
 Another question that occupied the attention of the 
 Committee was what form it was most advantageous to 
 give to the defensive material. Several forms were pro- 
 posed, such as bars, superposed thin plates, corrugations, 
 ribs, bosses, and many other ingenious contrivances. 
 More than four hundred of such plans were submitted to 
 the Committee ; and a great many were fully considered 
 and tried ; but, through all these complications, they 
 arrived at the simple result that the best application of 
 the material was a single plate of uniform thickness, 
 with the surface perfectly plane. 
 
 Great interest and importance were attached to the 
 mode of applying the iron armour-plates upon the Inll of 
 the vessel. In the ' Warrior,' as already explained, a
 
 WOOD BACKING. 357 
 
 cushion or bed of timber about eighteen inches thick 
 had been interposed between the armour-plates and the 
 iron skin of the vessel, a plan followed, probably, more 
 for the purpose of imitating the construction of ' La 
 Gloire,' than with any very definite idea of what object 
 the wood was to serve. 
 
 Many objections were raised to this by persons of 
 considerable authority in ship-building and mechanical 
 science. It was said that the plates had better be fastened 
 at once upon the iron skin, and that the wood backing 
 was not only unnecessary, but was absolutely prejudicial, 
 as liable to decay, and to destruction by fire and shells. 
 It was necessary to test this, and no less than three ex- 
 pensive targets were constructed for the purpose. 
 
 The result of these trials was to convince the Com- 
 mittee that the wood backing performed several important 
 functions, which, though they had not been foreseen, 
 were of much advantage. 
 
 In the first place, by its softness, it deadened the jar 
 and vibration caused by the blow of the shot. In the 
 iron targets this was severely felt, breaking the bolts 
 and rivets, and shaking and damaging the structure gene- 
 rally ; but with the interposition of the soft cushion these 
 evils were much reduced, and the structure was greatly 
 preserved. 
 
 Secondly, it had the advantage of distributing the 
 effect of the blow over a much larger area of the skin 
 plate. When the armour was fastened directly upon the 
 skin the shot acted upon a small area, which gave it a 
 better chance of penetrating ; but with the large thick- 
 ness of wood between, the area of operation enlarged 
 backwards, like a cone, thereby increasing materially the 
 power of the thin skin to resist the damaging effect. 
 
 Thirdly, if, under heavy fire, the armour-plate became 
 broken, the pieces did not foil off, but became imbedded
 
 358 LITE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xx. 
 
 in the wood, and were thereby held in their places, re- 
 taining their utility of defence in a considerable degree. 
 
 Fourthly, the wood was useful in catching what is 
 called ' langrage,' or pieces of shot and shell, and pre- 
 venting their entering the ship. 
 
 For these reasons the Committee recommended the 
 retention of the wood backing to the armour, and it has 
 ever since formed an essential feature of naval defence. 
 
 The best sizes of armour plates, the process of bending 
 them and adapting them to the form of the ship, and the 
 modes of fastening them to the hull, and securing them 
 in their places, also received the consideration of the 
 Committee, and were fully reported on. 
 
 The Committee wished to carry their experimental 
 investigations so far as to put the ' Warrior ' herself under 
 the fire of heavy guns. This was thought too expensive 
 and troublesome a proceeding, but the case was met by 
 the construction of a target, about 20 feet long and 10 
 feet high, which was made exactly a counterpart of a 
 portion of the ship's side. This target was erected at 
 Shoeburyness in 1861, and was fired at with the old 
 68-pounder gun, and with the Armstrong rifled 110 and 
 120-pounders, the maximum charge of powder being 
 20 Ibs. It received altogether, from these guns, twenty- 
 nine rounds, the combined weight of the shot being 
 3,229 Ibs. 
 
 It was, of course, a good deal damaged at the front, 
 but it was not penetrated, and would still have afforded 
 efficient protection. This result, considering how small 
 an area the fire was concentrated upon, was very favour- 
 able, and showed that the ship's armour was strong 
 enough to resist guns of the size then used. 
 
 The Committee also experimented on many other
 
 SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS. 359 
 
 targets of different kinds, made to represent ships' sides 
 defended by different iron constructions. One of these 
 was designed specially by Mr. Fairbairn, for the purpose 
 of testing certain views held by him. 
 
 The experiments were carried on for the most part at 
 Shoeburyness, where it was possible to get a large area 
 of free ground, and where the artillery depots enabled the 
 Committee to obtain the most powerful guns and the most 
 skilled gunners. The trials involved a great deal of risk, 
 but by admirable precautionary arrangements no accident 
 ever occurred. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, in addition to a frequent attendance at 
 the meetings and experiments of the Committee, under- 
 took, at their request, some special investigations for them, 
 reports of which were published in their proceedings. 
 These were : 
 
 In 1861 : 
 
 On the Mechanical Properties of Specimens of the Iron 
 and Steel Plates subjected to Experiments with Ordnance, their 
 Strength, Ductility, Resistance to Punching Force, &c. 
 
 In 1862: 
 
 On the Resistance of different kinds of Shot to a Force tend- 
 ing to crush them, and the forms they assume under Pressure. 
 Experiments on Punching. 
 
 In 1863 : 
 
 On the Mechanical Properties of Iron Plates. 
 
 On the Manufacture of Armour Plates. 
 
 Experiments to test the value of annealing Armour Plates. 
 
 On the Tenacity of Cast-iron Shot. 
 
 In 1864 : 
 
 On the Mechanical Properties of Iron Plates. 
 On the Manufacture of Armour Plates. 
 General Summary of Results.
 
 360 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FALRBAIRN. CHAP. xx. 
 
 In these investigations he was ably assisted by Mr. 
 Unwin, whose sendees in the matter were specially 
 acknowledged by the Committee. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn communicated information on this sub- 
 ject in two papers read before the British Association in 
 
 1861 and 1862 ; at a lecture at the Eoyal Institution in 
 
 1862 ; and in a memoir to the Institution of Naval 
 Architects in 1869. 
 
 In December 1867, the War Office called the Iron 
 Armour Committee together again, with the addition of 
 some other members, for the purpose of investigating the 
 construction and properties of certain large iron shields 
 for land defences which had been sent out to the forts at 
 Gibraltar and Malta. 
 
 As in the case of the ' Warrior,' previously mentioned, 
 the Government had first made the shields, and afterwards 
 begun to consider how they ought to be constructed. 
 To enlighten themselves on this point, they had one of 
 the shields fired at, and it proved so weak that, in alarm, 
 they appealed to the Committee, who, after due examina- 
 tion, reported unfavourably of the strength and construc- 
 tion of the shield. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn attended some of the meetings, but his 
 great age and infirm health prevented his taking a very 
 active part in their proceedings.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS 
 
 AGE 61-80 
 185O 1869
 
 VISIT TO NORTHERN EUROPE INTERVIEW "WITH THE EMPEROB 
 OF RUSSIA MEDAL FROM THE KINO OF SWEDEN INVENTORS, LETTER 
 FROM MR. COBDEN EXHIBITION OF 1851 BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT 
 HULL COOLING AIR IN- HOT CLIMATES THE INSTITUTION OF ME- 
 CHANICAL ENGINEERS BUSINESS IN FRANCE MR. BABBAGE FRENCH 
 EXHIBITION OF 1855 BACKWARDNESS OF ENGLISH DESIGN LORD 
 ASHBURTON THE LEGION OF HONOUR JAMES WATT HENRY CORT 
 MANCHESTER ART TREASURES EXHIBITION JOURNEY TO ITALY THE 
 ATLANTIC CABLE MANCHESTER LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SO- 
 CIETY GOLD MEDAL FROM THE ROYAL SOCIETY PRESIDENT OF THE 
 BRITISH ASSOCIATION AT MANCHESTER IN 1861 OFFER OF KNIGHT- 
 HOOD RICHARD ROBERTS HONORARY DEGREES BRITISH ASSOCIATION 
 AT CAMBRIDGE INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION OF 1862 BARONETCY.
 
 
 363 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 IN THIS and the following chapter it is intended to collect 
 brief notices of a great variety of matters in which Mr. 
 Fairbairn was engaged during the later years of his life, 
 all of more or less importance, but not of sufficient magni- 
 tude to be recorded under special heads. 
 
 These notices will serve to show the extraordinary 
 activity, both mental and bodily, that he possessed at a 
 period of life when most men feel inclined to relax their 
 energies and rest from their labours. He had no motive 
 for continuing to work but love of the work itself, for he 
 had already acquired both wealth and fame, and if he 
 had ambition, it was only to show that his heart was in 
 his profession, and to render himself useful to mechanical 
 science. 
 
 Visit to Northern Europe. About the middle of 
 1850 Mr. Fairbairn, accompanied by his son Peter, visited 
 Northern Europe. He had occasion to go to Sweden, to 
 examine some mills and machinery the firm were erect- 
 ing there, and he extended his tour to Russia, with the 
 object of negotiating for the construction of some large 
 bridges over the Neva and other rivers. 
 
 The following extracts from some of his letters to his 
 family will give sufficient information as to the events of 
 his journey and the impression they made upon him. 
 
 Stockholm, June 17, 1850. 
 I thought to have written you from Grefle, but I was uncer-
 
 364 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 tain as to the time we should have a vessel for Russia, and I 
 purposely deferred it until our return to this city. We have 
 travelled through nearly the whole of Sweden. Two days after 
 our arrival at Copenhagen we had to proceed to Grottenburg, 
 and then embark in a steamer which traverses the line of the 
 great lakes, and after a voyage of nearly 400 miles we again 
 entered the Baltic at a town called Soderkoping, esteemed as a 
 famous watering-place by the citizens of Stockholm. 
 
 The tour through the interior has been so exceedingly inte- 
 resting, that I must endeavour to describe it. It commenced at 
 Grottenburg by ascending the river Gotta, which is navigable 
 for nearly 100 miles from the sea, where it terminates by a 
 series of picturesque falls, over which the water pours and 
 thunders from a height of 120 feet. These falls are surmounted 
 by a series of twelve locks, which land the vessel on the surface 
 of the great lake Wenner. Here we commence a new voyage to 
 Carlstad, at the extreme end of the lake, 100 miles distant. 
 This lake the largest in Sweden is 100 miles long and 50 
 miles wide, and, like most of the Swedish lakes, is covered with 
 a number of small islands, wooded down to the water's edge. 
 
 At Carlstad we remained all night, and next morning 
 crossed the lake, where we entered the canal which unites the 
 great lake with another of half the size. This brought us to 
 Motala, where we found a large engineering establishment in a 
 flourishing condition. Some distance below Motala we entered 
 the lake Roxen, and from thence through another series of lakes 
 reached Soderkoping, where we entered the Baltic, on the oppo- 
 site side of the kingdom. 
 
 From Soderkoping a sea voyage amidst innumerable islands, 
 with which the coast is studded, carried us to the entrance of 
 the Malar lake, at a place called Sodertelge. From this little 
 town, a short voyage of only thirty miles opened out some 
 of the finest views in Sweden. The lake contains upwards of 
 130 islands beautifully covered with oak, birch, and pine, and 
 the romantic rocks and sylvan dells which mark the surface of 
 those enchanting spots are scarcely to be equalled in any other 
 country, Norway alone excepted. 
 
 On reaching Stockholm, I found that the objects of my
 
 VISIT TO SWEDEN. 365 
 
 journey and other particulars had been announced before my 
 arrival. I was, therefore, at no loss for introductions ; but, un- 
 fortunately for our visit as a matter of business, there is nothing 
 to be done, as the King and the whole of the administration are 
 incessantly occupied with arrangements for the grand ceremony 
 of the marriage of the Prince Royal to the Princess of the 
 Netherlands, whom I dined with at Potsdam, and who landed 
 here yesterday under the firing of cannon and the greatest 
 rejoicings. I cannot, therefore, do anything at present with 
 the authorities, excepting only with some members of the 
 university and some of the leading men connected with the 
 public works. To them I have communicated all the informa- 
 tion required, and we must wait the result. 
 
 After a couple of days' sojourn in Stockholm we proceeded 
 by sea to Gefle, about 150 miles north of Stockholm. At this 
 town we are building the large factory ; and after having given 
 the necessary instructions and made the requisite arrangements 
 for the buildings, I was presented with WQl. for my trouble, 
 and, having been feasted for two days, we hired carriages and 
 travelled overland and through almost interminable forests to 
 Upsala, the ancient capital of Sweden. Here I was received 
 by the students as if I had been the friend of Linnaeus or Ber- 
 zelius. Our arrival, they told me, had been announced in the 
 papers, and they welcomed me to Sweden as if I had been 
 a great man. I was introduced to the Governor and the 
 Archbishop of Sweden, who is well known in England from his 
 writings. 
 
 Before reaching Upsala we crossed the river Elfertilge, and 
 visited the falls, which are about the same height as those of 
 Trollhatta. They are, however, still more magnificent from the 
 greater quantity of water which plunges all at once over a 
 precipice of rock, and dashes forward at an astounding rate till 
 it is lost in the deep water below. From the falls to Upsala 
 the road passes through interminable forests of pine, with here 
 and there a cultivated patch to mark an occasional habitation. 
 From Upsala to Stockholm the journey is made by water on a 
 lake which presents the same picturesque features as described 
 in the former route.
 
 366 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxr. 
 
 I am this moment called off to dine with a party made up 
 for us, and must bring this letter to a close. We sail to-morrow 
 at six in the morning, and hope to reach Abo, in Friedland, on 
 Wednesday night, and Petersburgh on Saturday or Sunday. 
 
 St. Petersburgh, July 22, 1850. 
 
 I have this moment returned from Peterhoff, where we have 
 had a kind and most gracious reception from the Emperor, 
 the Empress, and the Grand Duke Alexander. The Emperor 
 met me like an old schoolfellow, shook me cordially by the 
 hand, and listened with great interest to everything I had to 
 say about the bridges. The audience lasted nearly an hour, 
 and I found myself in familiar conversation not only with a 
 sovereign of the highest rank in Europe, but with a gentleman 
 of sound judgment and great good sense. His Majesty at once 
 placed me perfectly at ease, and received with attention all the 
 information I was able to communicate. At parting he again 
 took me by the hand, thanked me for the presentation of the 
 book, and, without pledging himself to any ulterior measures, 
 said he hoped I would occupy myself on my return to England 
 with plans and drawings for a bridge across the Neva. 
 
 On board the ' Nicholas,' July 25. 
 
 Now that I have finished the object of my journey to Eussia, 
 I cannot but feel highly gratified with my reception in every 
 quarter; My name had reached Petersburgh before me ; and I 
 may not probably be accused of too much vanity if I state that 
 I was received with marked attention, and particularly by the 
 members of my own profession. Generals . . . and . . . all of 
 them at the head of the civil as well as military engineering, 
 were most kind and attentive ; and during the whole of my pro- 
 fessional career I never spent a month more gratifying to my 
 feelings or more nattering to my self-esteem. I have often put 
 the question to myself, Do I merit all this distinction ? I 
 always get alarmed on this subject, as I have more than once 
 seen the ill effects of undue presumption. I hope and pray 
 that a just sense of the value of what I have done, and what I 
 might have done had I been more industrious and persevering, 
 will keep me equally safe in the height of prosperity, as it
 
 SWEDISH DECORATION. 307 
 
 would nerve me with resolution in the depths of adversity. I 
 write thus my feelings and sentiments freely, in order that you 
 [this was to his sons] may benefit from them. I have had some 
 experience in the world, and I think it is safer in an estimate 
 of one's own abilities to be within than beyond the bounds of 
 moderation. 
 
 I believe we may calculate upon some good orders for cranes 
 and other work at Petersburgh and Cronstadt. At the latter 
 place a great deal has to be done. Large engineering works, 
 double the extent of those at Woolwich, are in progress of 
 erection. I spent the whole of yesterday with the different 
 officers in command, and, as at Petersburgh, was most kindly 
 received. 
 
 Last night we sailed for Lubeck ; and I am now completing 
 the letter ready for the post when we reach Hamburg. 
 
 As a result of Mr. Fairbaira's visit to Sweden, he 
 was honoured with a distinction by King Oscar, as the 
 following letter will explain : 
 
 Stockholm, le 19 Juillet, 1850. 
 
 Monsieur, Le Eoi ayant daigne decerner a M. William 
 Fairbairn une medaille en or a 1'effigie de sa Majeste, en 
 temoignage de la haute satisfaction avec laquelle sa Majeste a 
 re9u 1'ouvrage scientifique que cet ingenieur distingue lui a 
 ofFert, j'ai repu 1'ordre de vous transmettre ci-pres, Monsieur, 
 cette medaille, et de reclamer vos soins obligeans pour la faire 
 parvenir a M. Fairbairn, dont 1'adresse est inconnue ici. 
 
 Je profite de cette occasion, &c. &c. 
 
 L. MANDERSTROM. 
 
 Monsieur GORDON, Charg6 d' Affaires de S.M. Britannique. 
 
 Inventors. It was the lot of Mr. Fairbairn, as it is 
 that of all eminent engineers, to be pestered by inventors, 
 often with the most absurd and trumpery schemes. The 
 following letter, introducing one of these worthies, is 
 worth preserving:
 
 368 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 London, Feb. 3, 1851. 
 
 Dear Sir, You have, I dare say, frequently to endure the 
 misery of listening to an enthusiast who dreams that he has 
 discovered the perpetual motion. Perhaps I am going to add 
 one more to this class of tormentors. 
 
 I got a letter from a person at Ilchester some time ago, 
 saying that a friend of his, a mechanic, who had previously in- 
 vented a glove-cutting machine, had discovered a new engine 
 which was likely to supersede steam ; and, as he was a Free 
 Trader, he had pitched upon me as the only person to whom he 
 would impart his secret. I wrote, in reply to this compli- 
 mentary epistle, to say that I had no technical knowledge in 
 such matters, but offered to name a trustworthy engineer ; and 
 in reply to the enclosed letter I have taken the liberty of 
 referring the writer to yourself. Should the genius in question 
 present himself to you, you will, I am sure, be kind enough to 
 give him a courteous hearing. I have no doubt it will turn 
 out a waste of time for him and yourself. 
 
 Do not take the trouble to reply, but believe me, 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 KI:H. COBDEN. 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 Exhibition of 1851. Mr. Fairbairn acted as a juror 
 in the machinery department of the Great Exhibition of 
 1851. 
 
 At the close of the work he received the following 
 
 O 
 
 letter from the Eev. Professor Moseley, who wrote the 
 official Eeports on the department to which he was 
 attached : 
 
 Wandsworth. Feb. 11, 1S52. 
 
 My dear Sir, The reports are about, I believe, to be struck 
 off at length. It has been a tedious affair ; but in completing 
 it, and thus bringing to a close my own labours in connection 
 with Jury V., I am reminded of its special obligations, and of 
 my own personally to some of its members, and among others 
 to yourself.
 
 AIR-COOLING APPARATUS. 369 
 
 We are indebted to you in a great measure, I believe, for 
 the report on which we acted as to Sections E, F, Gr, than 
 which in the compilation of my own report I found none more 
 full, complete, and satisfactory. Your guidance and judgment 
 in matters of which you have so extensive an experience was of 
 the utmost value to the jury ; and considering how many and 
 important are your other occupations, it has great obligations 
 to you for the time and labour you devoted to the work it had 
 undertaken. 
 
 I beg of you also to accept my own thanks for the support 
 and assistance I, as chairman, always received from you, and to 
 subscribe myself 
 
 Yours, my dear Sir, truly, 
 
 HENRY MOSELEY. 
 
 British Association at Hull. In 1853 Mr. Fairbairn 
 was appointed President of the Mechanical Section of the 
 British Association, at their meeting at Hull, and he deli- 
 vered, on the opening of the business, an address ' On the 
 Progress of Mechanical Science.' He alluded to the im- 
 provements that had taken place, and to the progress 
 going on in the same direction, referring particularly to 
 the great advance in naval architecture and steam naviga- 
 tion, as exemplified in the ' Duke of Wellington * and the 
 ' Great Eastern ' steam-ships ; the extension of the scale of 
 manufacturing industry by the erection of gigantic manu- 
 factories, and other improvements in various departments 
 of the mechanical art. 
 
 Cooling Air in Tropical Climates. In 1853 and 1854, 
 Mr. Fairbairn formed one of a committee of the British 
 Association appointed to consider a matter of much sani- 
 tary importance to the European residents in India. The 
 purport of it may be shown by the following copy of a 
 memorial, which was drawn up by another member of 
 the committee, the late Professor Macquorn Eankine : 
 
 B B
 
 370 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CIIAP. xxi. 
 
 To the Honourable the Board of Directors of the East 
 India Company. 
 
 The Memorial of the British Association for the Advance- 
 ment of Science, showeth : 
 
 That your memorialists are deeply impressed by the well- 
 known pernicious effects upon the health of Europeans pro- 
 duced by the high temperature of the air in tropical climates. 
 
 That they are convinced that if the means existed in 
 tropical climates of furnishing for the ventilation of buildings 
 especially hospitals for the sick large supplies of cool air, 
 much disease and mortality would be prevented, and the com- 
 fort and health, and consequent vigour and efficiency in 
 thought and action, of Europeans in such climates greatly 
 promoted. 
 
 That the means of cooling air at present employed depend 
 upon the evaporation of water, and are not only uncertain and 
 imperfect in their action, but, even while depriving the air of 
 its heat, tend to make it pernicious in another way, by loading- 
 it with moisture. 
 
 That your memorialists have had submitted to them the 
 descriptions of proposed machines whereby the property which 
 elastic substances possess of causing heat to disappear when 
 they expand, may be made available for the cooling of air in 
 tropical climates. 
 
 That the proposed method of cooling air is founded on 
 correct scientific principles, and that there appears to be no 
 reason to doubt its practical efficiency. 
 
 That it could be applied to large volumes of air without 
 affecting the dryness or purity, and at a moderate expense. 
 
 Your memorialists, therefore, beg leave respectfully to 
 submit for the consideration of your Honourable Board the 
 description of the proposed method of cooling air, and to 
 suggest the expediency of a trial of its efficiency being made in 
 some large building containing many inmates, such as a 
 hospital. 
 
 In respect whereof this memorial is subscribed, and the seal 
 of the British Association for the Advancement of Science 
 appended hereto.
 
 BUSINESS IN FRANCE. 371 
 
 The design of the machine in question was suggested 
 by Professor Piazzi Smith (now Astronomer Eoyal for 
 Scotland), and a grant was made by the Association for 
 experiments ; but the sum was too small for any efficient 
 trial, and for want of further encouragement the proposal 
 fell to the ground ; but the idea is a good and laudable 
 one, and the fact of its having been thought practicable 
 by such eminent men, deserves to be put on record. 
 
 The Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In 1854 
 Mr. Fairbairn was elected President of the Institution of 
 Mechanical Engineers. This society was founded in 
 1847, for the study and encouragement of the mechanical 
 branch of engineering, particular attention being devoted 
 to the details of that department of the profession. The 
 head-quarters of the society were fixed in Birmingham, 
 for the sake of being near the more important iron 
 manufacturing districts, and many eminent mechanical 
 engineers gave it their active support. Mr. Fairbairn 
 joined it in October 1847. He took a warm interest in 
 the proceedings of the society, and communicated many 
 papers to the Transactions. He retained the presidency 
 during the years 1854 and 1855. 
 
 Business in France. During the year 1854 Mr. Fair- 
 bairn went, with his son Adam, to Paris, where he 
 remained a few days. During this time he was intro- 
 duced to the Academy of Sciences, and visited many 
 objects of scientific and engineering interest. He was 
 also honoured, through the mediation of Lord Cowley, by 
 an interview with the Emperor Louis Napoleon, who re- 
 ceived him in a flattering manner, and on taking leave of 
 him presented him with a handsome gold snuff-box set 
 with diamonds. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 As a sequel to this he was chosen one of the jurors 
 sent from this country to the Paris Exhibition of 1855, 
 and was nominated by the French Imperial Commission 
 as chairman of one of the mechanical sections. 1 
 
 After the conclusion of the Exhibition, he made an 
 elaborate report to the Eight Hon. Lord Stanley of 
 Alderley, President of the Board of Trade, ' On the Ma- 
 chinery of the Paris Universal Exhibition, 1855.' It was 
 afterwards published in his ' Useful Information for Engi- 
 neers,' Third Series, 1866, and it contains some remarks 
 on the comparative merits of British and Continental 
 manufactures which are of permanent interest. Mr. Fair- 
 bairn says : 
 
 I am of opinion that the locomotive engines of Great Britain 
 are superior to most others ; and although they may not have 
 the same amount of polish, there is nevertheless a simplicity of 
 form and a soundness of workmanship which give character and 
 stability to these important constructions. 
 
 1 The following letter from an eminent friend of Mr. Fairbairn's, now 
 deceased, who did not serve as a juror, is highly characteristic of the man : 
 
 Dorset Place, July 9, 1855. 
 
 My dear Sir, On my return home after a few days' absence, I found 
 your very kind letter, enclosing an opinion which is the more valuable 
 because it is founded on the most extensive personal experience of one who 
 has himself contributed so large a share to the present advanced state of 
 constructive engineering. It is gratifying to me to acknowledge the strong 
 support I have ever received from practical engineers, and it is curious that 
 the warmest supporter of the analytical engine, Lord Eosse, has also 
 himself a claim to a high place in that class. I wish, when you are in 
 Paris, you would explain on fit occasions why I was not on the list of jurors 
 of the French Exhibition. I declined the recommendation which came to 
 me through the English Government, and it was on that ground alone that I 
 declined it. You who know with what injustice I have been treated will 
 not be surprised at my decision. 
 
 I am, my dear Sir, 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 C, BABBAGE. 
 
 To WM. FAIRBAIBX, Esq., Manchester.
 
 PARIS EXHIBITION. ,-',73 
 
 The marine engines will not bear a comparison with those 
 that were exhibited at the Great Exhibition of 1851. 
 
 The French ouwiers are active, intelligent, and well 
 employed ; the Germans swift, and Belgians patient and 
 enduring ; and although foreigners may take a longer time in 
 executing works than English workmen, they are nevertheless 
 expert, and, in many cases, better educated, and therefore 
 better able to cope with the difficulties and surmount the 
 obstacles in the way of a successful progress. 
 
 I do not mean to intimate that the mass of the workmen 
 abroad are better informed in the practice of their respective 
 callings than in England ; but I firmly believe, from what I 
 have seen, that the French and Germans are in advance of us 
 in theoretical knowledge of the principles of the higher branches 
 of industrial art ; and I think this arises from the greater faci- 
 lities afforded by the institutions of those countries for instruc- 
 tion in chemical and mechanical science. 
 
 When reporting on the manufacture of iron, I endeavoured 
 to show that, notwithstanding the natural resources placed at 
 our disposal, the quality of our cast-iron is not to be depended 
 on ; that under the powerful stimulus of self-aggrandisement we 
 have perseveringly advanced the quantity, whilst other nations, 
 less favoured and less bountifully supplied, have been studying 
 with much more care than ourselves the numerous uses to 
 which the material may be applied, and are in many cases in 
 advance of us in quality. 
 
 In regard to machinery for the manufacture of textile 
 fabrics, Great Britain has assuredly every reason to be proud of 
 the position she holds. 
 
 In regard to steam-engines, iron bridges, and machinery, 
 our superiority is not so strongly marked ; and although we 
 still take the lead, we are not so much in advance of others, as 
 the engines exhibited at Paris fully proved. In marine con- 
 struction we are still superior to all other nations, but abroad 
 rapid advances are making in that direction also. 
 
 In the construction of mill-work this country stands un- 
 rivalled ; our millwrights stand alone for neatness of design and 
 judicious proportion of parts. In tools for workshops we are 
 also unequalled.
 
 374 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 With the exception of reaping machines, in which America 
 excels, our agricultural implements, including those for working 
 plastic materials, are superior to those of most countries ; and 
 this superiority appears to be due to the variable nature of our 
 climate, which necessitates an improved system of culture and 
 the use of machines calculated to save time and to ensure 
 success in the labour of the farm. 
 
 But although Mr. Fairbairn thus gave, on the whole, 
 the superiority to Great Britain in machinery, he was 
 not blind to the deficiency of our countrymen in regard 
 to such portions of manufacture as were dependent 
 on the fine arts. In a letter to Lord Overstone, written 
 January 16, 1856, he expressed the idea, that had oc- 
 curred to many careful observers, of the superiority of 
 continental over English designs. He said, alluding to 
 a proposition that had been made : 
 
 I am glad to find you approve of the proposal of Lord Ash- 
 burton to move for a committee. 
 
 I quite agree with you that there is no reason for alarm ; 
 but it is nevertheless good policy, on the part of a nation as well 
 as a general, never to despise the strength of an enemy. 
 
 As an observer and a juror at the Paris Exhibition, I had 
 opportunities of noticing in what we appeared to excel and in 
 what we were inferior to our competitors ; and it is rather 
 mortifying to find that in matters of taste and design in our 
 own manufactures we are indebted to the intellect of others. 
 In our porcelain, silversmiths', calico printing, and some other 
 trades, the [best] results are from foreign and not from native 
 talent; and the same defects are observable in architecture, 
 which, by the bye, is now improving, as in some other of the 
 useful and industrial arts. Altogether I think the enquiry will 
 do good, and I am glad to find we shall have the benefit of your 
 lordship's valuable assistance. 
 
 Shortly after this Mr. Fairbairn had some correspon- 
 dence on the subject with Lord Ashburton himself; and
 
 LORD ASHBUHTON'S LETTER. 375 
 
 received from his lordship the following letter, the opinions 
 in which are of public and enduring importance : 
 
 Grange, Jan. 27, 1856. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, Were it not for prolonged illness, 
 I should have proposed to have met you at Manchester on your 
 return from abroad, so anxious am I to state in per .-on to those 
 who might possibly co-operate in the proposed enquiry, the 
 spirit in which it may be worked, and the precise nature of the 
 evil which it is calculated to remedy. We cannot but be proud 
 as Englishmen of the lead we have taken in scientific discovery, 
 as well as in the ingenious applications of those discoveries to 
 the most extensive development of industry that has ever 
 existed. 
 
 This has been due to the instinctive genius of great minds, 
 who have made their own way upward in spite of all their dis- 
 advantages. They had no Polytechnic School, no systematic 
 instruction to level half the ascent for them. They had to win 
 the whole way for themselves. 
 
 Perhaps they were the greater for this ; but the mass was 
 left behind in hopeless ignorance ; and it is to the condition of 
 that mass that I wish to draw general attention. 
 
 England possesses special advantages, such as are not 
 enjoyed, such as will never possibly be compassed by any other 
 nation. 
 
 We have the most accessible coal and iron, the cheapest 
 system of transit ; we have operatives superior in physical 
 strength, in constancy of application to labour, in the con- 
 scientious execution of their work ; but our greatest superiority 
 consists in that habit of self-reliance and independent effort 
 which will now right this mischief of which I have to complain, 
 as it has uniformly righted other similar mischiefs, as soon as 
 the public mind has been convinced of their existence. 
 
 The mischief consists, as I have said before, in the igno- 
 rance of the masses, in which masses I include our peers, 
 gentry, tradesmen and mechanics, as well as our manufacturers 
 and operatives. As for our peers and gentry and tradesmen, 
 no evidence is wanting. They plead guilty; I trust that I 
 may obtain such evidence with regard to the manufacturing
 
 376 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxr. 
 
 classes as will show not only the existence among them of this 
 general ignorance, but evidence also of the evils consequent 
 upon it. 
 
 If you ask me my present private opinion of the cause of 
 this ignorance, I feel disposed to impute it to the monastic 
 teaching of our universities, which impart to all the special 
 instruction required for the Church. It is from the universities 
 that have been drawn the masters of our principal middle and 
 commercial schools, and their fashion has been followed else- 
 where. As for teaching the workman before you have en- 
 lightened his employer, as for teaching the tradesman before 
 you have enlightened the customer, we may set up a thousand 
 benevolent schools and institutes, we shall only lose our labour. 
 The course of nature is that the demand should precede the 
 supply, and we may as well seek to persuade water uphill as 
 attempt to reverse this course. 
 
 But I am now launching into the field of speculation. Such 
 opinions may or may not result from the enquiry. 
 
 The enquiry is into the ignorance of the masses with regard 
 to science, and the evils resulting therefrom. 
 
 2ndly. The conditions of our present system of education, 
 which permit the continuance of such ignorance. 
 
 Srdly. The remedies, and those remedies will be designated 
 by better heads than mine. 
 
 I have written you this that you may show it and obtain 
 opinions, and, if possible, secure co-operation. 
 
 I believe this move to be capable of working great good ; 
 but for that good I look not to the Government, but to the 
 combined efforts of all classes of the nation. 
 I remain, dear Sir, 
 
 Yours truly, 
 
 ASHBURTON. 
 
 In the same year Mr. Fairbairn was applied to by the 
 Emperor of the French to give advice in regard to some 
 bridges proposed to be erected in France, one an ornamen- 
 tal one in the Bois de Boulogne, and others at Brest and 
 elsewhere. He had an audience of his Majesty, and sub-
 
 JAMES WATT. 377 
 
 mitted some suggestions an* 1 drawings, but it does not 
 appear that any of his proposals were carried into 
 execution. 
 
 As an acknowledgment of the services he had ren- 
 dered in this and other matters concerning France, he 
 was, on November 13, 1855, awarded by the decree of 
 the Emperor, the distinction of the Legion of Honour. 
 
 Watt. The inhabitants of Manchester have, with 
 much public spirit, ornamented their city with statues of 
 many eminent men. The esplanade in front of the In- 
 firmary contains statues of Wellington, Peel, and Dalton, 
 the discoverer of the atomic theory. To these it was 
 determined to add a statue of the great engineer, Watt, to 
 whom the town was so much indebted for its mechanical 
 advantages. 
 
 The statue, an enlarged copy in bronze of Chantrey's 
 marble one in Westminster Abbey, was inaugurated on 
 June 26, 1857, Mr. Fairbairu, as the most eminent me- 
 chanic in the city, being deputed to take the lead in the 
 ceremony. He said, addressing the Mayor and Corpora- 
 tion : 
 
 It is my pleasing duty, as President of the Literary and 
 Philosophical Society and Chairman of the Watt Memorial 
 Committee, to transfer from our hands to your superior keeping 
 and to that of your successors this statue and memorial of the 
 inventor of the steam-engine, James Watt. 
 
 The character of the statue and its position render it an 
 appropriate and fitting companion to that of our distinguished 
 townsman, the late Dr. Dalton. It will show, though late, that 
 Manchester has not been ungrateful, but remembers and deeply 
 appreciates the services of Watt to her and all mankind ; and 
 this day I trust will show that among her other art treasures 
 [alluding to the * Exhibition of Art Treasures ' then open in 
 Manchester] she numbers this as a most precious memorial of a 
 great and good man.
 
 37 S LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FA1RBA1E.N. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 It would be superfluous for me to attempt to eulogise the 
 inventions and discoveries of Watt ; the world knows and feels 
 them, and is now living by them. The steam-engine is the 
 pioneer and promoter of civilisation. By its agency the weak 
 become strong, and time and distance become short. It gives 
 employment to thousands, and transports with the same celerity, 
 on land as on water, the products of industry of every clime to 
 any part of the globe. 
 
 The smallest honour we can do to the great benefactors of 
 mankind is occasionally to bring them to our recollection ; and 
 1 trust that this statue will stimulate in the minds of future 
 generations a spirit of emulation to excel, and will cherish a 
 desire in every right-minded person to treasure up in his 
 memory the honour and obligations ever due to the virtues of 
 our great men. 
 
 This statue is the property of the mayor, aldermen, and 
 citizens of Manchester. 
 
 In 1857 Mr. Fairbairn contributed a note on the 
 merits of James Watt, to a memoir of him by Arago, 
 published in a translation of Arago's ' Biographies of Dis- 
 tinguished Scientific Men.' He conceived that sufficient 
 justice had not been done to Watt by the French author, 
 and he endeavoured to correct the error. 
 
 Henry Cort About the same time, Mr. Fairbairn 
 interested himself warmly in the case of the family of 
 an inventor, Henry Cort, who had contributed largely 
 to the improvement of the iron manufacture, but who 
 had been ruined in the carrying out of his inventions 
 (see Chap. II., pages 31, 32). In the article on Iron, 
 written in 1856 for the Encyclopaedia Britaunica, Mr. 
 Fairbairn had said : 
 
 It would be a difficult task to enumerate all the services 
 rendered by Mr. Cort to the industry of this country, or suffi- 
 ciently to express our sympathy with the descendants of a man
 
 HENRY CORT. 379 
 
 to whose mechanical inventions we owe so much of our national 
 greatness. 
 
 As a sequel to this Mr. Fairbairn, in February 1857, 
 made a powerful appeal directly and personally to Lord 
 Palmerston on behalf of certain descendants of Henry 
 Cort who were in distress. Lord Derby had kindly re- 
 lieved them temporarily from the royal bounty fund, and 
 had held out a hope that a pension should be granted ; 
 but for two years nothing was done. 
 
 In July 1859 Mr. Fairbairn brought the case to public 
 notice by a letter to the Times, and got up a memorial 
 to the Government, which was signed by 130 iron manu- 
 facturers, and was presented to Lord Palmerston by a 
 deputation including many men of the first eminence in 
 the mechanical world. These measures resulted in a 
 grant of 100/. per annum to the only surviving son, and 
 of 50/. each to the three surviving daughters. 
 
 In addition to this, Mr. Fairbairn exerted himself to 
 get up a private subscription among persons interested in 
 the iron manufacture ; but this was not taken up by the 
 iron masters with a liberality at all corresponding to his 
 zeal or their own means ; and the total sum raised for the 
 family was only a little over 500/., of which 100/. was 
 contributed by Mr. Fairbairn himself. 
 
 Manchester Art Treasures Exhibition. In 1857 the 
 ' Art Treasures Exhibition ' was held in Manchester. It 
 was got up with great expense and trouble, and brought 
 much credit to the town. Mr. Fairbairn aided the com- 
 mittee in regard to the arrangements of the building 
 (which was very large, chiefly composed of iron, and 
 erected for the express purpose), but otherwise did not 
 take a prominent part in the management. His son 
 Thomas was the chairman of the Committee of the exhi- 
 bition, and its principal promoter.
 
 380 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 Journey to Italy. In the latter part of 1857, Mr. 
 Fairbairn suffered from a slight rheumatic attack, and as 
 it lasted some months he determined to endeavour to cure 
 it by a visit to the warmer climate of the south of Europe. 
 He accordingly left England with his son George on 
 December 11, 1857, and went through Paris to Marseilles. 
 From thence they took the steamer to Nice, and travelled 
 by land along the beautiful Cornice Eoad to Genoa. The 
 journey was then extended to the most important cities of 
 Italy, including Naples, Eome, Florence, Bologna, Milan, 
 and Turin. The whole journey occupied two months and 
 eight days, during which he derived, as he states, 4 un- 
 mixed pleasure and gratification.' 
 
 His powers of observation were in active exercise the 
 whole time, for he wrote, for the benefit of his family, a 
 diary of the whole journey, in which he gave animated 
 descriptions of the novel scenes he passed through, inter- 
 spersed with many philosophical reflections and remarks 
 on the habits and customs of the people. It is unnecessary 
 to reproduce any portions of this diary, for there were no 
 incidents in his journey much differing from those ordi- 
 narily met with ; and descriptions of the routes, the places, 
 and the objects of interest are now common enough in all 
 sorts of forms. 
 
 But there was one element of the journey which 
 especially interested him, namely, the change of climate ; 
 and as he conceived the general information on this topic 
 was imperfect, he wrote, soon after his return, a paper 
 4 On the Comparative Temperature of the Climates of 
 England and some parts of Italy.' 
 
 This he read before the Manchester Literary and Philo- 
 sophical Society on April 6, 1858, and it was published in 
 their Proceedings, vol. i. p. 45. The object was to point 
 out that although Italy had usually the credit of possess- 
 ing a warm and agreeable climate in the winter season,
 
 THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 381 
 
 tliis really only applied to those parts which lay south of 
 the Apennines. In the northern districts, including the 
 cities of Milan, Venice, Turin, Bologna, and in fact the 
 whole of Lombardy and the depression lying between the 
 Alps and the Apennines, the cold in winter was gener- 
 ally intense, sometimes almost Eussian in its character. 
 In January, when he was there, the thermometer was 
 usually below freezing, and on arriving at Milan it de- 
 scended as low as 19. On the 13th the minimum had 
 touched 12-5 Reaumur, or nearly our zero. 
 
 The Atlantic Cable.From 1859 to 1865 Mr. Fairbairn 
 interested himself actively in regard to the grand enter- 
 prise of carrying electric telegraph communication to 
 America. 
 
 The Atlantic Telegraph Company was formed in 1856, 
 and the first cable was laid in 1858, but after a few days' 
 working it became useless, partly from imperfect con- 
 struction, and partly from want of care in laying. The 
 Company, however, nothing daunted, appealed to the 
 Government to assist them in an undertaking of such 
 great public importance, and in 1859 the Board of Trade 
 appointed a commission, consisting of Captain Galton, R.E., 
 Professor Wheatstone, Mr. Fairbairn, and Mr. G. P. 
 Bidder, to join with the engineers and the secretary of 
 the Company in holding an enquiry into the ' best form 
 for the composition and outer covering of submarine 
 telegraph cables.' This joint committee sat for nearly 
 two years ; they took a great amount of evidence from 
 all those who had most experience on the subject, and 
 made many important investigations of their own. In 
 April 1861 they laid before Government a full report, 
 embodying their views and recommendations, which was 
 afterwards published, with the evidence and many valuable 
 documents, as a Parliamentary paper. In the course of
 
 382 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 the enquiry Mr. Fairbairn undertook personally a series of 
 experiments 'on the permeability of various kinds of 
 insulators,' an account of which, written by him, was 
 appended to the report. 
 
 The result of the enquiry was to lead the committee 
 to the following statement : 
 
 We are clearly of opinion that the failures of the existing 
 submarine lines have been due to causes which might have been 
 guarded against, had adequate preliminary investigation been 
 made into the question. And we are convinced that if regard 
 be had to the principles we have enunciated in devising, manu- 
 facturing, laying, and maintaining STibmarine cables, this class 
 of enterprise may prove as successful as it has hitherto been 
 disastrous. 
 
 To this able report we owe probably the establishment 
 of public confidence in the undertaking, and the prompt 
 measures that were taken to re-organise the arrangements 
 for another cable. But the Company wisely resolved that 
 they would not risk a second failure for want of advice, 
 and they accordingly appointed a ' Permanent Consulting 
 Scientific Committee,' consisting of Captain Galton, Mr. 
 Fairbairn, Professor Wheatstone, Mr. Whitworth, and 
 Professor Wm. Thomson, to whom mechanical questions 
 as to the construction and laying of the cable might be 
 referred to from time to time. Mr. Fairbairn was asked 
 to give more immediate aid by joining the Company, but 
 he declined to do so, on the ground of his advancing 
 years. 
 
 In 1863 he wrote a long report giving a strong opinion 
 on the practicability of the scheme ; on the tests for in- 
 sulation ; on the strength, the laying, &c. He also aided 
 in the negotiations with the Government on the matter, 
 and was in constant communication with various parties 
 on the subject. At the British Association meetings in
 
 
 MANCHESTER PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 383 
 
 1864 and 1865 he presented papers descriptive of the 
 investigations in which he had taken part. 
 
 In 1865 the second cable was laid by the ' Great 
 Eastern ' steamer, and during that year Mr. Fairbairn was 
 still in active correspondence on various matters connected 
 with the undertaking ; always expressing great confidence 
 as to its ultimate success. The operation failed by the 
 fracture of the cable, and some discouragement was again 
 felt for a time ; but in the following year a new cable 
 was successfully laid, and ultimately that of 1865 was 
 picked up and repaired, thus giving a duplicate communi- 
 cation which has been in almost constant work to the 
 present time. 
 
 In the third series of ' Useful Information for En- 
 gineers,' 1866, Mr. Fairbairn republished his papers on 
 this subject. 
 
 Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. Mr. 
 Fairbairn was long connected with this Institution. It 
 was founded in 1781 as a weekly club, bu^ was more 
 formally established, with the present name, in 1789. 
 The second president was the celebrated Dr. Henry, and 
 the still more eminent Dr. Dalton became secretary in 
 1800. In 1817 he was chosen president, and remained 
 so till his death in 1844. A few years afterwards the 
 same office was filled by Mr. Eaton Hodgkinson. The 
 Society has held the first rank among provincial associa- 
 tions of the kind, and its proceedings have been highly 
 esteemed. 
 
 From about 1820 Mr. Fairbairn had been a constant 
 and active member of this society, and he states, ' when 
 he was young, in the pursuit of knowledge, how delightful 
 and instructive it was to listen, on the days of meeting, to 
 the plain, straightforward style of Dalton ; the polished 
 periods of Henry, and the animated remarks of Dr.
 
 384 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 Holme and other members who used to lighten up the 
 conversation, and render the meetings attractive.' 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn was elected President of the society in 
 1855, and remained in that office till 1860, working 
 zealously to maintain its character and promote its in- 
 terests. At the opening meeting of the session of 1859-60 
 he gave a presidential address, which began as follows : 
 
 In most societies having 1 for their object the advancement of 
 science, it is the custom for the president to open the session 
 with an address. This, although not hitherto practised in this 
 society, is nevertheless a salutary custom, as it affords an oppor- 
 tunity for taking in review the discoveries and improvements of 
 the past, and of giving encouragement to the members in the 
 production of papers for the future. Under the impression that 
 such a retrospect might be useful, I venture to lay before you 
 such a statement, showing what has already been done and what, 
 in my opinion, remains to be accomplished in the present session. 
 
 The address consisted of an able review of the history 
 of the society, and of its connection with the progress of 
 different branches of science. 
 
 Royal Society Gold Medal. In I860 a further dis- 
 tinction was paid him by the Eoyal Society. The Society 
 have the power of distributing annually four medals 
 one 'Copley Medal,' from a legacy in 1709 by Sir God- 
 frey Copley, Bart., for great general eminence in science; 
 one 'Eumford Medal,' founded in 1796 by Count Eum- 
 ford, specially to reward discoveries in regard to heat and 
 light; and two ' Eoyal Medals,' established by George IV., 
 and continued by the sovereigns ever since, for any im- 
 portant recent scientific investigations. 
 
 This year Mr. Fairbairn was awarded one of the Eoyal 
 medals. In the annual address, the President said : 
 
 A Royal Medal has been awarded to Mr. William Fairbairn, 
 for his various experimental enquiries on the properties of the
 
 
 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 385 
 
 materials employed in mechanical construction, contained in 
 the 'Philosophical Transactions,' and in the publications of 
 other scientific societies. 
 
 He then enumerated several of Mr. Fairbairn's most 
 important works and papers, and concluded : 
 
 Perhaps it may be said with truth, that there is no single 
 individual living who has done so much for practical science, 
 who has made so many careful experimental enquiries on 
 subjects of primary importance to the commercial and manu- 
 facturing interests of this country, or who has so liberally 
 contributed them to the world. 
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN, 
 
 In presenting this medal to you from this chair, I will 
 venture to say that the award of the Royal medal, the medal 
 which Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to 
 place at the disposal of the President and Council, for scientific 
 services such as yours, so eminently conducive to the general 
 good, is even peculiarly appropriate. 
 
 British Association at Manchester. In 1861 the meet- 
 ing of the British Association was held at Manchester, 
 and Mr. Fair bairn, as one of the most eminent scientific 
 celebrities of the town, was appropriately chosen as 
 President. 
 
 The opening meeting was held on September 4, when 
 Lord Wrottesley, the retiring President, said : 
 
 In retiring from the office I have had the honour to hold, it 
 is a great pleasure to me to know that I am to be succeeded by 
 one who is so well worthy of your support. We may derive im- 
 portant instruction from the career of Mr. Fairbairn, whether 
 we view him as the successful engineer or as the distinguished 
 man of science. In the former capacity he is one who has by 
 perseverance, combined with talent, risen from small beginnings 
 to the summit of his profession, and he forms one of that noble 
 class of men, the Stephensons, the Brunels, the Whitworths, 
 C C
 
 386 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 the Armstrongs, which have conferred such important services 
 on their country, and some of whom, unfortunately for that 
 country, have perished, alas, too soon, exhausted by their arduous 
 toils. Mr. Fairbairn, therefore, is one of the many examples of 
 what can be done in England by such men who resolve, un- 
 daunted by the difficulties and obstructions that beset their 
 path, to struggle gallantly onward till success crown their 
 efforts. 
 
 Again, if we look at Mr. Fairbairn's claims to scientific dis- 
 tinction, they read to us an important lesson; for they show what 
 can be done by zeal and energy, and the exercise of a strong and 
 resolute will, fully determined to carry out objects in which the 
 public is deeply interested. It is extraordinary that any man 
 should have been able, during the few leisure hours that can be 
 snatched from an important and engrossing business, to accom- 
 plish for science what Mr. Fairbairn has done ; and not only has 
 he been a most successful contributor to mechanical science, but 
 his liberality has been unbounded in placing all his great mecha- 
 nical resources at the disposal of his fellow-labourers in the same 
 field. 
 
 Such a man is one whom all should delight to honour, and to 
 such a man I resign with great satisfaction the chair which I now 
 vacate. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn then took the chair, and gave his 
 inaugural address, which opened with the following 
 remarks : 
 
 A careful perusal of the history of this Association will demon- 
 strate that it was the first, and for a long time the only institu- 
 tion which brought together for a common object the learned 
 professors of our universities and the workers in practical science. 
 These periodical reunions have been of incalculable benefit in 
 giving to practice that soundness of principle and certainty of 
 progressive improvement which can only be obtained by the 
 accurate study of science and its application to the arts. On the 
 other hand, the men of actual practice have reciprocated the 
 benefits thus received from theory, in testing by actual experi- 
 ment deductions which were doubtful, and ratifying those which 
 were erroneous. Guided by an extended experience, and exer-
 
 BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 387 
 
 cising a sound and disciplined judgment, they have often cor- 
 rected theories apparently accurate, but, nevertheless, founded 
 on incomplete data, or on false assumptions inadvertently intro- 
 duced. If the British Association had effected nothing more than 
 the removal of the anomalous separation of theory and practice, 
 it would have gained imperishable renown in the benefit thus 
 conferred. 
 
 Were I to enlarge on the relation of the achievements of 
 science to the comforts and enjoyments of man, I should have to 
 refer to the present epoch as one of the most important in the 
 history of the world. At no former period did science contribute 
 so much to the uses of life and the wants of society ; and in 
 doing this, it has been only fulfilling that mission which Bacon, 
 the great father of modern science, appointed for it when he 
 wrote that ' the legitimate goal of the sciences is the endowment 
 of human life with new inventions and riches ; ' and when he 
 sought for a natural philosophy which, not spending its energy on 
 barren disquisitions, should be operative for the benefit and 
 endowment of mankind. 
 
 Looking, then, to the fact that whilst in our time all the 
 sciences have yielded this fruit, engineering science, with which 
 I have been most intimately connected, has pre-eminently ad- 
 vanced the power, the wealth, and the comforts of mankind. I 
 shall probably best discharge the duties of the office I have the 
 honour to fill, by stating as briefly as possible the more recent 
 scientific discoveries which have so influenced the relations of 
 social life. I shall therefore not dwell so much on the progress of 
 abstract science, important as that is, but shall rather endeavour 
 briefly to examine the applications of science to the useful 
 arts, and the results which have followed, and are likely to follow, 
 in the improvement of the condition of society. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn then went on to trace the applications 
 of astronomy, magnetism, chemistry, geology, botany, 
 zoology, &c., and devoted the latter part of his address to 
 a retrospect of the progress of his own science, mechanics, 
 as applied to engineering and to machinery, closing with 
 some observations on the patent laws, 
 o o 2
 
 388 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxr. 
 
 He had asked Mr. Hopkins to look over the address 
 previously to his delivering it, and Mr. Hopkins, in re- 
 turning it, said : 
 
 I think the address will do extremely well, and has the great 
 merit of individuality. Your historical sketch of engineering is 
 very good and very appropriate. It illustrates well the advan- 
 tage of having men of different pursuits and habits of thought 
 to occupy the presidential chair of the Association. Engineer- 
 ing has scarcely been touched upon before by our presidents, for 
 the obvious reason that they have not been engineers. 
 
 The meeting was very successful, and, as was appro- 
 priate to the President and the place of meeting, mecha- 
 nical science had a large share of attention, the presidency 
 of that section being taken by Mr. Fairbairn's son-in-law, 
 Mr. J. F. Bateman. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn was highly complimented by many dis- 
 tinguished friends, as the following letters will show : 
 
 Brougham, Penrith, September 6, 1861. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, I hope you will excuse the liberty 
 I take in congratulating you upon your most admirable and 
 most useful address, which I have read with the greatest satis- 
 faction, and I believe that it will most effectually serve to con- 
 vince all classes of the practical tendency of the sciences and 
 their beneficial effects in promoting the business of society. 
 Believe me to be most sincerely yours, 
 
 H. BROUGHAM. 
 
 The following was from one of the most eminent 
 scientific engineers of his day : 
 
 The Priory, Hatcham, Newbury, Berks, September 10, 1861. 
 My dear Sir, I have read, in my retreat at this place, the 
 daily proceedings of the British Association at Manchester, so 
 ably presided over by you, and so creditable to our order. I was 
 particularly struck with your able address, not only on matters 
 of physical science, but in the department of applied mechanics
 
 PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 389 
 
 in which you were, as the French say, au fait. But it is the 
 steam-engine and its labours, whether administering to our 
 necessities, comforts, or luxuries, or for the purpose of aggression 
 or defence, and the wonderful changes it has produced in our 
 social and political existence, that has contributed so much to 
 the interest of your address. It recalls to my mind an occasion 
 when old Mr. Watt and Mr. Lovell Edgeworth were sittiog 
 before dinner, when my father, not having made his appearance, 
 and I being alone with them, ventured to remark that ' it was 
 the steam-engine that carried on the war.' When asked why ? 
 I replied, ' it made things so much cheaper than making them 
 by hand,' for which answer I was commended by Mr. Edge- 
 worth. 
 
 Your observations comprised under science applied to manu- 
 factures were particularly applicable at Manchester. 
 
 GEORGE RENNIE. 
 
 In one passage of the address Mr. Fairbairn had 
 alluded to the great invention of the multitubular boiler 
 for the locomotive, without which the railway system of 
 transit, as now known, could hardly have existed. The 
 inventor, not an engineer, but the secretary of the Liver- 
 pool and Manchester Railway, said of this, in a letter to a 
 friend : 
 
 Princes Park, September 6, 1861. 
 
 Thanks to you for Mr. Fairbairn's address, and your reference 
 to page 17. It is pleasant to see recognised, now and then, my 
 claim (which has never been denied) to be the inventor of the 
 modern tubular boiler, though neither Ofeorge Stephensoh nor 
 I knew the importance of it at the time. 
 
 When you see Mr. Fairbairn, my respects to him, with my 
 thanks. Truly yours, 
 
 H. BOOTH. 
 
 During the meeting, Mr. Fairbairn received, as guests 
 in his house, many eminent scientific men from all parts 
 of the kingdom. Dr. Whewell was invited, but wrote 
 from Vevey, September 2 :
 
 390 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 Your kind letter has followed me hither. As you will see 
 from the date of this, I shall not be able to attend the meeting 
 over which you are so worthily elected to preside, and I can- 
 not help writing a line to thank you, on my own part and Lady 
 Affleck's, for your still giving me an opening to join your party 
 if it had been possible. You are veiy kind in wishing for my 
 presence, but 1 am sure that I shall be very little missed. 
 
 I am glad to hear from the Astronomer Royal that he is 
 to preside over Section A, a post which I have several times 
 filled with great interest. He tells me now that he is to give 
 an evening lecture on the eclipse which we, as well as he, wit- 
 nessed last year in Spain. He will, I know, try to convey to 
 his audience the wonderful impression which is produced by see- 
 ing the sun blotted out from the heavens and the stars coming 
 into view. It is not easy to exaggerate the striking effect of 
 this phenomenon. 
 
 Lady Affleck joins me in very kind regards to you and Mrs. 
 Fairbairn, and I am, my dear sir, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. WHEWELL. 
 
 W. FAIRBAIKN, Esq. 
 
 Another Cambridge celebrity, then at a very ad- 
 vanced age, attended the meeting, and afterwards wrote 
 on November 5, 1861 : 
 
 I ought not to write any letters. The attacks of giddiness 
 still return upon me occasionally, and sometimes bring me to 
 the ground. My Cambridge doctor, almost every time he has 
 called, has commanded me to abstain sternly from all letter- 
 writing. 
 
 I remain, dear Sir, 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 A. SEDawiCK. 
 
 Offer of Knighthood. The following gracious offer 
 from Her Majesty arose out of this meeting : 
 
 Balmoral, October 18, 1861. 
 Sir, I have much satisfaction in informing you that I have
 
 RICHARD ROBERTS. 391 
 
 received Her Majesty's command to signify to you her pleasure 
 that, if you are willing to accept the honour, the dignity of 
 Knighthood should be conferred upon you in consideration of 
 your distinguished services to engineering science, and of your 
 able presidency of the British Association. 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 Gr. GrREY. 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn returned the following reply : 
 
 Athenaeum, London, October 23, 1861. 
 
 Sir, I shall ever retain a lively sense of gratitude for Her 
 Majesty's consideration in offering to me the dignity of 
 Knighthood for the services I have rendered to science. My 
 thanks to the Queen could not be more hearty in accepting the 
 proffered honour than they are now felt by me in respectfully 
 declining it. 
 
 During a long life I have tried above all things to make myself 
 useful. For more than seventy years I have found the plain 
 names I bear sufficient for the furtherance of the great object of 
 my life, and I pray Her Majesty to permit me to retain them in 
 their simplicity to the end. Thanking you for the courteous 
 terms of your communication, 
 
 I have the honour to be, Sir, 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir GEORGE GREY, Bart,, M.P. 
 
 Richard Roberts. At the end of 1861 he interested 
 himself warmly in endeavouring to obtain a pension for 
 Mr. Kichard Eoberts, one of his fellow-townsmen and 
 brother-engineers. Mr. Eoberts was a man of great 
 mechanical ability, and was particularly noted for his 
 elegant and useful invention of the self-acting mule, and 
 for many other ingenious contrivances, he being in fact 
 1 one of the most prolific and useful inventors of his time.' 
 He had been a partner in the great and flourishing loco-
 
 392 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxr. 
 
 motive and manufacturing firm of Sharp, Eoberts & Co., 
 Manchester, but had fallen into poverty. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn applied directly to Lord Palrnerston, 
 armed with the force of his position as President of the 
 British Association, and obtained the following character- 
 istic and truthful reply : 
 
 94 Piccadilly, Dec. 3, 1861. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, I will give due consideration to 
 the case of Mr. Koberts, in connection with those of other can- 
 didates for a civil list pension. But I rather fear that it will 
 scarcely fall within the limits of the rules by which the grants 
 of civil list pensions are governed. 
 
 Moreover, the whole amount disposable is very small, and it 
 is scarcely ever possible to give to any person more than a 
 hundred pounds a year ; and one should think that if the in- 
 vention of Mr. Eoberts has been greatly advantageous to the 
 manufacturers of cotton, those who have grown rich by the use 
 of his invention might, among them, well be able to give him 
 a better annuity than the civil list could afford. 
 
 Yours sincerely, 
 
 PALMEKSTON. 
 
 He continued his aid, for in 1864 we find him still 
 agitating for a private subscription to be got up in the 
 same cause. 
 
 Honorary Degrees. Mr. Fairbairn received honorary 
 degrees from two British Universities. 
 
 In 1860 his old and distinguished friend, Lord 
 Brougham, was elected Chancellor of the University of 
 Edinburgh ; and Mr. Fairbairn received the following 
 letter : 
 
 Edinburgh, May 11, 1860. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, Lord Brougham is to be installed 
 as Chancellor of our University on Friday, the 18th inst. ; and 
 it is proposed on that occasion to confer the degree of LL.D. on 
 a few individuals distinguished in science.
 
 
 CAMBRIDGE DEGREE. 393 
 
 I am authorised to enquire if it would be convenient for 
 you to be present on that day to receive the degree ? 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 D. BREWSTER. 
 
 The degree of LL.D. was accordingly given. The 
 following letter of congratulation from the late Eight Eev. 
 Prince Lee, then Bishop of Manchester, was much prized 
 by its recipient : 
 
 Manchester, May 26, 1860. 
 
 My dear Dr. Fairbairn, No one can rejoice more sincerely 
 than both Mrs. Lee and myself at any recognition of services 
 like yours, or any circumstance which can cause happiness to 
 you, Mrs. Fairbairn, and your family. During the twelve years 
 I have been in Manchester, I have seen your utterly unselfish 
 pursuit of what was calculated to advance the moral and tem- 
 poral advantage of others, combined with a thorough devotion 
 to the investigation of scientific truth. 
 
 In the present case this recognition has come from the 
 highest scientific body of your own countrymen, to you most 
 gratifying, but to those who see how Government honours are 
 given a proof that our rulers are not acting as they ought 
 to do. 
 
 That you may long enjoy the honour and happiness you so 
 richly and truly merit is, my dear friend, the sincere hope and 
 prayer of 
 
 Your most attached and obliged, 
 
 J. P. MANCHESTER. 
 
 W. FAIKBAIKN, Esq., LL.D. 
 
 The following letters relate to a degree from the 
 University of Cambridge : 
 
 Devonshire House, May 16, 1862. 
 
 Sir, According to ancient usage, a considerable number of 
 honorary degrees will be conferred on the occasion of my first 
 visit to Cambridge as Chancellor of the University. 
 
 If it would be agreeable to you to accept this compliment
 
 394 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxi. 
 
 from the University, I should have great pleasure in adding 
 your name to the list which I have been invited to draw up. 
 I am, Sir, 
 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 
 DEVONSHIRE. 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 The Lodge, May 16, 1862. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, I find that at the Chancellor's 
 suggestion you are to receive an honorary degree on the occasion 
 of his installation. I hope when you come to Cambridge you 
 will consider yourself my guest. If I am not able to give you 
 a room in the lodge you can have one in the college near to us, 
 and will be our guest in all other respects. 
 Believe me, 
 
 Yours very truly, 
 
 W. WHEWELL. 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 The honorary degree of D.C.L. was conferred in due 
 course. 
 
 British Association, 1862. At the meeting of the 
 British Association at Cambridge, in October 1862, Mr. 
 Fairbairn occupied, for the second time, the position of 
 President to the Mechanical Section ; and he opened the 
 proceedings with an address on the progress of mechanical 
 science generally, on the International Exhibition of that 
 year, and on the iron plate armour experiments in which 
 he was then engaged. 
 
 International Exhibition 0/1862. In the Great Inter- 
 national Exhibition of 1862 his son Thomas had been 
 nominated one of the five Eoyal Commissioners, and Mr. 
 Fairbairn himself was appointed President of the Jury 
 for machines and tools employed in the manufacture of 
 wood and iron. 
 
 No communication from him was published in the
 
 WORK FOR THE ADMIRALTY. 395 
 
 official documents of the Exhibition, but he appears to 
 have written an elaborate Eeport on the Department of 
 Machinery generally. With what object this was done, 
 or to whom the Eeport was addressed, does not appear, 
 but an abstract of it is given in his ' Useful Information 
 for Engineers,' Third Series, 1866. It concludes with 
 the following passage : 
 
 Having thus glanced, however imperfectly, at some of the 
 leading objects in the machinery department of the great Inter- 
 national Exhibition recently closed, we may safely state in 
 conclusion that more splendid and more instructive examples of 
 the useful arts were never at any previous time brought under 
 the inspection of the public. There is no department of 
 practical science which has remained unrepresented, and the 
 student, mechanic, or engineer had only to read in his own 
 department of study the great page of nature and art which at 
 this Exhibition was laid open for his perusal. It is a great 
 privilege for the present generation to have had before their 
 eyes the finest specimens of the manufacturing machines in 
 operation in their day, and in the construction of which it is 
 their ambition to excel. This is an advantage of which few 
 countries can boast, and it is of a character that will leave its 
 impress upon the public mind, and will raise the thinking and 
 industrial position of the community of this and of all other 
 nations much higher in the scale of civilisation. 
 
 Work for the Admiralty. Owing to the great ex- 
 perience he had had in iron ship-building, his opinion 
 and judgment were highly esteemed by the Admiralty, 
 and during the last twelve or fifteen years of his life, 
 he was frequently consulted by them, and was, indeed, 
 almost in constant communication with them on matters 
 affecting naval construction. 
 
 In July 1863, he gave, in answer to the request of 
 Mr. Eeed (then chief constructor of the Navy), a long 
 Eeport on the general design of a proposed new ship of
 
 396 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxr. 
 
 war; which was followed by other reports and com- 
 munications. These however were considered confiden- 
 tial documents, and have not been made public. 
 
 Baronetcy. It was in 1869, when Mr. Fairbairn had 
 arrived at the 80th year of his age, that the crowning 
 honour of his life was conferred on him, the dignity of the 
 baronetage. 
 
 The following is a copy of the letter communicating 
 the offer to him : 
 
 Raby Castle, Darlington, Sept. 9, 1869. 
 
 Dear Mr. Fairbairn, I am empowered hy Her Majesty to 
 signify her desire to confer on you the honour of the baronetage, 
 and if I may anticipate your acceptance of a distinction so -well 
 earned by your scientific eminence and services, I am sure tbat 
 the public will unanimously recognise the marked propriety of 
 the selection. 
 
 It is extremely agreeable to me to convey to you this inti- 
 mation. 
 
 I remain, faithfully yours, 
 
 W. E. GLADSTONE. 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, as in duty bound, intimated his grateful 
 acceptance of the favour, and the patent was issued soon 
 afterwards. 
 
 He was overwhelmed with congratulations, among 
 which was one from a nobleman with whom Mr. Fair- 
 bairn and his family were often in friendly communica- 
 tion : 
 
 Knowsley, Prescot, Nov. 10, 1869. 
 
 Dear Sir William Fairbairn, Let me congratulate you on 
 a well-earned honour, which I only regret that the Government 
 of which I was a member did not gain the credit of conferring 
 upon you. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 DERBY. 
 
 SIR W. FAIRBAIRN, Bart.
 
 BARONETCY. 397 
 
 In writing to a relation Mr. Fairbairn said : 
 
 April 16, 1870. 
 
 Your kind congratulations have been very gratifying to both 
 my wife and myself : and although I may not value these 
 titles to the same extent as some others do, I am neverthe- 
 less very much gratified with this recognition of the services I 
 have rendered to science. These were the conditions on which 
 the distinction was granted by Her Majesty and the Government, 
 and I ought to be very thankful. 
 
 As regards the name, I liked the old one ' William Fair- 
 bairn, of Manchester,' better ; I am well known by it, and I fear 
 both my friends and the public will be slow to recognise me by 
 any other. JBut be this as it may, I am becoming every day 
 more reconciled to the new title, and ' My Lady ' takes to it with 
 more grace and dignity than her husband. 

 
 CHAPTEK XXII. 
 
 LITEEAEY WORK 
 183O-1873
 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN A VOLUMINOUS WHITER TUBULAR GIRDER 
 BRIDGES PAPER FOR THE ROYAL SOCIETY EFFECT OF REPEATED 
 MELTINGS ON CAST-IRON APPLICATION OF IRON TO BUILDING PUR- 
 POSES ARTICLE ' IRON ' IN THE ' ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA ' 
 ' USEFUL INFORMATION FOR ENGINEERS ' SELF-ACTING BRAKES 
 THE STRENGTH OF IRON SHIPS SECOND SERIES OF 'USEFUL INFOR- 
 MATION ' EFFECT OF VIBRATORY ACTION ON GIRDERS MILLS AND 
 MILLWORK IRON SHIP-BUILDING THIRD SERIES OF ' USEFUL INFOR- 
 MATION ' CONTRIBUTION TO BAINES's ' LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE ' 
 ON THE DURABILITY OF IRON SHIPS MR. FAIRBAIRN AS A LEC- 
 TURERHIS LAST ADDRESS MR. W. C. UNWIN.
 
 401 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 AMONG the voluntary labours of the latter portion of 
 Mr. Fairbairn's life, one of the most prominent was the 
 use of his pen. He was naturally fond of writing, and 
 whenever he undertook a mechanical investigation, or 
 studied a scientific subject, it seemed natural to him to 
 4 fix his ideas ' (to use the French expression) by put- 
 ting them into a written form. His earlier books and 
 papers had been well received, and when he found 
 himself relieved from his arduous occupations at the 
 manufactory, he began to write for publication more fre- 
 quently. 
 
 A list of his writings, so far as can be ascertained, 
 is given at the end of this volume, and it will show how 
 prolific a writer he was. It consists in all of about eighty 
 publications, including several large books, and many 
 elaborate memoirs in scientific periodicals of' high cha- 
 racter. The greater number of these were written after 
 he had passed his 60th year ; several of them have already 
 been mentioned under special heads, and it is intended 
 in this chapter to give brief notices of the more im- 
 portant books and memoirs among the remainder. 
 
 In March 1850, Mr. Fairbairn contributed a paper to 
 the Institution of Civil Engineers, on ' Tubular Girder 
 Bridges.' The subject was not, however, so general as 
 the title would make it appear. It had happened that 
 a bridge which had been designed by Mr. John Fowler, 
 
 D D
 
 402 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FA1EBAIRN. CHAP. xxir. 
 
 to cross the Trent at Torksey, in Lincolnshire, and 
 which had been made by Messrs. Fairbairn, was ob- 
 jected to by the Government Inspector as too weak. 
 The subject was brought before the Institution of Civil 
 Engineers, and the strength was discussed at much length, 
 the discussion involving some curious points that required 
 novel mathematical treatment. Mr. Fairbairn's paper 
 gave his own views on the subject, and many other engi- 
 neers took part in the investigation ; the result being that 
 the sufficient strength of the bridge was declared to be 
 proved, and the objection to it was withdrawn. 
 
 Immediately after Mr. Fairbairn's election as a Fellow 
 of the Royal Society, he presented to that body a paper 
 entitled ' An Experimental Enquiry into the Strength of 
 Wrought-iron Plates and their Eiveted Joints, as applied 
 to ship-building and vessels exposed to severe strains.' It 
 was read on June 13, 1850. 
 
 The following extract will give a general idea of the 
 nature and objects of the investigation : 
 
 At the commencement of iron ship-building 1 , in which I 
 took an active part, the absence of acknowledged facts relative 
 'to the strength and varied conditions under which the material 
 was applied, was the principal reason which induced me to 
 enter upon this enquiry. I have extended the investigation into 
 the best methods of riveting, and the proportional strength of 
 rivets, joints, &c., as compared with the plates and the uses for 
 which they are intended. The latter is a practical and highly 
 important enquiry ; as great difference of opinion exists among 
 engineers and others as to the form, strength, and proportions of 
 rivets, and the joints of which they form an essential part. I 
 therefore considered an experimental investigation much wanted, 
 not only on account of its important practical bearing, but what 
 was probably of equal value, in order to remove existing dis- 
 crepancies, and to establish a sounder principle of construction 
 founded upon the unerring basis of experiment. From these
 
 RIVETED JOINTS. 403 
 
 considerations I bestowed increased attention upon the enquiry, 
 and endeavoured to render it practically useful. 
 
 The paper was divided into four parts. 
 
 The first part was on the strength of wrought-iron 
 plates to resist tearing asunder by direct tensile strains. 
 This was illustrated by an account of twenty experiments 
 on plates made of iron of different qualities. 
 
 The second part treated of the strength of the joints 
 of iron plates when united by rivets, and on the best 
 modes of riveting. A number of experiments were tried 
 on riveted joints, formed in many varieties of ways, and 
 the general mean result was that, considering the strength 
 of the solid plate itself to be 100, that of a single-riveted 
 joint (i.e. having the rivets disposed in one row), might 
 be taken at 56, while if the joint were double-riveted 
 (i.e. if the rivets were disposed in two rows), the strength 
 would be 70, showing, in any case, a considerable loss of 
 strength. 
 
 The third part of the paper treated of the strength of 
 wrought-iron plates to withstand a force applied perpen- 
 dicularly to one point in their surface, tending to indent 
 or bulge them in, or if great, to burst them open ; as, for 
 example, in the case where the hull of an iron ship would 
 strike against a projecting rock. 
 
 The fourth part was an investigation of the strength 
 and value of the wrought-iron frames or ribs used in ship- 
 building. The strengths of these, when in different shapes, 
 were shown, and inferences were drawn as to the best 
 forms and modes of construction. 
 
 In the course of the paper Mr. Fairbairn took occa- 
 sion frequently to speak of the comparison between wood 
 and iron as a material for ship-building. He said : 
 
 In conclusion, I would venture a few remarks on the value 
 and judicious use of iron in its adaptation to ship-building. Jt 
 j> D 2
 
 404 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 appears from the facts already recorded, that iron is very 
 superior in its powers of resistance to strain ; it is l highly 
 ductile in its character, and easily moulded into any required 
 form without impairing its strength. It is also stronger in 
 combination than timber, arising from the nature of the con- 
 struction ; and the materials composing the iron ship become a 
 homogeneous mass when united together, forming as it were a 
 solid, without joints, and presenting as a whole the most for- 
 midable powers of resistance. These are some of the properties 
 which cannot be obtained in the union of timber, however 
 ingeniously contrived. It moreover possesses the property of 
 lightness along with strength ; in fact its buoyancy, strength, 
 and durability constitute the elements of its utility in the innu- 
 merable cases to which it may be applied. In ship-building it 
 possesses other advantages over timber. Its hull is free from 
 the risk of fire ; and in case of shipwreck, either on rocks or 
 sandbanks, it will resist the heaviest sea, endure the severest 
 concussion, and with proper attention to the construction it may 
 be the means of saving the lives of all on board. It moreover 
 has the advantage of bulkheads, which, made perfectly water- 
 tight, not only strengthen the vessel, but give greater security 
 to it, and by a judicious arrangement in the divisions will float 
 the ship under the adverse circumstance of a leak occurring in 
 any one of the compartments. 
 
 These are the qualities and the powers of the iron ship ; 
 and I trust the present research into the strength and propor- 
 tions of the material of which it is composed, will not only give 
 increased confidence in its security, but will lead to an extension 
 of its application in every branch of marine and mechanical 
 architecture. 
 
 There was also added a mathematical investigation 
 relative to the experiments, contributed, at Mr. Fairbairn's 
 request, by Mr. Tate. 
 
 The paper was selected by the Council of the Eoyal 
 Society for publication in the quarto ' Philosophical 
 
 1 When of good quality. Of late years, unfortunately, much iron has 
 been used for common boat work, to which this description does not apply, 
 En.
 
 PAPERS ON IRON. 405 
 
 Transactions ' (an honour awarded only to those papers 
 that are considered of special scientific merit), and it 
 accordingly appeared in the volume for 1850, page 677. 
 It occupies 50 pages, and is illustrated with many tables 
 and with five engraved plates. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn, in his autobiographical notes, speaks of 
 this paper as one of the most important he had ever 
 undertaken. He says : 
 
 These experiments were of great value, as they not only de- 
 termined the strength and other properties of the iron, but they 
 exhibited what was of greater importance, namely, that the 
 riveted joint was little more than one-half the strength of the 
 plate itself. These discoveries led to further experiments, which 
 resulted in the single, double, and chain riveting joints being 
 subsequently used in all well-proportioned and well-constructed 
 iron ships. The principles they disclosed have been adopted in 
 her Majesty's dockyards, and for many years have been in use 
 throughout the kingdom. 
 
 At the meeting of the British Association in 1 853, at 
 Hull, he read a paper ' On the Mechanical Properties of 
 Metals as derived from repeated Meltings, exhibiting the 
 Maximum Point of Strength, and the Causes of Deteriora- 
 tion.' 
 
 This paper was written in pursuance of a request from 
 the Association passed at the meeting of 1850. The object 
 was to throw light on certain anomalous conditions ob- 
 served by practical ironfounders in regard to the use of their 
 material. It is the habit frequently to melt iron, for cast- 
 ing purposes, again and again, and it had been observed, 
 or rather conjectured by certain appearances, that re- 
 melting improved the quality. The object of Mr. Fair- 
 bairn's enquiries was to determine this, and to ascertain 
 with precision the conditions of the problem. Numerous 
 elaborate experiments were made, and the result seemed 
 to be a gradual improvement, both in strength and elas-
 
 406 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, CHAP. xxn. 
 
 ticity, up to about the twelfth melting, beyond which a 
 sudden and rapid deterioration set in. 
 
 In regard to this, Dr. Eobinson, of Armagh, wrote to 
 Mr. Fairbairn, as follows, dated May 28, 1855 : 
 
 I have only recently got the report of the Hull meeting of 
 the British Association, and have just read your interesting re- 
 port on the effect of repeated fusion on the strength of cast-iron. 
 I was greatly struck by the abrupt loss of strength and the 
 silvery grain assumed by the iron, and fear you have not kept 
 the fragments ; but if they are to be found, it would be very 
 desirable to have a chemical analysis made of the iron so 
 changed, and another of the original quality. 
 
 My reason is this : Many years ago, while working at che- 
 mistry, I reduced mixtures of lime and oxide of iron in charcoal 
 crucibles at an extremely intense heat. The buttons some- 
 times contained the metallic basis of lime ; they were exces- 
 sively hard, and their fracture was fine and silvery. Now the re- 
 peated fusion with lime and coke seems not unlikely to alloy 
 the iron with calcium. We want greatly, by the way, a well- 
 arranged set of experiments on the combination of the metals 
 of the earths with iron, which I suspect play an important part, 
 especially in steel. 
 
 In 1854 Mr. Fairbairn published his second book, 
 the title of which was, ' On the Application of Cast and 
 Wrought Iron to Building Purposes.' It was originally 
 intended to be an essay on ' Beams and Bridges,' more 
 general in its scope than the former work on the Menai 
 structures, and containing fuller information resulting 
 from the large experience the firm had had in the manu- 
 facture of such works. But it was afterwards extended 
 to other applications of iron. 
 
 The author says in his preface : 
 
 In the following pages I have endeavoured to collect the 
 sum of our practical knowledge on the use of iron, in its com- 
 bination with other materials, in the construction of fire-proof
 
 IRON FOR BUILDING PURPOSES. 407 
 
 buildings. The subject is one of vast public importance. It 
 is undeniable that great want of judgment has been displayed 
 in many examples of buildings even of very recent date, and 
 it is to be lamented that so much ignorance of those unde- 
 viating laws which govern the strength of materials should still 
 prevail. Experimentalists and mathematicians haVe provided 
 the knowledge, but practitioners I fear have, in a great degree, 
 failed to avail themselves of it. 
 
 Part I. treats of cast-iron beams .for supporting the 
 floors of buildings, giving many experiments on their form 
 and strength, and the influence on them of various dis- 
 turbing causes. 
 
 Part II. treats, in the same manner, of beams of the 
 lighter and stronger material, wrought-iron. 
 
 Part III. refers to the construction of lire-proof ware- 
 houses, and the work concludes with a general description 
 of the mill at Saltaire. 
 
 The book is dedicated to Sir David Brewster, and the 
 following letter, from a well-known literary man, refers to 
 a presentation copy sent to the writer : 
 
 58 Lincoln's Inn Fields, May 19, 1854. 
 
 My dear Sir, I have received with the greatest pleasure 
 the volume you have kindly sent me, of which I mean to read 
 every word. So far from connecting you with 'plain matter of 
 fact,' I regard you, and men like you, as the great enchanters 
 of modern time. What we mere bookmen used in old days to 
 do with fiction and fancy, you now more nobly accomplish with 
 fact and philosophy, and are properly become the leaders of the 
 world. May your Government last long, and be as beneficently 
 administered as it has been justly obtained. 
 Always, my dear sir, 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 JOHN FOBSTEB. 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN, Esq. 
 
 A second edition of the work was brought out in
 
 408 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FATRBAIRN. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 1857, incorporating a new part of considerable length, 
 on the construction of bridges formed of malleable iron 
 beams or girders. A third edition appeared in 1864, 
 containing a few further additions. 
 
 It was also translated into French, by M. L. Ferret, 
 in 1855. 
 
 In 1856, Messrs. Black, of Edinburgh, the publishers 
 of the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' applied to Mr. Fairbairn 
 to re- write the article ' Iron ' for the eighth edition of that 
 work, which was then in process of publication. The 
 publishers felt it was desirable to introduce into this 
 edition a notice of the many improvements that had been 
 effected in the iron manufacture ; and knowing how com- 
 pletely Mr. Fairbairn had identified himself with the use 
 of the material, they selected him as the best qualified 
 person to undertake what they desired. It was soon 
 found that it would be scarcely possible to alter satisfac- 
 torily the former article, and it was accordingly determined 
 that he should write an entirely new essay. 1 
 
 The article contains twelve chapters, and is copiously 
 illustrated with woodcuts, not the vague imperfect tilings 
 publishers too often produce in scientific works, but pre- 
 pared, as might be expected, from accurate engineering 
 drawings. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn acknowledged, in this article, the assist- 
 ance he had received from many friends, who had 
 furnished him with novel information on special points. 
 Among these was his old friend Mr. James Nasmyth, who 
 sent him complete descriptions of his steam hammer, an 
 
 1 The succeeding article, on ' Iron Bridges,' was written by Mr. Robert 
 Stephenson, and it was interesting to see side by side the writings of the 
 two men who had been engaged together on the largest applications of iron 
 that had ever been made. Both articles were, however, brought out in a 
 somewhat imperfect state through haste in their preparation.
 
 ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA. 409 
 
 invention which was then only recent, but which may 
 be said to have almost revolutionised the iron manufac- 
 ture, by increasing to an enormous extent the magnitude 
 of its operations. 
 
 Mr. Nasmyth, in forwarding the particulars to Mr. 
 Fairbairu, said: 
 
 I am very happy to know that the article ' Iron ' lias fallen 
 into such able and authentic hands ; and I am sure you will not 
 only render it worthy of the theme, but also worthy of yourself, 
 which is saying everything. 
 
 With respect to the description of the steam hammer, 
 would fain that you gave it in your own words, as I don't like 
 to do anything that savours of the ' Use Warren's Blacking ' 
 system. The steam hammer is so well known and so simple, 
 that a mere figure of it is description enough. I am but a poor 
 tool in the literary line ; had I but the powers that you so hap- 
 pily possess, wouldn't I hold forth on things in general, and 
 steam hammers in particular ! The steam hammer has really 
 been a great help in the mechanical arts, and will do more and 
 more yet. I am at No. 489 ; they are making them by the 
 thousand on the Continent and in America, but I am well 
 satisfied with my share. 
 
 The article was so much approved that, a few years 
 after it appeared, the publishers reprinted it as a separate 
 book, Mr. Fairbairn having the opportunity of correcting 
 the imperfections in the ' Encyclopedia ' copy, and of 
 adding some new matter. 
 
 It was afterwards translated into French, with ad- 
 ditions, by M. Gustave Maurier. 
 
 In 1856, Mr. Fairbairn brought out another work, 
 entitled: 'Useful Information for Engineers, being a 
 series of lectures delivered to the working engineers of 
 Yorkshire and Lancashire. Together with a series of ap- 
 pendices containing the results of experimental enquiries
 
 410 LIFE OF SIB WILLIAM FAffiBAIRN. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 into the strength of materials, the causes of boiler explo- 
 sions, &c.' 
 
 The title will explain pretty clearly what the work 
 consists of. Mr. Fairbairn had frequently delivered 
 lectures to Mechanics' Associations and other similar insti- 
 tutions in the manufacturing districts. These had some- 
 times been printed in ephemeral pamphlets, or abstracts 
 had been given of them in still more ephemeral local 
 journals ; but they were inaccessible to engineers in 
 general, and the author reaped no profit from them, and 
 but little fame. He consequently determined to collect 
 and publish them in a volume. 
 
 In the preface he says, in his justification : 
 
 In presuming to offer useful information to the members of 
 an important profession, I would especially guard myself against 
 an undue assumption of personal merit, and rather rest the 
 justification of the title given to the present volume upon the 
 well-grounded opinion that the elementary principles of science 
 are too much neglected in the study and practice of engi- 
 neering. 
 
 It is generally admitted that one of the most popular and 
 useful forms of imparting knowledge to others is that of public 
 and entertaining lectures, and I may therefore state that the 
 lectures which I have now the opportunity of publishing were 
 mostly prepared at the request of the directors of the various 
 educational institutions of the north of England, and delivered 
 to the mixed assemblies of their members. The circumstances 
 of passing- events gave to some of the addresses considerable 
 local and temporary interest ; but it does not by any means fol- 
 low that, thus hastily conceived, the subjects of which they 
 treated were wanting in permanent value and importance to 
 
 the mechanical student My object was to impart 
 
 to working engineers, in intelligible and simple terms, all I 
 myself knew of the varied branches of practical science which 
 their calling embraces ; and hence my main reliance was on the 
 results of my own practice and experience.
 
 IRON SHIPS. 411 
 
 The volume contains ten lectures, chiefly on steam 
 and steam boilers. It was so well received by the public 
 that it went through several editions, and the author was 
 induced afterwards to follow it up with further collections 
 of the same kind. 
 
 In 1859 Mr. Fairbairn presented a short memoir to 
 the British Association, entitled c Experiments to deter- 
 mine the efficiency of continuous and self-acting Brakes 
 for Eailway Trams;' but he afterwards re-wrote the 
 paper in a more elaborated form, and submitted it to 
 the Institution of Civil Engineers, where it was read on 
 April 17, 1860. 
 
 In March 1860 he read an important paper before 
 the Institution of Naval Architects, on ' The Strength 
 of Iron Ships.' 
 
 He said that former investigations had related princi- 
 pally either to the strength of the material itself, or to 
 the detailed arrangements of its use, riveted joints, &c. 
 Nothing, however, had been done in determining the 
 strength of an iron ship as a great whole, and this it was 
 the object of the paper to do. 
 
 It explained the cases in which large iron ships might 
 become strained in actual use. A ship might, for ex- 
 ample, get on two rocks, one at each end, and so be with- 
 out support in the middle ; or she might lodge upon a 
 single rock in the middle of her length, leaving the two 
 ends overhanging. He pointed out that of late years it 
 had been found convenient to increase the length of iron 
 vessels to as much as eight or nine times their breadth of 
 beam, partly to obtain an increase of speed by giving fine 
 sharp lines to the bow and stern, and partly to secure an 
 increase of capacity for the same midship section. This, 
 he pointed out, seriously compromised the strength of
 
 412 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBA1RN. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 the ship if she ever got into circumstances of the kind 
 alluded to. And he remarked that even independently 
 of the possibility of being stranded, the ordinary circum- 
 stances of floating under the swell of a heavy rolling sea 
 would subject a ship to strains similar in nature, although 
 less in amount. 
 
 Eeasoning from the known laws established in regard 
 to large iron tubes, he went on to determine the nature of 
 the strains, and to compare them with the strength actually 
 put into ships as ordinarily built ; and he showed how 
 insufficient was the resistance of the fabric. 
 
 He then proceeded to explain how the defect might 
 be remedied, by adding to the strength in certain ways 
 which he pointed out and illustrated by diagrams and 
 calculations. 
 
 In 1860 he brought out a second series of 'Useful 
 Information for Engineers,' containing reprints of four 
 scientific papers contributed by him to scientific societies, 
 and of eight lectures he had delivered at various places 
 and times. 
 
 This volume was dedicated to General (now Sir) 
 Edward Sabine, President of the Eoyal Society, who, in 
 acknowledging the compliment, said : 
 
 August 17, I860. 
 
 This morning's post brought me your kind present, and I 
 have read its inscription to myself with a gratification which I 
 shall not attempt to describe 
 
 I regard the honour this inscription confers as one of the 
 greatest which I have ever received ; and on which I may reflect 
 with confidence, should I ever be tempted to think that my life 
 has been passed in vain. 
 
 At the Oxford meeting of the British Association in 
 1860, Mr. Fairbairn contributed a Eeport of: Experi-
 
 VIBRATORY ACTION. 413 
 
 ments to determine the effect of vibratory actions and 
 long-continued changes of load on wrought-iron girders. 
 
 The frequent occurrence of accidents to railway trains 
 by the fracture of wheel tyres and axles, and other iron 
 parts of the engines or carriages, had raised an important 
 question, whether the material suffered in its molecular 
 structure by the repeated and long-continued blows, 
 vibrations, and jarrings to which it was subject during 
 the working of the trains. It had often been noticed 
 that the parts so fractured exhibited a structure not 
 favourable for strength and toughness, but it had been 
 difficult to determine whether this was so originally, or 
 whether such a condition had been induced by use. As 
 is generally the case in difficult problems, all sorts of 
 recondite explanations were volunteered ; electrical, mag- 
 netic, and chemical agencies were supposed to be at work, 
 and it was often assumed that either by these, or by purely 
 mechanical influences, the structure of the iron really 
 underwent some deteriorating change. 
 
 There had, however, always been a want of positive 
 proof of the fact; and it therefore occurred to engi- 
 neers of a more practical mind that it might be possible 
 to get, by direct experiment, some conclusive evidence 
 whether the change was real or only imaginary. The 
 Iron Structure Commission of 1849 had tried some 
 experiments, but Mr. Fairbairn considered they were 
 incomplete, and he therefore instituted others on a 
 more comprehensive scale. He directed attention chiefly 
 to bridge girders of wrought-iron, with the view of 
 testing whether the repeated passage of trains would 
 produce any injury, and he contrived an apparatus by 
 which a load could be alternately applied and removed 
 for a great number of times. This was continued till 
 the changes had reached a million and a half, and the 
 results were thus expressed :
 
 414 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 It would appear, therefore, that with a load equal to one- 
 fourth the breaking weight, the structure undergoes no deterio- 
 ration in the molecular structure ; and, provided a sufficient 
 margin of strength is given, say from five to six times the 
 working load, there is every reason to believe from the results 
 of the above experiments that girders composed of good mate- 
 rial and of sound workmanship are indestructible, so far as 
 regards mere vibratory action. 
 
 At the Manchester meeting the next year, he reported 
 a continuation of the experiments, confirming the results 
 in the former paper. 
 
 In 1864 he embodied the foregoing results in a paper 
 which was read before the Eoyal Society on February 4 
 in that year, and was published in the * Philosophical 
 Transactions,' vol. cliv. 
 
 About this time Mr. Fairbairn brought out an im- 
 portant work on a subject peculiarly his own, namely, a 
 ' Treatise on Mills and Millwork.' It was in two volumes 
 or parts. Part I. appeared in 1861, and Part IE. in 1863. 
 
 The editor of the present biography had occasion to 
 review Mr. Fairbairn's book for a scientific periodical 
 soon after its publication, and ventures to insert here some 
 extracts from the opinions on it then expressed : 
 
 It has often been remarked that, although the English have 
 been in advance of all other nations in the practice of engineer- 
 ing, they have been sadly behindhand in its literature. Indeed, 
 it has become a proverb that we have executed works for others 
 to describe; and the students of engineering know well that 
 the best accounts of many of our most important engineering 
 operations must be sought for in the publications of France and 
 Germany. 
 
 In regard to the great branch of the profession compre- 
 hended under the name of mechanical engineering, the want of
 
 MILLS AND MILLWORK. 415 
 
 correspondence between our literature and our progress is most 
 striking. We need not dwell on the fact that we are, and have 
 long been, the first mechanicians in the world ; but it is no less 
 true that the evidence of this fact which will go down to pos- 
 terity on the shelves of our libraries will be meagre in the 
 extreme. 1 
 
 It is, therefore, with much satisfaction, that we greet the 
 production of the veteran mechanic whose name appears at the 
 head of our article. He had founded, at an early part of his 
 life, a firm in Manchester who have since become celebrated for 
 the designs and manufacture of machinery in great variety, and 
 on a very extensive scale ; and it is more especially to the 
 illustrations of modern machinery, derived from the archives of 
 this firm, that the present work owes its value. 
 
 The first volume is devoted to the general principles of me- 
 chanism and to prime movers. After a chapter of ten pages 
 (which might have been much extended with advantage) on the 
 history of mills, a discourse follows on the theory of mechanism, 
 and the remainder of the book is occupied with notices of the 
 modes by which water, steam, and wind are made available as 
 sources of mechanical power. In regard to the former of these, 
 Mr. Fairbairn has not confined himself, as previous authors have 
 done, to the treatment of the machines for making use of the 
 power, but he has traced the moving agent back to its source 
 in the clouds, and followed in detail the circumstances of its 
 fall, its distribution, its storage, and its conveyance to the point 
 where it is to become useful. The construction of water wheels 
 and other hydraulic machines is also given very fully it is a 
 department to which the author has evidently devoted much at- 
 tention ; and this division of the book forms the best and most 
 comprehensive essay on water power we have seen. We are the 
 more pleased with this, because, since the general introduction 
 of steam, water-power has been far too lightly esteemed. 
 
 The second part of the work is still more technical than the 
 former, consisting, first, of chapters on wheels, straps, shafts, 
 and couplings ; and, secondly, information on the arrangement 
 
 1 This was written in 1863; since that date the advanced education 
 which has spread among the engineering profession has induced a much 
 more copious literature, as well as a higher tone of thought.
 
 416 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIBN. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 of mills of various kinds for corn, cotton, woollen fabrics, flax, 
 silk, oil, paper, gunpowder, and iron. This latter division is, if 
 we mistake not, almost entirely a novelty in engineering litera- 
 ture the only similar attempt we remember being contained 
 in an old work, called 'Nicholson's Operative Mechanic,' which, 
 though popular in its day, is now quite obsolete. We could 
 find much in these essays to remark on, if we were writing a 
 technical review ; but we must here content ourselves with re- 
 commending the work as supplying a want of long standing, 
 and as calculated to be of much practical utility. It is illus- 
 trated profusely with woodcuts, and contains also several plates, 
 well drawn and engraved. 
 
 In 1865 Mr. Fairbairn brought out a ' Treatise on 
 Iron Shipbuilding ; ' which he dedicated to the Duke of 
 Somerset, then First Lord of the Admiralty. 
 
 It is an octavo volume of 300 pages ; the earlier chap- 
 ters treat of the laws of strains, the properties of iron, and 
 the modes of jointing ; the later portions refer to iron 
 armour and the effect of projectiles, with remarks gene- 
 rally on ships of war. The book contains also a theo- 
 retical essay on the strength of materials, contributed by 
 Mr. Tate. 
 
 In 1866 appeared a Third Series of the ' Useful Infor- 
 mation for Engineers,' containing, as before, several 
 lectures and papers on miscellaneous subjects. 
 
 This volume was dedicated to Lord Brougham. 
 
 In 1869 Mr. Fairbairn gave his aid in the preparation 
 of a work entitled ' Lancashire and Cheshire, Past and 
 Present,' by Mr. Thomas Baines. The book was a large 
 and handsome one, in four volumes quarto, giving a full 
 history and topographical description of the two counties, 
 and it was illustrated by many engravings of the scenery, 
 buildings, and worthies of the locality. 
 
 Mr. Baines wisely saw that as subjects of a technical
 
 LANCASHIRE AND CHESHIRE. 417 
 
 and industrial character entered so largely into the interest 
 attaching to the county of Lancashire, it would be well 
 to get some expert to write the portion of the book treat- 
 ing of these matters ; and he accordingly applied to Mr. 
 Fairbairn, who responded with his usual public spirit. 
 
 His contribution to the work was a very important 
 feature of it, forming of itself one quarto volume of 260 
 pages, and it was probably the largest book he ever wrote. 
 It had a separate title' The Eise and Progress of Manu- 
 factures and Commerce, and of Civil and Mechanical Engi- 
 neering, in Lancashire and Cheshire.' 
 
 He says in his preface : 
 
 When I was invited to write this work I entertained grave 
 doubts of my own competency. The task seemed to require 
 rather the descriptive powers of the historian than the bare 
 matter of fact views of the engineer ; and I must, therefore, 
 crave the indulgence of the reader for the imperfections which 
 will doubtless be found in my treatment of a large subject. If 
 I have failed to make the essay as attractive as a more fluent 
 writer might have done, I have, at least, endeavoured to bring 
 together a mass of information which will be useful to the 
 student who may desire to weigh and appreciate the wonderful 
 development of this great centre of manufacturing industry. 
 
 I have endeavoured to trace the influence which the progress 
 of manufacturing enterprise has had upon national character. 
 The rapid growth and present high state of perfection of the 
 trades touched upon in the following pages have raised the 
 mechanics and artisans from mere labourers into a class remark- 
 able for their intelligence, skill, and perseverance. They are 
 now a great power in the state one to be guided by wise laws 
 and liberal encouragement, to the exercise of infinite good, but 
 also capable of producing great evil to themselves and others, 
 if their association and organisation are not regulated by high 
 principles and sound judgment. 
 
 E E
 
 418 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xxn. 
 
 The book is (like the main body of the work to 
 which it is attached) somewhat desultory and ill-arranged, 
 and it is difficult to give a precise summary of its con- 
 tents ; but it contains a great deal of valuable informa- 
 tion, historical and descriptive. Among the subjects 
 treated of are the scientific institutions of Liverpool and 
 Manchester, and the engineering works of the district, 
 such as the canals, the railways, the water supply, 
 the docks, and the landing stages : the engineering and 
 iron trades, and the cotton manufacture, are also fully 
 described. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn was engaged on this work from August 
 1867 to July 1869, but he received no remuneration for 
 his labour, charging only a trifling sum for the expenses 
 of drawings. We do not even see, in the preface to the 
 main work, any acknowledgment of the service he had 
 rendered. 
 
 Sir William's last literary production was a paper 
 read before the Royal Society on April 26,1873, ' On the 
 Durability and Preservation of Iron Ships, and on Rivet- 
 ed Joints.' 
 
 The author, as an experienced iron ship-builder, dis- 
 cussed the liability of such structures to injury by corro- 
 sion, which he believed might be entirely prevented by 
 proper care and watchfulness ; and he recommended the 
 same measure which he had found so beneficial in the 
 case of boilers, namely, periodical inspection. 
 
 He further treated various questions in regard to 
 riveted joints, such as the relative merits of machine and 
 hand riveting, the comparative effect of drilling and punch- 
 ing in forming the holes; and the paper was accompanied 
 by various tables and theoretical investigations. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn was in great request as a lecturer, and
 
 HIS LAST ADPRESS. 419 
 
 received frequent invitations to deliver lectures at scien- 
 tific societies, mechanics' institutions, and the like, which 
 lie generally complied with if he could. Some of these 
 lectures were printed at the time in separate pamphlets, 
 and some were republished by him in the ' Useful Infor- 
 mation for Engineers.' 
 
 Independently, however, of regular lecturing, he had 
 many calls upon him to take the chair at anniversary 
 meetings, distribution of prizes, &c., and he generally gave 
 at each meeting an address appropriate to the object. 
 On all these occasions his great popularity never failed 
 to attract large audiences, and to give eclat to the institu- 
 tions that asked his aid. 
 
 His last address was on October 28, 1873, at a 
 meeting of the Manchester Scientific and Mechanical 
 Society, of which he was president. Although suffering 
 from severe illness and very weak, he contrived to write 
 the address ; but when the day came he was unable to 
 leave his bed, and it was read by the secretary. A few 
 extracts will show that age had done nothing to diminish 
 the sound practical sense he had always manifested on 
 such occasions : 
 
 It is a source of pride to bear witness to the inventions and 
 discoveries that have been effected in machine making in every 
 department of industry. In the beauty, exactitude, and mathe- 
 matical accuracy of these constructions, we stand unequalled ; 
 and we have only to refer to the International Exhibition of 
 1851 and its successors to be assured that rapid strides and im- 
 provements have been silently but progressively going on, not 
 only in the machinery then in use, but the introduction of the 
 self-acting principle, so much wanted and so eagerly looked 
 for in every manufacturing process where it could be intro- 
 duced. 
 
 And here it is only just to state that the introduction of new 
 machinery and the self-acting principle owed much of their 
 efficacy and ingenuity to the system of strikes, which compelled
 
 420 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxit. 
 
 the employers of labour to fall back upon their own resources, 
 and to execute, by machinery and new inventions; work which was 
 formerly done by hand. Let me give an example which strikingly 
 illustrates the benefits as well as the inconveniences of a sudden 
 cessation of labour. Some forty years ago, when I undertook the 
 manufacture of boilers, I had large orders on hand, and being un- 
 willing to allow the men to dictate the terms on which I should 
 engage apprentices and conduct the work, I received notice of a 
 turn out, which immediately took place, and the works were sus- 
 pended for a number of weeks. In this dilemma, with impatient 
 customers, I was driven to the necessity of supplying the place of 
 riveters by a passive and unerring machine, which from that 
 day to this has never complained, and did as much work in one 
 day as was formerly accomplished by twelve of our best riveters 
 and assistants in the same time, and executing the work with 
 greater perfection than could possibly be done by the hammer. 
 This is not the only example of the effects of strikes that may 
 be quoted, as I might instance the late Mr. Roberts, with his 
 self-acting mule and other inventions, which produced much 
 benefit. 
 
 I have stated that we have reason to be proud of the numerous 
 inventions and discoveries that have been made in the machinery 
 for the manufacture of the textile fabrics. We must not, how- 
 ever, run off with the idea that we are the only improvers and 
 inventors ; on the contrary, we are on many occasions far behind, 
 and I am anxious to impress upon the Society the necessity for 
 exertion in every scientific pursuit, if we are to maintain our 
 position and cope with the natives of other countries who have 
 equal opportunities and are better educated than ourselves. This 
 is actually the case in France, Switzerland, and Germany, and in 
 the United States we have to contend with intelligent and very 
 powerful rivals in both the scientific and the industrial arts. 
 
 I have dealt largely on the necessity of our members having 
 a knowledge of first principles, and that all their designs and 
 constructions must be founded on the unalterable laws of scien- 
 tific truth. I intended to have said that the age of the rule of 
 thumb was at an end, and that any design, however perfect and 
 however ingenious in its development, is utterly useless unless 
 it is also a work of science. It is true that great works have
 
 MR. TIN WIN. 421 
 
 been sometimes accomplished by the master minds of men with- 
 out education, but how much more certain and how much more 
 perfect are the emanations and works of such men as James 
 Watt, Smeaton, and others who have combined science with 
 their discoveries. 
 
 As compared with many other professions, engineering has 
 been in a dormant state within a period in my own recollection. 
 In the year 1804, when I first entered business as an apprentice, 
 there were not in the whole kingdom above half a dozen persons 
 deserving the name of engineer. I recollect quite well when 
 I first entered Manchester, in 1813, that the only important 
 tools then in vogue were a few common lathes, a screw-cutter, 
 and a boring machine for steam engine cylinders. These facts 
 show the low ebb at which mechanical science was fifty years 
 ago, and how much we are indebted to the late Mr. Roberts and 
 our talented friend Sir Joseph WTritworth and others for the 
 introduction of new and more perfect tool machinery, which has 
 given not only mathematical precision, but almost a creative 
 power as one machine creates another, 
 
 In Mr. Fairbairn's more important writings, and in 
 the experimental investigations they related to, he availed 
 himself freely of such assistance as he felt would be useful 
 to him, and this he alw r ays honourably acknowledged. 
 He was not a deep mathematician, and mathematical 
 reasoning was often necessary for the reduction and 
 generalisation of his experiments, and for the clear ex- 
 position of the results obtained. 
 
 In his earlier publications he was assisted in this way 
 by Mr. Thomas Tate, mathematical master of Battersea 
 Training School. But at a later period, when he began 
 to devote himself more earnestly to scientific work, he 
 engaged as secretary a young engineer, Mr. W. C. Unwin, 
 who, having had a good theoretical training, was able to 
 take this work permanently for him. Mr. Unwin was 
 with him from 1855 to 1863, during which time he gave
 
 422 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xxir. 
 
 active aid in the many important investigations under- 
 taken by Mr. Fairbairn, and in the publications recording 
 them, particularly those referring to boilers, the proper- 
 ties of steam, the strength of materials, submarine cables, 
 railway brakes, and iron armour. Mr. Fairbairn always 
 expressed a high opinion of Mr. Unwin's ability and the 
 value of his assistance, and he now occupies an eminent 
 position as one of the professors of engineering at the 
 Eoyal East Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill.
 
 CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 ILLNESS AND DEATH
 
 THE FAIRBATRNS A LONG-LIVED FAMILY WILLIAM S ROBUST CON- 
 STITUTION FIRST SERIOUS ILLNESS REACHES HIS SEVENTY-EIGHTH 
 YEAR LOSS OF HIS ELDEST SON LETTERS FROM SIR DAVID BREWSTER 
 AND DR. ROBINSON COMPLAINTS OBLIGED TO GIVE UP ROMPING 
 AND OTHER JUVENILE PROPENSITIES OWEN'S COLLEGE BRONCHIAL 
 ATTACK VISITS TO BRIGHTON AND TO HOLLAND PARK MARRIAGE OF 
 HIS GRAND-DAUGHTER ' GIVE HER A ROUND ' VISITS TO MR. BATE- 
 MAN LAST DAYS AT MOOR PARK DEATH BISHOP SUMNER FUNERAL 
 OBITUARY NOTICES MEMORIAL BY THE CITY OF MANCHESTER.
 
 425 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 WE now approach the close of this long life, so actively 
 and so usefully employed. 
 
 William Fairbairn came from a long-lived family. 
 His grandfather, John Fairbairn, died in 1797, at the 
 ripe age of eighty-one, and his grandmother also lived to 
 a great age. His father, Andrew, died in 1844, aged 
 eighty-six, and his mother lived to her sixtieth year. 
 William himself inherited a robust constitution, and en- 
 joyed generally good health for the greater part of his 
 life. It was not till between his fiftieth and sixtieth 
 years that he had any serious illness. Owing to some 
 irregularity or other exciting cause during a journey, he 
 was seized, somewhere about 1845, with an obstruction 
 of the bowels, and was for some time considered in 
 danger, powerful remedies being applied. He recovered 
 from this attack, but it left evil consequences behind, 
 from which he suffered more or less during the 
 remainder of his life. He was obliged frequently, and 
 often continuously, to take medicine for the purpose of 
 ensuring proper digestive action, and he was subject at 
 intervals to attacks of spasms in the stomach and intes- 
 tines, which were very painful and troublesome. 
 
 Still he had nearly reached his eightieth year before 
 he began to feel the approach of the last enemy. At 
 the beginning of 1867 he lost his eldest son, John ; he
 
 426 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIKX. CHAP. xxnr. 
 
 felt this affliction deeply, and an aggravated recurrence 
 of his spasmodic attacks at the same time brought him 
 very low. 
 
 Two of his oldest and most valued friends, both emi- 
 nent in science, and both, like himself, well advanced in 
 years, wrote to him as follows : 
 
 Brae Lodge, Murrayfield, March 4, 1867. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, My wife and I grieve to hear of 
 your illness, and of the severe domestic affliction which you and 
 Mrs. Fairbairn have suffered. We hope that the genial air of 
 the south will hasten your convalescence, and that the hope of 
 rejoining the son you have lost will alleviate a dispensation 
 which would otherwise be difficult to bear. 
 
 Since I had -the pleasure of seeing- you, I have suffered a 
 severe loss in the death of the widow of my eldest son ; a beau- 
 tiful woman, worshipped by everybody that knew her. 
 
 I have also been an invalid like yourself, but from a diffe- 
 rent cause. When on a visit to my daughter in autumn, I 
 caught ivhooping cough, a horrid complaint, from the effects of 
 which I am not yet free. 
 
 Time, too, has begun to tell upon limbs that have been 
 doing duty for more than 85 years, and the brainwork which 
 1 have gone through has begun to tamper with the upper part 
 of the machine, so that I am burning the candle of life at both 
 ends. 
 
 Having been unable to get a house in Edinburgh this winter, 
 we are living in a charming villa in the immediate neighbour- 
 hood, and if business should bring you northwards, we have a 
 spare room at your service. 
 
 Notwithstanding my ailments, I have written three papers 
 for the Eoyal Society, of which I hope soon to have the pleasure 
 of sending you copies. 
 
 My wife joins me in kindest regards to Mrs. Fairbairji and 
 yourself, and to Mr. and Mrs. Bateman, and I am, 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, 
 
 Ever most truly yours, 
 
 D. BKEW&TEK.
 
 OLD FRIENDS. 427 
 
 Observatory, Armagh, February 22, 1867. 
 
 My dear Friend, We are greatly grieved at learning 
 through Miss Holland of your severe illness, and the subse- 
 quent death of your son. But I trust you are fully recovered 
 in health, and I know that one so good and wise will bear the 
 bereavement, however painful, as coming from God and there- 
 fore appointed for the best. I know how precious your time is, 
 but I entreat you to spare so much of it as to tell us how you 
 are, and how Mrs. Fairbairn has borne her affliction. 
 
 Of myself and mine I have little to tell, except that my 
 sight is failing fast. If deprived of it, I shall feel the loss very 
 heavily, but I hope I shall bear it in a proper spirit. I have at 
 least this consolation that during my long life I have used it 
 not unprotitably. 
 
 Ever yours affectionately, 
 
 T. R. ROBINSON. 
 
 W. FAIHBAIKN, Esq. 
 
 Early in 1868 he wrote to an old friend : 
 
 I have had a second attack of my painful and troublesome 
 complaint. 
 
 The approach of winter seizes on me in the shape of spasms 
 in the chest, and I have suffered more or less ever since. The 
 doctors say I must give up my juvenile propensities, and con- 
 sider myself an old man. This I am unwilling to do, and 
 although I entered my 80th year last month, I am still unable 
 to realise the fact that I am old. I hope you will long con- 
 tinue to have the same feeling when you get to my age, and be 
 free from the torments under which I almost daily labour. 
 
 In July 1869 lie alluded to ' more spasmodic attacks ;' 
 and in August of the same year he was, to his great dis- 
 appointment, prevented by them from attending the 
 British Association meeting at Exeter. 
 
 In April 1870 he was better. He wrote : 
 
 I am glad to inform you I have got a reprieve from the 
 spasmodic attacks under which I have laboured for nearly two
 
 428 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxur. 
 
 years ; and, as an old man, I must not now romp. I still go to 
 the works, and although a little stiff, I nevertheless endeavour 
 to keep the judgment sound and the mind clear. 
 
 On May 23, 1871, he wrote to Dr. Kobinson :- 
 
 I still continue to do a little in the field of practical science 
 and improvement, but I find it difficult to keep up with the 
 present generation, whose minds are better prepared and better 
 instructed than they were in my time. I, however, endeavour 
 to the best of my ability, even at the advanced age of 82, to 
 keep pace with them ; but it is difficult to keep the mind young 
 when the exterior casing becomes brittle and insecure. 
 
 In December 1872 he complained again of spasms, 
 but not so severe as a year or two before. 
 
 In April 1873, writing to Professor Eankine, he 
 said : 
 
 I cannot work now as I used to do, not so much from 
 mental deficiency as from physical ailments and the wear and 
 tear of life. I ought not, however, to forget that I entered my 
 84th year only six weeks ago, and might yet be useful for some 
 time longer but from severe spasmodic attacks, under which I 
 have been suffering for the last three years. 
 
 In October of the same year, the new buildings of 
 Owen's College, Manchester, were opened ; and he, some- 
 what imprudently, resolved to be present at the ceremo- 
 nial. He, no doubt, felt himself compelled to do so, 
 because not only was the Duke of Devonshire, the presi- 
 dent, his guest on the occasion, but in 1870 his Grace 
 had appointed him one of the three governors of the 
 Institution. Here he caught a severe bronchial cold, 
 which prostrated him for some time, and from the effects 
 of which he never recovered. 
 
 About the middle of 1874 his strength began rapidly 
 to fail ; and being much troubled by the bronchial irrita-
 
 HIS LAST LETTER. 429 
 
 tion, he was recommended to try to get relief by a 
 change of air to the South Coast. A friend opportunely 
 offered him the use of his house at Brighton, and it was 
 during this visit he wrote, on June 8, the letter to Mr. 
 Fletcher, mentioned in Chap. XVI., the following passage 
 in which may be repeated here : 
 
 I am sorry to say I do not improve. I will, however, give 
 the clear air, which is warm and excellent, a trial for another 
 fortnight, and if I get no better I will return and prepare for 
 the change which cannot be far distant. 
 
 He did not get better, and he left Brighton to pay a 
 short visit to his son William, at Holland Park, London. 
 Here in July, he complained of frequent nausea, and con- 
 sulted Sir William Gull, who (warning the family of his 
 critical coadition) recommended absolute rest, and great 
 caution in avoiding all risk of increasing the bronchial 
 irritation by taking fresh cold. 
 
 The middle of this month, one of his grand-daughters, 
 the second daughter of Mr. Bateman, was married to 
 Major Maxwell (since unhappily deceased) ; he was very 
 desirous to be -present at the wedding at Moor Park, but 
 was too ill to go. He sent, however, to the bridegroom 
 the following letter, which was the last he wrote. It will 
 show that although so ill, his exuberant animal spirits had 
 not yet forsaken him : 
 
 My dear Major Maxwell, I would have written to Maggie, 
 but she is busy. She will never have patience to read anything 
 on such an occasion from such an old scratch as myself. I 
 therefore address you on so momentous an occasion as the present 
 to express Lady Fairbairn's and my own deep regret that the 
 extremely infirm state of my health prevents us being present. 
 Let me, however, recommend you, like all experienced and 
 prudent husbands, to follow a piece of advice which I received 
 from an old friend on a similar occasion, namely 
 
 4 Be sure, on every occasion of difference (and where is the
 
 430 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxm. 
 
 family that have not differences), that you and the wife are 
 never in a passion at the same time.' 
 
 He added, however, in a half-whisper, ' But when she is 
 done, 'gad, you may then give her a round.' 
 
 You will pardon me for adding more, as I am scarcely able 
 either to read or write, and can only add our united blessing, 
 and prayer for your future happiness, and remain, 
 Your affectionate, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 [Date. July 14, 1874.] 
 
 Immediately after the marriage he went down to Mr. 
 Bateman's country seat at Moor Park, near Farnham, 
 Surrey. There had always been a warm and reciprocal 
 attachment between him and his daughter, Mrs. Bateman, 
 and during the later years of his life, when he had given 
 up the cares of business, although he retained to the last 
 his home at the Polygon, Manchester (where his widow 
 still resides), he had spent much time every year with 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bateman and their family. The large 
 works which Mr. Bateman had frequently been required 
 to carry on in various parts of the kingdom had led him, 
 partly for business convenience, and partly by a pre- 
 ference for country scenery, to occupy from time to time 
 residences in picturesque districts ; Morecambe % Bay, 
 Ambleside, North Wales, and Perthshire, were some of 
 the situations chosen ; and it was a great delight to Mr. 
 Fairbairn to visit at these places. The house at Cardross 
 in Perthshire, was taken by Mr. Bateman when carrying 
 out the great works of the Loch Katrine water supply to 
 Glasgow ; it was held several years, and here, or at a 
 house in which he subsequently lived, Fern Tower, near 
 Crieflf, Mr. Fairbairn spent, with his wife, much of the 
 summer and autumn of each year. He was fond of the 
 neighbourhood, from his old Scotch associations, and he 
 met here many friends who esteemed him for his talents
 
 LAST HOURS. 431 
 
 and worth, and loved him for his estimable social 
 qualities. 
 
 The Glasgow Water Works being finished, Mr. 
 Bateman gave up his Scotch residence, and bought, in 
 1859, the Surrey estate, where Sir William Fairbairn was 
 afterwards a frequent visitor. After his arrival there, 
 about the middle of July, 1874, he was for a short time 
 able to walk about and dine with the family. One day 
 he walked round the grounds with Mrs. Bateman, after 
 having visited, with her, the camp at Frensham, during 
 the autumn manoeuvres. He took great interest in mili- 
 tary matters, and conversed freely on what they had seen ; 
 after which he spoke to her of his own state, and of what 
 he felt was the approaching change. The walk was per- 
 haps too much for him, for after it he took to his room, 
 which he never again left alive. The windows of this 
 room looked out on the flower garden, and on a beautiful 
 rural prospect, which he often expressed himself as en- 
 joying- 
 
 His last attack was a painful one, but he bore it with 
 exemplary patience, no murmur ever escaping from his lips. 
 He loved life and the exercise of his active mental power, 
 but he looked upon death as an inevitable doom, and he 
 was quite prepared to die. He spoke little of the pro- 
 bability of his own decease, beyond an expression of 
 resignation to it. He gave few directions as to the future, 
 and made no particular communications either to his wife 
 or his children. He gradually sank, retaining to the last 
 a silent consciousness, and he died quite peacefully on 
 August 18, 1874. 
 
 His friend Bishop Sumner lay on his deathbed at 
 Farnham Castle at the same time, and each took great 
 interest in the state of the other. The bishop died two 
 days before Sir William.
 
 432 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxm. 
 
 It was the wish of the family that the funeral should 
 be strictly private, but it was desired by the authorities 
 of the town of Manchester and many friends of the de- 
 ceased that a demonstration of respect should be made. 
 The following account is extracted from a Manchester 
 paper : 
 
 The mortal remains of the late Sir William Fairbairn, 
 Baronet, were interred yesterday at Prestwich parish church. 
 The distinguished position of the deceased, and the fact that, 
 notwithstanding his Scotch birth, he was pre-eminently a Man- 
 chester man, combined to make the occasion one of a public 
 character, and the result was a public demonstration of respect 
 for the deceased and of sympathy with the bereaved family. The 
 deceased Baronet died on Tuesday last at Farnham, in Surrey, 
 and his body was brought to Manchester on Friday night. The 
 funeral cortege left the residence of the deceased the Polygon, 
 Ardwick about eleven o'clock, and, accompanied by bodies of 
 the city police and fire brigade, proceeded by way of Ardwick 
 Green, Piccadilly, Market Street, Strangeways, and Bury New 
 Road to the place of interment. In Stockport Road and along 
 the line of route large crowds collected to witness the procession, 
 and to pay the last token of respect to an eminent citizen. The 
 shops were partially closed, and the blinds of many private 
 houses were drawn. The body of police consisted of twelve men 
 from each division of the city constabulary ; and the fire brigade 
 was represented by twelve men from the central station. The 
 following was the order of procession : 
 
 Two Mutes. 
 
 Police. 
 
 Fire Brigade. 
 Several private carriages. 
 
 Three carnages, containing a deputation from the Manchester 
 Steam Users' Association. 
 
 Police. 
 
 The private carriages of the mayor and other members of the 
 Corporation of Manchester. 
 
 Two Mutes. 
 The Hearse, drawn by four horses.
 
 FUNERAL. 433 
 
 The private carriage of the deceased, closed. 
 Seven mourning coaches, containing relatives and friends of the 
 
 deceased. 
 
 Private carriages. 
 
 Police. 
 
 As the procession passed through the town, several other 
 private carriages and a number of gentlemen on foot joined it, 
 and it was not until one o'clock that it reached Prestwich. 
 The corpse was met at the church gates by the Rev. Canon 
 Gibson and the Eev. Canon Birch, the officiating ministers, 
 and the path from the gates to the porch was lined by work- 
 men in the employ of the deceased, who stood uncovered as the 
 coffin was borne by. The church was thronged by a large con- 
 gregation. The service was brief but impressive. The coffin, 
 which was covered with wreaths of choice flowers, was deposited 
 in the family vault near the south-west corner of the burial- 
 ground, where three sons of the deceased are interred, A brass 
 plate on the coffin bore the simple inscription, 
 WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN, BARONET : 
 Born 19th February, 1789 ; 
 Died 18th August, 1874, 
 
 The number of people present at the funeral was estimated 
 at from 50,000 to 70,000. 
 
 The death was promptly announced in almost all the 
 newspapers of the country, as that of a well-known public 
 character, and memoirs of considerable length were given. 
 
 The Times, in the course of a biographical notice, 
 said : 
 
 It is almost useless to state here that no name stood higher 
 than that of Fairbairn in the world of civil engineering ; and that 
 although late in life he accepted a well-earned title, his repu- 
 tation hereafter will date from a generation at least earlier than 
 his patent as a baronet. 
 
 The Daily News, a journal always prominent in 
 scientific matters, gave a leading article, containing such 
 F F
 
 434 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxm. 
 
 an admirable and truthful estimate of Sir William's posi- 
 tion, character, and merits, that we may be pardoned for 
 giving extracts from it at some length. 
 
 The death of Sir William Fairbairn, occurring as it does 
 during the British Association week, breaks in upon the meet- 
 ing of his scientific brothers almost as harshly as the death of 
 the official in the Faroe Islands did upon the ceremonies at the 
 reception of the King of Denmark. Of course Sir William 
 Fairbairn' s was not a premature end. He had lived to a good 
 and even to a great old age. He had multiplied his years by 
 intellectual activity and unceasing enterprise in the fields of 
 industrial science. Nature could hardly have prolonged much 
 farther his busy and fruitful career ; and even in this age of 
 longevity, when men turn to the real work of a public life at a 
 time when their forefathers would have thought of retirement 
 and rest, Sir William Fairbairn would be considered an old 
 man. Still the death of such a colleague, occurring at the 
 opening of the annual meeting of the British Association, must 
 come upon its leading members with a painful shock. Sir 
 William Fairbairn was one of the founders of the British Asso- 
 ciation, and he was one of its most distinguished presidents. 
 He was a fitting representative of the spirit which made that 
 Association a success, and of the age of industrial science, illus- 
 trated by literary intelligence, which allowed it to be successful. 
 It used to be the habit at one time to sneer at the Association 
 of ' philosophers.' But in the days when philosophy was a pro- 
 fession and a culture we should like to know what its teachers 
 would have thought of an age when, even as a sneer, the title 
 of philosopher could be conferred upon a maker of roads or a 
 worker in iron. Sir William Fairbairn was emphatically a man 
 who might be accredited with having helped to bring about 
 the condition of things in England which proved that philo- 
 sophy can enter into the building of bridges and the putting 
 together of the hulls of ships. The career of him and of his 
 like expounds the secret of modern England's greatness. 
 
 He was an indefatigable worker in what we may call the 
 literary illustration of his enterprises and objects. Treatise
 
 OBITUARY NOTICES. 435 
 
 after treatise, lecture after lecture, on all subjects in connection 
 with this branch of industrial science, came from his active 
 and unresting hand. He was associated with almost every 
 society formed here or abroad to develop the true principles of 
 engineering. Nothing that concerned in any way the interests 
 of industrial science escaped his attention, or failed to enlist his 
 sympathy. Thus he became known widely beyond the limits 
 of his own profession. In every calling of life, as our social 
 life is now constituted, there are men who acquire high reputa- 
 tion and enjoy entire confidence within the limits of that 
 particular craft, but who are hardly known to the public out- 
 side. Every lawyer, every soldier, every engineer, every scholar, 
 can tell of men in his vocation who rank, by common consent 
 of its members, second to none there, and yet whose names, 
 when told to an outsider, are spoken to unfamiliar ears. Sir 
 William Fairbairn was not a man of this class. He always 
 seems to have enjoyed a reputation with the general public as 
 well as with those who were qualified to judge more accurately 
 of the value of his career. That literary faculty, if we may so 
 call it, in which the elder Stephenson was so entirely deficient, 
 enabled Sir William Fairbairn to secure the whole public some- 
 times for his audience, and his death will therefore be felt as a 
 national loss. The distinction which was conferred upon him 
 at the recommendation of Mr. Gladstone, in 1869, was, we need 
 not say, much better deserved than in nine cases out of ten in 
 which a Prime Minister is the means of bestowing such an 
 honour. It was a tribute to a very remarkable career, in which 
 talents and perseverance fought their way from the lowliest rank 
 and amid immense difficulties ; and it is only to be regretted 
 that such distinctions are not made of more genuine value by 
 being less frequently conferred as the reward of plodding and 
 brainless political partisanship. But Sir William Fairbairn 
 was of all men the son of his own works. If he bore a title 
 towards the close of his life we are glad of it, rather because it 
 affirmed that the State acknowledges the dignity of industrial 
 science than because we think it in any way ennobled him. 
 
 The Engineer said : 
 
 A GREAT engineer in a past generation has departed. Sir 
 
 William Fairbairn died a little after noon on Tuesday, at Moor 
 
 F F 2
 
 436 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxirr. 
 
 Park, Farnham, Surrey, full of years, and not without honours, 
 hardly earned and very fully deserved. Fairbairn's forte lay 
 in millwright work. It is not too much to say that he 
 revolutionised the art of making mills, whether for grinding 
 wheat or spinning cotton. He introduced, to begin with, most 
 important improvements in water-wheels. Some of his Scotch 
 wheels have never been excelled in efficiency by any water- 
 power motor, except a very few turbines. He was not content 
 with this. From end to end he remodelled the system on which 
 mills were constructed. He gave the milling world new shaft- 
 ing, new couplings, new gear accurately made and properly 
 proportioned to the work to be accomplished. No man, living 
 or dead, has done so much to make mechanical engineering in 
 two important branches so nearly perfect. Fairbairn found 
 millwrighting a second-rate trade. He abolished the mill- 
 wright, and introduced the mechanical engineer ; and for this 
 achievement alone he would deserve to be honoured. In one 
 word, it is difficult to discover a branch of the art of mechanical 
 engineering to which Fairbairn has not contributed something. 
 His footprints may be found on every path which the engineer 
 can tread, and the sands of time will never efface them. 
 
 The Manchester papers especially made the occur- 
 rence their most prominent piece of news, and devoted 
 many columns to obituary notices. 
 
 The Manchester Examiner said : 
 
 A full account of Sir William Fairbairn's life would be to 
 a large extent identical with a history of half a century of pro- 
 gress in mechanical science, in the development of the pro- 
 ductive power of Manchester manufactures, in the application 
 of iron to the building of ships, and in a wide range of inven- 
 tion and discovery connected with the strength of materials of 
 construction and the economy of motive forces. Some of the 
 greatest works of peace and war in our time are associated with 
 Sir William Fairbairn's name. 
 
 In whatever way we seek to account for Fairbairn's remark- 
 able success in life, compared with that of the mass of men 
 who start from a similar station, it is a magnificent instance 
 of the rewards that may attend such persistent endeavours 
 directed to aims so honourable.
 
 FAME IN GERMANY. 437 
 
 Another Manchester paper said : 
 
 But the story of his life points a moral of the most valuable 
 kind. 
 
 It was by the force of his will and the integrity of his 
 character that Sir William Fairbairn won his position. He 
 learned to labour and to wait, and, having a large faith in 
 time, looked cheerfully forward to the ' perfect end.' No mere 
 dreamer, he utilised every hour, and when disappointment 
 came, as come it often did, if he retreated from what seemed 
 to be an untenable position, it was only to gather strength for 
 renewed effort and fresh enterprise. ' Something attempted, 
 something done,' every day earned him physical and mental 
 repose. Patient study enabled him to acquire that knowledge 
 of first principles which resulted in the exercise of foresight 
 akin to the marvellous, and the steady momentum imparted to 
 his life by continuous application imparted an onward impetus 
 to his fortunes, which resulted in the establishment of his 
 reputation as the foremost mechanical engineer of his day. 
 That branch of industry to which he devoted himself with so 
 much zeal is now one of the most important in the world. Thou- 
 sands owe their daily bread in a measure to the ardent mechani- 
 cian who demonstrated with such telling effect the utility of 
 iron, and the resources of the world have been augmented to an 
 almost fabulous extent by his labours. It is natural, therefore, 
 that Manchester should be proud of her foster-son, and fitting 
 that honourable mention should be made of him by all who are 
 capable of appreciating sterling worth and indomitable zeal. 
 In an age replete with able men he held a prominent place, 
 and his career serves to show that honesty of purpose, patient 
 toil, unwavering integrity, while they tend to ensure material 
 prosperity, are justly to be enumerated among those virtues 
 which alone can give to nations a solid greatness, or to indi- 
 viduals an imperishable fame. 
 
 But it was not only in England that these manifesta- 
 tions of respect to his memory took place. One of the 
 most important mechanical and industrial organs of 
 Germany, the Berlin Allgetneine Deutsche Polytec/misc/ie 
 Zeitung, published, on September 12, 1874, a bio-
 
 438 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP, xxnr. 
 
 graphical notice with a portrait, and a statement of his 
 chief services to practical science, concluding with the 
 words : ' Let all aspiring workers take Sir William Fair- 
 bairn as a model. He is no more ; but his name will ever 
 live in what he has done.' 
 
 The Manchester Steam Users' Association took pro- 
 ceedings which are described in the following extracts 
 from their annual report : 
 
 The Committee of Management have now to refer with sin- 
 cere and deep regret to the loss the Association has sustained 
 by the death of its president and founder, the late Sir Wm. 
 Fairbairn, Bart., which took place on the 18th of August last. 
 At the institution of the Association, in 1854, Sir Wm. Fair- 
 bairn was elected a vice-president, and continued one for four 
 years, when he was elected to the presidency, which office he 
 continued to hold till the time of his decease, a period of six- 
 teen years. The services rendered by him to the Association, 
 and to steam users generally, the committee believe to be in- 
 valuable. His attendance at the committee and annual meetings 
 of the Association was most regular, while his advice and service 
 were at all other times freely placed at the disposal of the com- 
 mittee. The committee think it well to introduce the following 
 copy of an address presented by them to Lady Fairbairn, to- 
 gether with a copy of Sir Thos. Fairbairn's acknowledgment of 
 the same. 
 
 Copy of address to Lady Fairbairn, presented by the Vice- 
 presidents and Executive Committee of the Manchester 
 Steam Users' Association, on the death of Sir William 
 Fairbairn, Bart., F.R.S., LL.D., &c. 
 'To LADY FAIRBAIRN, 
 
 * Dear Madam, We, the colleagues of the late Sir William 
 Fairbairn, on the board of the Steam Users' Association, desire 
 very respectfully to express to your Ladyship our profound sym- 
 pathy on the irreparable loss you have sustained by his deeply 
 lamented death. 
 
 ' We beg to assure you that so far as it may be possible to 
 offer words of comfort and condolence to your afflicted mind
 
 ADDRESS TO LADY FAIRBAIRN. 439 
 
 and heart, we share in a very high degree those feelings of un- 
 feigned regard and respect for the memory of Sir William Fair- 
 bairn, which we know are experienced by every one whose good 
 fortune it has been to have enjoyed his friendship and acquaintance. 
 
 ' It has been our happiness to have been associated with him 
 for many years in the management of an Association of which 
 he was the originator and founder, the object of which is one 
 of practical regard for human suffering, and the safety of life 
 to a large class of working men, no less than for the promotion 
 of scientific enquiry on questions of vast public utility. 
 
 ' Under Sir William's sagacious and able chairmanship, our 
 Association has acquired a hold on the public mind which to 
 him, its distinguished founder, must have been unspeakably 
 gratifying. 
 
 ' With your Ladyship's kind permission, we hope to have 
 the honour and pleasure of placing in our board room a marble 
 bust, by an eminent sculptor, of our late admirable president, 
 and trust we may be allowed the favour of duplicating the 
 bust which you possess. 
 
 ' We will not multiply words in this brief record of our 
 opinions and views. His important works are his enduring 
 monument, and will ever live in the regard of his thoughtful 
 fellow-countrymen. 
 
 ' It is not enough for us to say that we respected and 
 honoured him, for we loved him for his many fine qualities of 
 heart, and shall never cease to revere his memory. 
 
 ' We have the honour to be, dear Madam, 
 
 ' Your Ladyship's very humble servants, 
 ' (Signed) Vice-Presidents : 
 
 JOSEPH WHITWORTH, HUGH MASON, 
 THOMAS BAZLEY, JOHN PENN. 
 
 Executive Committee: 
 
 JAMES PETRIE, CHARLES F. BEYER, 
 
 JABEZ JOHNSON, JAMES TAYLOR, 
 
 CHARLES HEATON, ADAM DUGDALE, 
 
 THOMAS SCHOFIELD, WRIGHT TURNER, 
 
 HENRY E. GREG, . Louis J. CROSSLEY, 
 
 WILLIAM ROBERTS, EDWARD W, WRIGLEY. 
 SAMUEL RIGBY.'
 
 440 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FATRRAIRN. CHAP. xxru. 
 
 Copy of reply from Sir Thomas Fairbairn. 
 
 Brambridge House, Bishopstoke, December 26, 1874. 
 
 ' My dear Mr. Mason, 
 
 ' I received on Thursday evening the case containing the 
 beautiful volume, " In Memoriam," from the Vice-Presidents 
 and Council of the Manchester Steam Users' Association, and 
 yesterday I fulfilled your wishes by presenting it to the Dowager 
 Lady Fairbairn. My dear mother desires me to assure you 
 that no Christmas Day greeting could have been more conso- 
 latory to a widow's sorrowing heart than this most touching 
 address. The distinguished men whose names are appended to 
 it record not only their admiration of Sir William Fairbairn's 
 career and public services, but they state that they " loved him 
 for his many fine qualities of heart." 
 
 ' The exquisite form in which this valuable testimony is 
 enshrined will be retained and guarded by my family as one of its 
 most precious heirlooms. I have always looked upon the founda- 
 tion of the Steam Users' Association as one of my father's most 
 useful and most honourable achievements. It was at all times 
 a source of great joy to him that the persistent and unwearied 
 support of yourself and colleagues had made the Association 
 which he founded instrumental in saving hundreds of valuable 
 lives. 
 
 ' He advocated the system of inspection as against that of 
 insurance with unswerving constancy ; and I cannot help think- 
 ing that there are some other branches of the world's enterprise 
 to which such a system could be applied with great profit to 
 human life and happiness. In connection, for instance, with 
 the safe working of ships, how much fraud and wickedness 
 might be avoided, how much property be preserved, and how 
 many lives be saved, if the mercantile marine of this country 
 were subjected to careful searching and periodical inspection. 
 
 ' " Duty to others, and not gain to ourselves," has been the 
 main-spring of your admirable Society, and a strict perform- 
 ance of this solemn obligation during a period of now many 
 years has given your Association the reputation, authority, and 
 power of usefulness which it now deservedly enjoys. I can
 
 MANCHESTER MEMORIAL. 441 
 
 wish no more honourable association of merit with my father's 
 memory than that the sphere of your labours may be greatly 
 extended, and that you may reap the reward of public gratitude 
 for promoting an object of paramount utility upon the basis of 
 scientific truth. 
 
 ' I am, my dear Mr. Mason, 
 
 ' Yours very truly, 
 '(Signed) THOMAS FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 'HuH MASON, Esq.' 
 
 The marble bust, to which allusion is made in the address, 
 has been executed by Mr. T. Woolner, R.A., and is now to be 
 seen at the offices of the Association. 
 
 Almost all the other institutions with which he had 
 been connected followed the example. 
 
 The city of Manchester, in their corporate capacity, 
 were not backward in manifesting their sentiments of the 
 honour their departed townsman had been to them. 
 
 At the first meeting of the Council, the following 
 proceedings were reported : 
 
 The Chairman : Before proceeding with the remaining 
 business of the council this morning, it is my painful duty to 
 call attention to the fact that since we last met Manchester has 
 lost one of her most valued citizens. I allude to Sir William 
 Fairbairn, who was connected with the interests of our city for 
 a very long period. I will ask the town clerk to read a resolu- 
 tion of condolence with the family of the late baronet, and I 
 have no doubt it will be adopted by the council ; I trust, also, 
 that the esteem in which Sir William was held in Manchester 
 will find still further expression. It would be a fitting thing 
 in this city to erect a monument on the area in front of the 
 Royal Infirmary, that may hand down to posterity the name of 
 a man who has done so much for the city in the particular 
 branch of business with which he was associated, namely, the 
 engineering trade. (Hear, hear.) Already Dalton and Watt are 
 commemorated by statues before the Infirmary, and for them a
 
 442 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRX. CHAP. xxin. 
 
 statue to Sir William Fairbairn would be fit companion. (Hear, 
 hear.) Had his Worship the Mayor been here, he would have 
 been one of the first to express his willingness to assist in any 
 steps that may be thought desirable by his fellow-citizens to 
 carry out so desirable an object. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 The town clerk read the following resolution, which was 
 moved by the chairman, namely : 
 
 ' That this council has heard with deep sorrow of the removal 
 by death of their distinguished fellow-citizen, Sir William Fair- 
 bairn, Bart., who has for so many years been one of the most 
 useful and valuable members of this community, and who has 
 during the last half-century been actively and honourably asso- 
 ciated with all movements having for their object the improve- 
 ment of the intellectual, moral, or social condition of all classes 
 of his- fellow-citizens. That the Mayor be respectfully requested 
 to communicate, through Sir Thomas Fair bairn, to Lady Fair- 
 bairn and the other members of the family the assurance of 
 the veneration and affectionate regard which is entertained by 
 this Council for the memory and character of the late Sir 
 William Fairbaim, and of sincere sympathy and condolence in 
 the irreparable loss which they have sustained. 
 
 Mr. Alderman Nicholls seconded the resolution. 
 
 The resolution was supported by Mr. Alderman Heywood, 
 and unanimously passed. 
 
 On October 19, a public meeting, convened by the 
 Mayor, Mr. Alderman Watkin, was held in the Town 
 Hall, ' for the purpose of considering what steps should 
 be taken to secure, as generally desired, some suitable 
 permanent memorial of their distinguished fellow-citizen.' 
 The Mayor presided ; and there were also present the 
 Bishop and the Dean of Manchester, Sir Joseph Heron, 
 the Town Clerk ; Sir Edward Watkin, M.P., and many 
 distinguished inhabitants of the town. 
 
 The Mayor said, being fully convinced that a general desire 
 existed in the city and the neighbourhood to commemorate in 
 some fitting way the greatness, goodness, and usefulness of their 
 departed friend, he had not waited for the usual and somewhat
 
 MANCHESTER MEMORIAL. 443 
 
 tiresome method of organising in order to call this meeting, 
 but had done it forthwith, so that what was to be done might 
 be done without delay. He had called the meeting to receive 
 suggestions as to the form which the memorial should take, and 
 to organise means for carrying it out. 
 
 Sir Joseph Heron mentioned that he had received a great 
 number of letters from gentlemen unable to attend, stating how 
 fully they agreed in the object of the meeting, and that they 
 would be prepared in any way to co-operate to carry out the 
 object of the meeting. 
 
 The Bishop of Manchester said that he had much pleasure 
 in moving the first resolution, which declared the desirability 
 of obtaining a suitable permanent memorial of Sir William 
 Fairbairn. He had not had the gratification of making the 
 acquaintance of Sir William till he had passed the ordinary 
 limit of life he had passed the fourscore years. But since he 
 had known him Sir William had been kind enough to admit 
 him to a certain measure of personal intimacy and almost 
 friendship, and lie had certainly learned to feel his great quali- 
 ties, his generosity, his largeness of heart, and those other 
 qualities which seemed to have so much endeared him to the 
 citizens of Manchester. His, certainly, was one of those names 
 which Manchester people of this generation would desire 
 should be held in respect and regard by generations yet to 
 come. It was not the sum of money that was required, 
 because he supposed that any sum could be raised that was 
 reasonably required, but that an opportunity should be given 
 to Manchester people to express their sense of the high quali- 
 ties by which Sir William Fairbairn became the architect, 
 he would not say of a very large fortune (but for his own part 
 he did not care for that), but the architect of a reputation 
 which ought to be dear to Manchester people, and which he 
 believed would be an example to men of ability, who were 
 conscious of intellectual gifts, of how those gifts might be 
 best used to the advantage of the common wealth. Fairbaira's 
 was a name which Manchester should delight to honour, and he 
 had much pleasure therefore in proposing the resolution. 
 
 Mr. W. K. Callender, M.P., seconded the resolution. He 
 said there were three causes why a testimonial should be adopted ;
 
 444 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxm. 
 
 first of all, to commemorate the virtues of a departed fellow- 
 citizen ; secondly, to serve as an encouragement to those who 
 might come after him ; and, thirdly, to be of some practical 
 use to the present and future generations. They ought, there- 
 fore, in erecting this memorial to Sir William, with the primary 
 object of perpetuating his memory, to give also to those whom 
 they wished to stimulate some means of following in his foot- 
 steps by providing for them some educational advantage either 
 in connection with the Owens College or some other scientific 
 society. 
 
 The Eev. Mr. Graskell completely coincided with the remarks 
 made by Mr. Callender, and read part of a letter which he had 
 received from an old friend of Sir William Fairbairn, Mr. 
 Ainsworth, of Cleator, who said, ' I cannot take the initiative 
 I am too old. But I shall be a liberal contributor for a statue 
 and scholarship in the Owens College, or, better still, an en- 
 dowment in his name as an adjunct to the professorship of 
 practical mechanics.' He (the speaker) thought it would be 
 very desirable indeed to have, as a memorial of Sir William, 
 something which he himself would have wished ; and they all 
 knew the great interest he took in mechanics' institutes and 
 kindred societies. He thought they could not do better than 
 carry out such a suggestion as had been made by Mr. Ainsworth. 
 
 Dr. Pankhurst said he had not had the honour to know Sir 
 Win. Fairbairn in his private capacity, and it was not his province 
 to speak of him with reference to his professional eminence, but 
 he asked to say a few words of him as a public man. He had 
 had the pleasure and honour of meeting him in many parts 
 of the kingdom on great public occasions, and he had always 
 found in him one of those men who were capable not only of 
 exerting public influence themselves, but of inspiring the dis- 
 position to exert it in others. Never was an appeal to follow 
 his example in that respect more needed than it now was in our 
 own city of Manchester. The public life of Manchester was 
 very onerous and very exacting, and unless we could have a 
 succession of men willing to devote time and thought to the 
 public service, we should certainly not be able to keep up the 
 great traditions of the city and district. Sir William Fairbairn 
 being engaged in an industry which was" very exacting in its
 
 MANCHESTER MEMORIAL. 445 
 
 claims upon him, and which could have given him enormous 
 pecuniary returns, yet sacrificed much of his time and thought 
 to the public service. He honoured him for so doing, and there 
 could be no stronger reason given for cherishing his memory 
 and for putting his effigy and figure in some public place. 
 
 Mr. Oliver Heywood asked to be allowed also to support the 
 resolution. Sir William Fairbairn had been throughout his 
 life a most kindly friend of his. He had had the pleasure of 
 attending the same school with five of his sons. He had per- 
 sonally obtained from him the greatest assistance in the man- 
 agement of the Mechanics' Institution, of which Sir William 
 had been the first secretary, and in which he had taken through 
 life a very active interest. 
 
 The Eev. W. Gaskell also supported the resolution as one 
 who had enjoyed the intimate friendship of Sir William Fair- 
 bairn for more than forty years. 
 
 The resolution was then unanimously agreed to. 
 
 A discussion then took place as to the form which the me- 
 morial should assume, it being felt, as pointed out by the Bishop 
 of Manchester, that the amount of subscriptions must be regu- 
 lated by the nature of the scheme submitted for adoption to 
 the public. 
 
 Various opinions were expressed, some in favour of a 
 statue, others in favour of the establishment of a scholar- 
 ship ; and after much discussion, the following resolution 
 was adopted : 
 
 That the permanent monument of Sir William Fairbairn 
 be in the form of a statue of such character, and to be placed 
 in such position as may be hereafter determined, and also of a 
 scholarship or some other suitable endowment in connection 
 with the Owen's College. 
 
 A committee was then appointed to raise subscrip- 
 tions and cany out the resolution. 
 
 The Manchester papers all took interest in the discus- 
 sion of the measure. One said : 
 
 The prompt action taken by the Mayor of Manchester in 
 organising a scheme to commemorate the name of the late Sir
 
 446 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxni. 
 
 Wm. Fairbairn, will commend itself to general approval. That 
 this public duty will be well done, the enthusiasm which char- 
 acterised the meeting held yesterday, and the influential and 
 representative character of the committee then appointed, 
 abundantly assure us. It remains for the thousands who in 
 Lancashire owe direct advantage to the scientific labour of Sir 
 Wm. Fairbairn, to assist the committee in seeing that the work 
 is done with readiness. A public testimonial derives its value 
 and its grace above all things from its spontaneity, and perhaps 
 there never was a Manchester citizen who established a more 
 substantial claim upon the respect of his neighbours far and 
 wide. 
 
 The Committee, having collected about 2,700/., de- 
 cided that the statue should be of marble, and placed in 
 the new Town Hall ; and after a good deal of discussion 
 the commission was given for it, in December 1875, to 
 Mr. G. E. Geflowski, of London. 
 
 No action has yet been taken with reference to the 
 scholarship at Owen's College.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 PERSONAL DETAILS 
 ILLUSTRATIONS OF CHARACTER
 
 THE GOLDEN WEDDING DAT SONS AND DAUGHTERS THE PRESENT 
 BARONET THE ROYAL FAMILY, THE PRINCE CONSORT, AND THE PRINCE 
 OF WALES OFFERS OF RANK HOUSE AT THE POLYGON, SOCIETY THERE 
 MR. FAIRBAIRN'S CHARACTER BUSINESS INTEGRITY DOMESTIC LEI- 
 TERS NEW STOCK AND BARREL TWO MOONS OPINIONS ON WORTH- 
 LESS SCHEMES RELIGIOUS FEELINGS, CROSS STREET CHAPEL, THE REV. 
 W. GA8KELL, RIVAL HYMN-BOOKSPECULIAR NOTIONS OF RELIGIOUS 
 TOLERATION NOVEL READING CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. GASKELL 
 PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC CHARACTER PERSONAL AND PRIVATE 
 TRAITS INDEFATIGABLE ACTIVITY REGULAR AND PUNCTUAL HABITS 
 LIBERALITY POPULARITY ' THERE'S FAIRBAIRN ! ' FONDNESS FOR 
 CHILDREN REALITY OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN'S MERITS MORAL.
 
 449 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THIS chapter is intended to supply some personal details 
 which it was not convenient to introduce elsewhere, and 
 to give some illustrations of Sir William Fairbairn's 
 character. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn was, as already stated, married in 1816. 
 The couple therefore lived together eight years beyond 
 the date of the ' golden wedding day,' which is so seldom 
 attained. He had nine children, seven sons and two 
 daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are now 
 living. 
 
 The second and eldest surviving son Thomas, the 
 present baronet, was born in 1823. He was the most 
 active assistant to his father in his manufacturing business, 
 and latterly had its sole management. He is a deputy 
 lieutenant and magistrate for Lancashire and a magistrate 
 for Hampshire, where he has a seat, at Brambridge, near 
 Winchester, and he served as sheriff for that county in 
 1870. He has long and often been before the world on 
 matters of science, art, and public policy. In 1860 he 
 was elected by the Koyal Commission for the Exhibition 
 of 1851 a member of that Commission, and again was 
 nominated by the Crown in a similar capacity for the 
 International Exhibition of 1862. He was chairman of 
 the Exhibition of Art Treasures at Manchester in 1857, 
 and on the occasion of her Majesty's visit there was 
 offered the honour of knighthood, which he declined. 
 
 Of the two other sons, the elder, William Andrew, 
 
 G O
 
 450 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 (formerly one of the partners,) still resides in London, and, 
 the younger, the Eev. Adam Henderson Fairbairn, M.A., 
 is vicar of Waltharn St. Lawrence, Berks. 
 
 During the lifetime of the Prince Consort Mr. Fair- 
 bairn, as well as other members of his family, were 
 honoured with frequent instances of the esteem and 
 regard of various members of the Eoyal Family. Prince 
 Albert on several occasions had conversations with Mr. 
 Fairbairn on topics of scientific and educational interest ; 
 these subjects engaging, as is well known, the Prince's 
 thoughtful consideration and constant devotion. 
 
 General Knollys, writing to Mr. Fairbairn on December 
 9, 1865, to acknowledge the receipt of some volumes of 
 his writings, which he had presented to the Prince of 
 Wales, was desired by his Eoyal Highness 
 
 To return the Prince's best thanks, and to acquaint Mr. 
 Fairbairn that it will always be a pleasure and instruction to 
 him to receive the publications of so practical and scientific a 
 writer, and one so highly esteemed by his Royal Highness's 
 lamented father. 
 
 It ought further not to be unnoticed in this volume, 
 as a circumstance probably without precedent, that this 
 one family were honoured by one Sovereign, her present 
 Majesty, with no fewer than five offers of rank : the 
 knighthood to Mr. Fairbairn in 1861 ; the baronetage to 
 him in 1869 ; the knighthood to his son in 1857 ; a 
 knighthood accepted by his brother Peter in 1858 ; and 
 another also accepted by Sir Peter's son in 1868. 
 
 Mr. Fairbairn purchased his house at the Polygon, 
 Ardwick, Manchester, in 1840, and was so attached to it 
 
 that he continued it as his residence till his death the 
 
 long period of thirty -four years. 
 
 He was very hospitable. Nothing gave him more
 
 SOCIETY AT THE POLYGON. 451 
 
 pleasure than to receive his friends as guests. His letters 
 teemed with invitations to ' the Polygon,' and whenever 
 there was anything of public interest going on in Man- 
 chester his house was always full. 
 
 The society at the Polygon during the last fifteen or 
 twenty years of his life was of an unusually intellectual, 
 refined, and attractive character, and brought together 
 guests of singularly varied acquirements and talents. 
 Among the'm were the Chevalier Bimsen, Sir David 
 Brewster, Mr. Wm. Hopkins, Dr. Prince Lee, Bishop 
 of Manchester, Lord Rosse, Lord Wrottesley, the Rev. 
 Vernon Harcourt, Dr. Robinson of Armagh and his 
 gifted wife, Sir Edward and Lady Sabine, the Earl of 
 Derby, Earl Granville, Lord Brougham, Mr. Leonard 
 Horner, Mrs. Gaskell, Lord Houghton, Lord Shaftesbury, 
 the several eminent Professors of Owen's College, and 
 many others, whose names are well known in science, 
 literature, and the public service. It was his custom to 
 invite groups of visitors regularly every autumn ; his 
 invitations were gladly responded to, and these annual 
 pleasant gatherings of choice spirits were thoroughly 
 enjoyed by those who had the good fortune to be present 
 at them. 
 
 To offer an estimate of Sir William Fairbairn's cha- 
 racter we may, in the first instance, gather some illustrative 
 traits from, his correspondence, and then add the more 
 direct testimony of those who were best acquainted with 
 him. 
 
 The following extract of a letter to his partner Lillie, 
 written when he was quite young, first entering into busi- 
 ness, gives an example of the high feeling of honour and 
 integrity that actuated his business transactions. The 
 italics are his own : 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 London, December 12, 1827. 
 
 Mr. Cooke's wheel, Mr. Potter's work, and all the rest, we 
 shall talk over together. In the meantime I shall look in at the 
 watchmaker's and order both yourself and me a gold watch, but 
 on the condition that it is not to be delivered until we have 
 paid for our buildings, and are FAIRLY ODT OF DEBT. 
 
 His domestic letters had often a mixture of gaiety 
 and jocularity with serious and good feeling. 
 The following are fair samples : 
 
 February 19, 1858. 
 
 Many thanks for your kind and affectionate congratulations 
 [on his 69th birthday]. By my letter to you will find I 
 am a happy and contented old codger, and whether my doom is 
 fixed for seventy or eighty, more or less, is a matter of little 
 moment. Men only live while they are useful, and my hope is 
 that my years will not be prolonged beyond that period. 
 
 The following was a new year's letter to one of his 
 fellow-workers : 
 
 January 2, 1856. 
 
 Many happy new years to you and your family, and I hope 
 as long as I can keep up the steam that we shall always bring 
 in the new year, not with some compliment, but with something 
 useful to mankind. 
 
 I am an engine always ready for service, and although a 
 little antiquated in construction, the working parts are never- 
 theless in pretty good repair. The boiler has a few patches upon 
 it, but a little careful stoking will not only prevent an explosion, 
 but maintain the old vessel in moderate condition and efficiency 
 for a few years longer, when I make no doubt the repairs will 
 terminate in a ' new stock and barrel.' 
 
 He had a quiet sense of humour which he could ex- 
 hibit very effectively. On one occasion a friend asked 
 him to present to the Eoyal Society a communication 
 descriptive of some remarkable optical phenomena which
 
 TWO MOONS. 453 
 
 the writer professed to have witnessed ; and Mr. Fairbairn 
 replied : 
 
 I have read your paper which you are desirous of commu- 
 nicating to the Royal Society ; but you will forgive me if I 
 recommend you, in the present crude state of your observations, 
 not to send it. If you could trace the appearance to its cause in 
 some peculiar action of the organ of sight, it would be much 
 more satisfactory. 
 
 I remember many years ago posting from Coventry to Bir- 
 mingham on a clear moonlight evening, and the more I looked 
 the more I was convinced that there were two moons ! I saw 
 them distinctly ; but I afterwards accounted for the appearance 
 by the fact of having previously dined with a jovial party. I 
 am sure you will pardon me for this suggestion. 
 
 He could express himself strongly, too, when he con- 
 sidered himself aggrieved. On one page of his letter 
 book is this note : 
 
 These two letters were addressed to two scoundrels who re- 
 pudiated payment for work ordered under an award where 
 I was appointed sole arbitrator. W. F. 
 
 One of the letters runs thus : 
 
 Sir, I have paid 1. for your defective work and un- 
 principled character. I do not envy the saving you have 
 effected when attained at the expense of equity and justice, and 
 I offer no apology for remaining, with unqualified contempt, 
 yours, W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The other is in similar tone. 
 
 It was one of the penalties of his position to be con- 
 tinually consulted on worthless schemes, often by personal 
 friends ; and all eminent engineers and men of science 
 know how exceedingly difficult sometimes is the task of 
 replying to such applications. 
 
 The following extracts of letters show how Mr. Fair- 
 bairn was in the habit of dealing with such cases :
 
 454 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxtv. 
 
 Manchester, November 24, 1853. 
 
 My dear Sir, With a strong desire to render myself useful 
 to the undertaking in which you are engaged, I have arrived at 
 
 the conclusion, after a careful perusal of the Eeports of , 
 
 that it would be premature, if not injurious, to allow my name 
 to appear in public as one of the promoters of this project. On 
 
 your account, and that of my respected friend Sir , I 
 
 would gladly do it ; but until the invention is more matured, 
 and its practical effect more clearly developed, neither my name 
 nor that of any other person, however high in station, will ad- 
 vance it may retard its progress. In my opinion a great 
 deal has yet to be done in the way of perfecting the ingenious dis- 
 covery of M. ; but this is a work of time not unaccompanied 
 
 with experimental research. I am satisfied that the principle is 
 a happy idea ; but from what I can see at present, its commer- 
 cial value and utility, when compared with our best steam 
 engines, has not been satisfactorily established, and that it 
 still requires additional tests and experiments to satisfy the 
 public as to the superior advantages likely to accrue from the 
 change. 
 
 In the consideration of this subject I deem it essential that 
 I should speak plainly, and not attempt to raise expectations 
 which I might not at some future period be able to realise. The 
 question altogether is one of considerable importance, and I 
 shall deem it my duty to watch the progress of the invention, 
 and to encourage its ultimate success to the utmost of my power. 
 This I cannot, however, accomplish as a director of the com- 
 pany ; and if my services are to be at all available in a practical 
 point of view, I must remain unfettered and with time to act, 
 as circumstances may require. Whenever you consider these 
 services requisite, you may command, 
 
 My dear Sir, yours sincerely, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 Manchester, February 11, 1850. 
 
 My dear Sir, I have just received your note of Saturday 
 last. I much fear there is something wrong with your friend 
 in Belgium, otherwise he would not hesitate, but rather court, 
 investigation into the principle, as well as the practical working, 
 of his motive power.
 
 USELESS INVENTIONS. 455 
 
 I was in hopes I could have been of service to you, as well 
 as to the projector, by a careful examination of his machinery, 
 in case his ideas were sound and practical. I entertained hopes 
 of being able to assist in bringing to maturity a well-digested 
 scheme which had for its basis not a visionary but a permanent 
 superstructure. On the other hand, should it prove to be one 
 of those projects with no other foundation than that which 
 exists in the imagination of the projector, I was then prepared, 
 confidentially, to give to both an honest opinion as to the 
 inutility of a scheme which could have no other result than loss 
 of reputation and a useless expenditure of money. As it is, I 
 most respectfully decline any interference with your friend and 
 his scheme. I would be willing to do so on your account, but 
 it is quite evident there is some screw loose in the principle, as 
 well as the practice of the undertaking, otherwise a free and 
 open explanation would not have been withheld. 
 Believe me, my dear Sir, 
 
 Very faithfully yours, 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The following was to an eminent scientific professor, 
 who had been stepping out. of his way to meddle with 
 practical mechanical inventions : 
 
 Paris, July 24, 1855. 
 
 My dear Sir, I have given your new project my best con- 
 sideration, and I cannot better express my earnest desire to 
 serve you than by advising you not to be too sanguine of suc- 
 cess in this matter. I am sorry to differ from you in a question 
 to which you attach so much importance, but I deem it my 
 duty in projects which involve considerations of money as well 
 as reputation, to be perfectly candid and perfectly honest in 
 giving an opinion. 
 
 Under all the circumstances, whilst I admit the existence 
 of the force, I must confess I do not see my way clearly to its 
 practical application. There are difficulties to be encountered 
 before the project, however good, can be realised. The great 
 difficulty will be to induce capitalists to embark in under- 
 takings of this kind unless they see their way clearly before 
 them.
 
 456 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 I mention all these things to show how much is to be done 
 before your new invention comes into use, and the difficulties 
 which will require to be surmounted before the improvements 
 you suggest can be brought into useful application. I am sure 
 you will pardon me for speaking thus plainly. I would not 
 advise a patent for England, as we have no rivers on which it 
 could be applied. It might be applicable in some parts of 
 Europe or America, but I would not advise the expense of a 
 patent until you have further experience of its utility. 
 Yours, &c., 
 
 WM. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 His religious feelings were often manifested in his 
 correspondence. On his settlement in Manchester he 
 became a member of the congregation at Cross Street 
 Chapel, and remained so to the end of his life, ready on 
 all occasions to show his interest in its welfare, and asso- 
 ciating on terms of closest intimacy with its ministers, 
 more especially with the Eev. J. G. Eobberds and his 
 colleague, the Eev. W. Gaskell, M.A. 
 
 The following letter will show the interest Mr. Fair- 
 bairn took in religious subjects : 
 
 The Polygon, Sept. 15, 1861. 
 
 My dear Mr. Gaskell, I almost regret that the printing of 
 the sermon of last Sunday, so generously inscribed to myself, had 
 not waited for the addition of your equally valuable and truly 
 philosophical discourse of this morning. I look upon these two 
 discourses as highly appropriate to the termination of the labours 
 of the past week, 1 and I sincerely hope they may shortly be pub- 
 lished (to which I would cheerfully contribute) for the benefit, 
 not only of the Cross Street congregation, but of the general 
 public. 
 
 I am sure Mrs. and Miss Gaskell and family were highly 
 gratified to find the whole term of the meeting an ovation of 
 the most gratifying description. Pray make our united regards 
 acceptable to them, and believe me, 
 
 Ever faithfully yours, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 1 Alluding to the meeting of the British Association ; see Chap. XXf.
 
 RIVAL HYMN-BOOKS. 457 
 
 On another occasion his interest in the chapel took 
 the form of a sensible scolding to some of the trustees : 
 
 Manchester, September 11, 1866. 
 
 Dear Sirs, As one of the oldest pew-holders in Cross Street 
 Chapel, I have witnessed with deep regret a tendency to dispute, 
 if not a total disruption of the congregation, arising as I sup- 
 pose from the desire of one party to establish new forms and 
 conditions inimical to the other. I am totally at a loss to dis- 
 cover the cause of these differences. They cannot arise from 
 the simple consideration of a change of hymn-books, and unless 
 some other motives are at work, I am unable to account for the 
 antagonisms which exist. 
 
 I am not sufficiently acquainted with the movements of 
 parties to discover to whom we are indebted for all these un- 
 fortunate cavils, but I regret them, and should greatly deplore 
 any attempt to carry out views by one party or another, 
 contrary to the wishes of the congregation, and at variance with 
 the harmony and good feeling which for a long series of years 
 has been the pride and satisfaction of its members. 
 
 If the present unfortunate contest rested exclusively upon 
 the choice of Kippis's or Martineau's hymns, the question might 
 soon be settled by the decision of the majority. I am, from 
 early associations, personally in favour of Kippis's, but I will sing 
 from Martineau provided the congregation so wills it. 
 
 On these points I am, however, of opinion that nothing 
 should be done without the aid and assistance of our Pastors. 
 They of all others ought to be consulted. They have to con- 
 duct the services of the church, and it is fitting and right that 
 they should have a voice in whatever changes may be considered 
 necessary and expedient. 
 
 I offer these remarks under the impression that the present 
 differences may be amicably settled without risk or danger of 
 disruption, and that such may be the result, 
 
 I am, dear Sirs, sincerely and truly yours, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 The Trustees of Cross Street Chapel. 
 
 Above the pew in the chapel in which for so long a 
 period he was accustomed to sit, a white marble tablet,.
 
 458 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxrv. 
 
 exquisitely sculptured by T. Woolner, E.A., was erected 
 by his son, the present baronet. It bears the following 
 simple inscription between two stems of oak and thistle : 
 
 THIS TABLET 
 
 IS PLACED HEKE TO THE MEMORY OF 
 SIR 
 
 WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN 
 
 LL.D. D.C.L.. 
 FIRST BARONET 
 
 OF ARDWICK 
 
 WHO WORSHIPPED IN THIS CHAPEL 
 
 FOR MORE THAN 50 TEARS. 
 
 HE WAS BORN 
 
 AT KELSO 
 18TH FEBRUARY 1789. 
 
 AND DIED 
 AT MOOR PARK 
 
 SURREY 
 18TH AUGUST 1874. 
 
 In a letter of 1854 to the daughter of an old friend, 
 he says : 
 
 Many thanks for the book of sermons, but I very much 
 doubt whether they are at all likely to supplant Blair. Blair 
 and I are old friends, and I have treasured up his benevolent 
 and homely maxims from early life until they have become 
 almost a part of my existence. Besides, they are very healthy 
 discourses, and as I like my religious garments to sit easy upon 
 myself, I am inclined to extend the same comfort to others. 
 You must not therefore be alarmed about me, as in my en- 
 deavour to do my best in the faithful discharge of the duties 
 of this life I hope, through God's mercy, to meet our dear 
 friends in that which is to come. 
 
 At a later time an event occurred which tried his 
 temper sorely. The young lady to whom the letter just 
 mentioned was written had married, and Mr. Fairbairn 
 invited the pair to pay him a visit; the invitation was 
 accepted, but the husband (a Scotchman) having heard 
 that Mr. Fairbairn attended a chapel where Unitarian
 
 RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 459 
 
 views were held, was so shocked that, considering the 
 residence of such a person as a pest house to be avoided, 
 he wrote an angry letter putting an end to the arrange- 
 ment. This letter cannot be found, or it might be printed 
 as an example of Scotch notions of toleration ; but Mr. 
 Fairbairn's admirable answer to the young wife was as 
 follows : 
 
 My dear Mrs. , I do not wish to say a single word 
 
 against the husband of your choice ; but if I am to judge of his 
 character by a letter received this morning, I should certainly 
 arrive at conclusions anything but favourable to his discretion. 
 He may be a good man, and have all the conditions you require, 
 but he is assuredly devoid of the feeling of what is due from one 
 
 gentleman to another. You may inform Mr. , that I do 
 
 not envy his religious convictions, but I do most earnestly pray 
 that I may never possess them. I may be wrong in this, but I 
 am quite able to judge for myself in matters of faith without 
 
 calling upon Mr. as my Father Confessor. I regret, my 
 
 dear madam, that your promised visit to the Polygon should 
 have had such a termination. Both Mrs. Fairbairn and myself 
 retain a lively recollection of your former self, and with every 
 good wish, believe me, 
 
 Most sincerely yours, 
 
 W. FAIRBAIRN. 
 
 P.S. Mr. 's letter requires no answer. 
 
 In April 1874, a few months before his death, a lady 
 friend, zealous to do good, wrote a long letter to him on 
 his religious views. His answer is not preserved ; but he 
 endorsed the letter ' I can think for myself,' and he re- 
 mained in this tone of mind to the end. 
 
 The following remarks appended to an obituary 
 notice in a Manchester paper are happily appropriate : 
 
 It remains to say that in Sir William Fairbairn an urbane 
 amiability of demeanour was united to intellectual strength,
 
 460 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 and that no man could be more deserving of the tributes of 
 social esteem which he so constantly received. 
 
 He had the straightforward simplicity so characteristic of 
 strong men, with a grave gentleness, neither rugged nor repel- 
 lent. 
 
 The painter Haydon, visiting Manchester thirty-five years 
 ago to lecture, to start a school of design, and to apprentice a 
 son at Fairbairn's, is said to have made this entry in his journal 
 after a dinner party at Mr. Darbishire's : * Liked Fairbairn 
 much ; a good, iron, steam-engine head. To see his expression 
 when they talked of " Ernest Maltravers," made me inwardly 
 rejoice. " I cannot get through novels," said he ; it showed his 
 good sense. He has risen from a foundry labourer to be master 
 of as great a manufactory as any in the world.' Haydon's obser- 
 vation, however true as far as it goes, prompts the addition that 
 Fairbairn in his youth had been no ignorant clown. His mind 
 was of finer mould, and had been better trained at home than is 
 commonly to be looked for in the class of life to which Haydon 
 referred him. Familiarity with hardships had no more roughen- 
 ing effect on him than would be expected from some of the 
 sports of young gentlemen's playgrounds, or the experiences of 
 a military campaign. 
 
 The expression quoted as his by Haydon that he ' could 
 not read novels,' was, however, not literally true ; for when 
 well written he read them with much interest, and when 
 he happened to be on friendly terms with the authors he 
 generally wrote to them his opinion of their works, 
 sometimes indeed criticising pretty freely the parts which 
 he did not approve. 
 
 He had a good deal of correspondence of this kind 
 with Mrs. Gaskell, with whom, as the wife of his pastor, 
 he was on terms of intimate friendship ; and his remarks 
 were taken by that talented lady in very good part, as the 
 following extracts from her letters will show : 
 
 Plymouth Grove. 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, I am ashamed that I have been 
 so long in acknowledging your kind friendly note, and very just
 
 NOVELS. 461 
 
 criticisms on 'North and South.' Do you know I have half begun 
 to expect a note from you after the publication of every story 
 of mine, and I was beginning to feel a little disappointed that 
 none arrived on this occasion. You see how unreasonable 
 authors (as well as other people) become if they have once been 
 indulged. 
 
 Your kind and racy critiques both give me pleasure and do 
 me good ; that is to say, your praise gives me pleasure because 
 it is so sincere and judicious that I value it ; and your fault- 
 finding does me good, because it always makes me think, and 
 very often it convinces me that I am in error. This time I 
 believe you have hit upon a capital blunder ... I don't think 
 a second edition will be called for ; but if it should be, you may 
 depend upon it I shall gladly and thoughtfully make use of your 
 suggestion. 
 
 I agree with you that there are a certain set of characters in 
 ' North and South,' of no particular interest to any one in the tale, 
 any more than such people would be in real life ; but they were 
 wanted to fill up unimportant places in the story, when otherwise 
 there would have been unsightly gaps. 
 
 Mr. Hale is not a ' sceptic ' ; he has doubts, and can resolve 
 greatly about great things, and is capable of self-sacrifice in 
 theory; but in the details of practice he is weak and vacillating. 
 I know a character just like his, a clergyman who has left the 
 Church from principle, and in that did finely ; but his daily life 
 is a constant unspoken regret that he did so, although he would 
 do it again if need be. 
 
 But I am afraid I am taking up your time with what you 
 will not care to read. Thank you again, dear Mr. Fairbairn, for 
 your note, which I shall always value, and believe me, 
 
 I am yours most truly, 
 
 E. C. GASKELL. 
 
 The following relates to remarks of his on the work 
 by which this authoress is perhaps best known, the ' Life 
 of Charlotte Bronte.' 
 
 (Date probably June 1857.) 
 
 My dear Mr. Fairbairn, I don't think you know how much 
 good your letter did me. In the first place I was really afraid
 
 462 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 that you did not like my book, because I had never received 
 your usual letter of criticism ; and in the second, it was the one 
 sweet little drop of honey that the postman had brought me for 
 some time, as, on the average, I had been receiving three letters 
 a day for above a fortnight, finding great fault with me (to 
 use a mild expression for the tone of their compliments) for my 
 chapter about the Cowan Bridge school. 
 
 So I gave your letter a great welcome, my dear Mr. Fair- 
 bairn, and I should have replied to it sooner, but that it has 
 seemed very difficult to catch you. No sooner did I hear you 
 were in Manchester than you wrote to Mary Holland, saying 
 that you were leaving; and, really, unless I had directed to 
 ' Wm. Fairbairn, Esq., Eailway Carriage,' I don't know where I 
 could have found you. 
 
 I have had a preface to my (forthcoming) third edition sent 
 to me, which I dare not insert there ; but it is too good to be 
 lost, therefore I shall copy it out for you : 
 
 * If anybody is displeased with any statement in this book, 
 they are requested to believe it withdrawn, and my deep regret 
 expressed for its insertion, as truth is too expensive an article to 
 be laid before the British public.' 
 
 But for the future I intend to confine myself to lies (i.e. fic- 
 tion). It is safer. 
 
 "We did so enjoy Eome. We often thought of you, and half con- 
 sidered if you would not turn up in the Holy Week, which you 
 hinted at as possible when we left. We came home by Florence, 
 Venice, Milan, Genoa, and Nice. I wonder if you are at home, 
 and if we could tempt you to come in to our 8 o'clock tea 
 to-morrow night. We have Miss Bronte's faithful friend E. 
 staying with us. 
 
 Yours ever most truly and gratefully, 
 
 E. C. GASKELL. 
 
 In regard to Sir William Fairbairn's professional and 
 scientific character, the following communications from 
 friends who had the best opportunity, as well as the best 
 capability of judging, speak for themselves :
 
 SCIENTIFIC CHARACTER. 463 
 
 Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill, Staines, 
 
 October 31, 1876. 
 
 You have asked me for an expression of my opinion in re- 
 gard to the late Sir W. Fairbairn, especially with regard to 
 his scientific position. I was, as you know, well acquainted 
 with his scientific work during seven, years, and assisted him 
 in his researches. I am very glad, therefore, to state my 
 impressions. 
 
 I would remark first of all that Sir W. Fairbairn's knowledge 
 of science was not chiefly learned from books, and that his know- 
 ledge of mathematical methods was not extensive. He owed his 
 extensive knowledge of the use of materials almost entirely to 
 observation and experience. Interested in knowing what pro- 
 gress was making in different branches of science, and ready to 
 accept any help from mathematicians, he still fought his own 
 way to knowledge along a different path. He did not appear to 
 me to accept with firmness anything which he had not confirmed 
 by his own observations or experiment. His thorough reliance 
 upon direct experiment made him willing to undertake any in- 
 vestigation likely to throw light on doubtful points of practical 
 science, and when he had once formulated the results of his 
 experiments he relied on them with a remarkable absence of 
 doubt or hesitation, and applied his conclusions in practice with 
 a courage which would have sometimes seemed rashness to 
 anyone more conversant with theoretical considerations. 
 
 I do not think that anyone else would have ventured to apply 
 the common plate girder formula to so different a construction 
 as a ship. But after the wreck of the Koyal Charter he investi- 
 gated the strength of ships in that way, and was led to the con- 
 clusion that many ships were deficient in power of resisting 
 bending strains. At the moment no more elaborate investiga- 
 tion was possible, and the rough result obtained by Sir W. Fair- 
 bairn was not only correct, but did good service. Later inves- 
 tigations of a much more elaborate character on the transverse 
 strength of ships have been made ; but so far as I know, Sir W. 
 Fairbairn was the first to point out that an iron ship needs to 
 be considered as a girder resisting transverse forces. 
 
 There can be no question that parallel with theoretical in- 
 vestigations in applied mechanics there is needed a series < f
 
 464 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XXIY. 
 
 experimental investigations to check the results of theory, and 
 to furnish the numerical data which are required. I suppose no 
 one has done so much to supply such data as Sir \V. Fairbaim. 
 His experiments on the strength of materials and of structures 
 involved a considerable expenditure of thought, of labour, and 
 of money. Those experiments always were of a practical cha- 
 racter, but they did not aim at any immediate commercial 
 result. Sir W. Fairbairn was always ready to undertake 
 researches which it appeared would increase practical knowledge, 
 trusting that in time the results would prove to be of value. I 
 may add that his experiments were always made in a truly 
 scientific spirit, and with all the precautions which were known 
 to be desirable. His experiments are therefore trustworthy, and 
 free from any suspicion of bias. 
 
 As to Sir "W. Fairbairn's position as an engineer, it would 
 hardly be becoming in me to say very much. His reputation 
 was so well established in so many different branches of engi- 
 neering, and his works are so important and well known, that 
 no testimony from me is needed. I can only say that a younger 
 engineer could not help being struck with his sound and rapid 
 judgment of practical questions. 
 
 Personally, it was extremely pleasant to be engaged under 
 Sir W. Fairbairn. I found him uniformly kind and considerate. 
 He made his influence strongly felt without exercising any direct 
 pressure. He was very indefatigable in his own work, and very 
 ready to recognise conscientious work in others. His memory 
 was very accurate and retentive. In manner he was always calm, 
 and free from hurry or irritation. 
 
 W. CAWTHORNE UNWIN. 
 
 Dr. Bobinson, F.E.S., of Armagh, one of the ablest 
 and most respected men of science of the present day, 
 writes thus : 
 
 Observatory, Armagh, November 8, 1876. 
 
 I would say that Sir William Fairbairn was among the 
 noblest of the good and wise whom it has been my good fortune 
 to know during my long life. 
 
 Through all our intimacy of more than forty years I never 
 saw in him anything to cloud the high esteem in which I held 
 him.
 
 SCIENTIFIC CHARACTER. 465 
 
 Kind, generous, and upright; prudent in forming resolu- 
 tions, energetic in carrying them out, and gifted with rare 
 experimental sagacity, he was one of the best types of a class of 
 men to whom our nation owes so much of its greatness. 
 
 In one respect (at least so it seems to me) he was distin- 
 guished above the other great engineers of his time in the spirit 
 of research which urged him to enquiries involving much ex- 
 penditure of time, labour, and money, which, though of the 
 highest importance to the science of mechanical engineering, 
 brought with them no material remuneration. These he gave 
 to the public without reserve ; and it is not too much to say 
 that his investigations on the strength of riveting, on the dete- 
 rioration of cast-iron by long-continued strain, and as to the re- 
 sistance of tubes to collapse under external pressure, were boons 
 not merely to his profession, but to humanity itself. 
 
 Not less notable in him was the complete absence of affec- 
 tation ; he knew the exact measure of his attainments, and never 
 pretended to anything beyond them. 
 
 Nor had he any of that jealousy of rivals which I regret to 
 say is not very uncommon among men of science. Even in 
 vexed questions where he considered he had been unfairly 
 treated, he was never unjust to his opponents; and though 
 more than one of his proteges repaid him with ingratitude, yet 
 he spoke of this in no angry spirit. 
 
 T. R. EOBINSON. 
 
 The late Professor Macquorn Eankine, a high autho- 
 rity on mechanical science, spoke of Sir William's long 
 series of experimental investigations as * unparalleled for 
 extent and for practical utility.' 
 
 Another friend, who knew him well in business, 
 says : 
 
 In a professional sense, no difficulty daunted him. He liked, 
 as he said, 4 to tackle a big job,' the more novel and daring 
 the better ; his energy and determination seemed to increase in 
 proportion to the number and magnitude of the difficulties he 
 had to overcome. He was for this reason very often consulted by 
 the different departments of the Government, and by many of the 
 H H
 
 466 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM PAIRBAIRN. CHAP. XXTV. 
 
 great civil engineers who, between 1830 and 1870, were develop- 
 ing and completing great industrial and national undertakings 
 with a rapidity and success which astonished the world. His 
 eagerness to associate himself with such enterprises, and his 
 desire to secure for his own manufacturing establishments some 
 portion of the constructive works, often led him into unprofit- 
 able bargains. He liked to secure a great order, and his one 
 anxiety, when such an opportunity presented itself, was to ' do 
 the work,' thinking little of the result, whether for profit or the 
 reverse. Fame with him was ever before money. He was 
 never, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, a ' good man of 
 business,' and thus we find that it was not till after 1845, when 
 his sons became associated with him as partners, and their influ- 
 ence began to predominate in the management of the concerns, 
 that he began to accumulate wealth, and make safe those profits 
 of business which he had constantly earned, but had allowed 
 to melt away again. He made several fortunes, but only kept 
 one. 
 
 In connection with his professional character and success, 
 one thing deserves especial mention. He had a wonderful eye 
 for proportion and the mechanical fitness of things. It was 
 the universal judgment and remark of the troops of eminent 
 scientific men whose friendship he enjoyed, that although he 
 made no pretensions to theoretical attainments, he had an emi- 
 nently scientific and philosophic turn of mind and thought. 
 For this reason he almost intuitively went right in all his 
 designs of novel and original nature. I cannot call to mind a 
 single instance of failure, either from inadequate strength or 
 faulty proportions in any of his work ; and his steam-engines, 
 water-wheels, mill-gearing, his boilers and bridges, were models 
 of symmetry, and were never disfigured, as is too often the case, 
 by the superfluous and injurious introduction of unnecessary 
 material. 
 
 He was frequently called in to satisfy public anxiety as 
 to the safety of large and important public structures. On 
 these occasions he seemed to take in at a glance the merits and 
 defects of any combination of parts, and he was never wrong in 
 the immediate opinion he expressed as to its security or insecu- 
 rity. He was presented with a gold snuff-box, by the council of
 
 PERSONAL CHARACTER. 467 
 
 the famous Anti-Corn Law League, for the advice and assistance he 
 gave in the construction of the roof which covered the vast area of 
 the first great Free Trade Hall in Manchester ; and I remember 
 Ins judgment and reports were at once accepted, as assuring the 
 public safety, when he was asked to examine the galleries and 
 passages of the buildings for the great International Exhibition 
 in London, and the Exhibition of Art Treasures in Manchester. 
 The weak points were detected in a moment, and the appropriate 
 remedies and strengthenings were suggested at once. 
 
 His hand-sketching was admirably clear and clever. His 
 business letters were frequently illustrated by neat drawings, 
 and the draughtsmen who elaborated his plans never had any 
 difficulty in rendering in full detail the original sketches he put 
 in their hands. It was also a characteristic practice with him 
 to order many of his mechanical contrivances to be drawn out full 
 size on a large surface. For this purpose the floor of one large 
 room nearly seventy feet long was kept free as a huge drawing- 
 board; to these full-sized drawings the wooden patterns, when 
 completed, were brought down and adjusted. 
 
 In addition to the above, the editor has been favoured 
 by intimate friends of Sir William with many less formal 
 memoranda, which enable him to give the following 
 details of his personal and private traits of character : 
 
 Perhaps the most remarkable feature was his indefati- 
 gable activity and his earnestness of purpose in work. 
 With him work seemed a necessity of life, and he 
 could not rest or be happy unless well employed. He 
 was never heard to complain of hard toil ; indeed it was 
 to him a pleasure. 
 
 The simple record of what he did as a school-boy, as 
 an almost self-teaching student, as an engineer, as an ex- 
 perimentalist, and as a writer, shows that his favourite 
 and oft-repeated assertions of ' indomitable perseverance ' 
 and 'determination to excel' were with him no idle 
 phrases, but active guiding principles of conduct. His love 
 for work lasted down to almost the very end of his long
 
 468 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxrv. 
 
 life. No hour of his day was ever unoccupied or passed 
 in idleness. He never found ' dignity in leisure,' but was 
 ever doing. In business he was unceasingly at work with 
 his brain, his pen, and his draughtsmen, in scheming, 
 inventing, or trying to improve something or other. 
 Wherever he was he breakfasted early, and the meal 
 over he at once set about a long day's work. When at 
 Manchester, from nine to six o'clock of every day was 
 spent in the office or the workshops ; and during the 
 height of his prosperity as a mechanical engineer he had 
 seldom less than eight or ten draughtsmen constantly at 
 work under his own personal direction. 
 
 His correspondence was prodigious, and he never 
 failed to answer letters, however trivial their subject, and 
 however obscure the writer, giving always the best advice 
 and assistance to all he considered worthy of it. His 
 reports and scientific writings were mostly done at night. 
 When the family retired to rest he adjourned to his library 
 at the Polygon ; and at a little writing-desk in one corner 
 of the room, with a shaded lamp by his side, and with 
 the little picture of the Arbeitszimmer of his illustrious 
 friend, the author of ' Cosmos,' before him, his pen might 
 be heard scribbling away incessantly till the small hours 
 of the morning. The quantity of matter he wrote was 
 astounding ; for the mass of his writings chronicled in the 
 pages of this work, large as it is, only represents a small 
 fraction of what proceeded from his hand. 
 
 The leisure moments he so fairly earned after a hard 
 day's work, if not spent in writing, were devoted to read- 
 ing. He was especially fond of history and biography. 
 For works of fiction generally he had no particular taste, 
 though he greatly enjoyed a novel which faithfully por- 
 trayed the scenes of home life. Goldsmith, Washington 
 Irving, and Prescott were his favourite authors, and in 
 later times he highly appreciated the works of George
 
 REGULAR HABITS. 469 
 
 Eliot, Mrs. Gaskell, and the authoress of c John Halifax, 
 Gentleman.' 
 
 His holidays, which seldom exceeded three weeks or 
 a month, were spent either at the houses of friends, or 
 in short trips abroad, or in revisiting in Scotland the 
 scenes of his early days. 
 
 But long familiarity with the stir and activity of a 
 large manufacturing town had disqualified him for enjoy- 
 ing the quiet and repose of country life. Nor had he any 
 taste for field sports; he neither hunted, nor shot, nor 
 fished ; his only exercise was walking. Whenever busi- 
 ness or inclination called him into the country, he would 
 derive his chief interest from farming operations. Any 
 time he could spare was usually spent in company with 
 the nearest farmer, discussing the state of the markets 
 and the different improvements in agriculture ; and it has 
 been noticed how the farmers were struck with his sagacity 
 and information on such matters. 
 
 Though he studied and thought much in solitude, he 
 loved companionship, and on his long journeys, as well as 
 on his visits to scientific gatherings, such as the British 
 Association, he was generally accompanied either by one 
 of his sons or by his son-in-law. 
 
 He was essentially a man of regular habits, always 
 punctual to hours and in keeping appointments, and par- 
 ticularly neat and orderly in all he did. His friend 
 Mr. Hopkins gave an amusing instance of the power of a 
 long-continued habit. In his daily walk to arid from 
 Canal Street he was accustomed to cross the road at cer- 
 tain fixed points, and he would never allow anyone or 
 anything to interfere with this practice. When these 
 various stages in his walk were reached he would give 
 Mr. Hopkins a gentle push from the causeway into the 
 mud, and thus silently insist on crossing at the places he 
 had been accustomed to.
 
 470 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRBAIRN. CHAP. xxrv. 
 
 All who were acquainted with Sir William Fairbairn 
 will bear willing testimony to his high-mindedness and 
 integrity. Strictly honourable and sincere in all his 
 dealings, he had the greatest abhorrence of. all mean- 
 ness ; and guiding his conduct by the high standard of 
 truth and right, he was one who could be invariably 
 trusted. 
 
 He was very liberal, not only with his purse, but in 
 his feelings and behaviour to those with whom he came 
 in contact. His activity in the cases of Cort and Eoberts 
 has already been noticed, and many other instances of his 
 kindliness of feeling might have been cited. The fol- 
 lowing letter from one of his assistants only expresses 
 what was a general sentiment among all who had served 
 him : 
 
 My dear Sir, Your most generous present requires me to 
 render again to you some imperfect acknowledgment of your 
 kindness. I thank you much for that, but I value more the 
 esteem you express in your letter. I have sometimes failed in 
 doing what I might have done, but I am proud notwithstanding 
 to have earned in some degree your respect. 
 
 I shall serve many masters and not find one who will treat 
 me with so uniform a courtesy or such considerate trust. 
 
 I can only repeat that I shall always be glad, with such 
 ability as I may have, and such opportunities as circumstances 
 may permit, to assist you, or to preserve the record of your 
 example as one of the most valuable heirlooms of all that you 
 will leave for the benefit of men. 
 
 His sympathy with suffering and distress, together 
 with his amiability and unsuspicious nature, made him 
 sometimes an easy prey to impostors. This trustfulness, 
 though no real loss to him, was often detrimental to 
 his success as a man of business. Though fully alive 
 to the value of money, he never made it an object of 
 unworthy desire ; simple in his tastes and wants, he
 
 POPULARITY. 471 
 
 was amply satisfied as long as he obtained sufficient 
 for the comfort and usefulness of himself and his 
 family. 
 
 In the gatherings at the Polygon there were often 
 earnest discussions, and sometimes long arguments, in 
 which he willingly joined. But in these cases he was 
 always calm ; and whenever the combatants in dispute 
 became heated or excited, his favourite exclamation, 
 * Stop a moment, now, let us consider,' would generally 
 bring them to reason. 
 
 He had little appreciation of refined wit, and the 
 most skilful play upon words and the most appropriate 
 quotations would scarcely move him ; but a good story, 
 especially if it were a Scotch one, would of all things 
 delight him, and he would recur to it again and again 
 with fresh pleasure. 
 
 In private life Sir William Fairbairn was distin- 
 guished by a quiet dignity of manner, combined with a 
 modesty, simplicity, courtesy, and gentleness, which won 
 him all hearts, and made him a general favourite. 
 Though without the advantage of early association with 
 high-born people, he was by nature a gentleman in the 
 best sense. He was a most faithful friend, never forget- 
 ting anyone who had shown him kindness or civility. 
 He was thus known by thousands who were unknown 
 to him, they having probably remembered some kindly 
 word or act which he had forgotten. The people who 
 sought his counsel were of all ranks and classes, and 
 the very humblest of them never applied in vain. In 
 Manchester especially his tall commanding figure and 
 venerable white locks were known by everyone, and 
 as he passed along the streets one heard constantly 
 uttered, ' There's Fairbairn ! ' The universal esteem in 
 which he was held was strikingly shown on the occasion
 
 472 LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM FAIIIBAIRN. CHAP. xxiv. 
 
 of his funeral, of which an account has already been 
 given. 
 
 As a parent he was most affectionate and indulgent. 
 He always impressed on his children the necessity of inde- 
 pendence of mind and action. * Never play second fiddle 
 to anyone ' was his frequent advice to them. He would 
 help them to the utmost of his power in any worthy pur- 
 suit they undertook, even when opposed to the course he 
 had marked out for them and wished them to follow. His 
 appreciation of his eldest son's sacrifice for his interests 1 
 was marked by his making him a partner in the profit- 
 able business before he came of age. 
 
 He was very fond of children. In the later years of 
 his life he seemed to become quite young again in com- 
 pany with his grandchildren ; and there was nothing he 
 enjoyed more than a good romp with them, chasing them 
 round the room amidst their screams of delight, singing 
 them one of his songs, or giving the little ones a ride on 
 his foot. 
 
 On the whole, most of his personal friends agree that 
 his virtues were many and his faults few. He had per- 
 haps an excessive ambition for popularity and fame ; but 
 this foible had one redeeming feature, namely, that he 
 aimed not so much at obtaining the applause of the million 
 as at standing well with the good and the wise. 
 
 Sir William Fairbairn was fond of drawing a moral 
 from his owii career. He would often, when lecturing to 
 working men, or addressing students, allude, with pardon- 
 able pride, to the position he occupied, contrasting it with 
 his humble origin. He would declare that it was by his 
 own industry, perseverance, and determination that his 
 
 1 See page 342.
 
 MORAL. 473 
 
 success had been brought about, and he would urge on 
 his hearers a like course of action. 
 
 He only consented to the publication of his biography 
 on the ground that it might be * for the benefit of those 
 who have to encounter similar difficulties in life ; ' and 
 it is earnestly hoped that the present work may fulfil the 
 condition he so much desired.
 
 APPENDIX
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 LIST OF SIE WILLIAM FAIKBAIRN'S PUBLISHED 
 WOEKS AND PAPERS. 
 
 IN this Appendix is given a list, arranged in chronological order, 
 of the various books, papers, and memoirs published by Sir 
 William Fairbairn. 
 
 The list is complete so far as the editor has been able to 
 ascertain ; but it is quite possible that, considering the large 
 mass of his writings, and the great variety of societies and pub- 
 lications to which he communicated them, some few may have 
 escaped attention. 
 
 The more important writings in the list have been noticed 
 in the biography, and reference is given, in each item, to the 
 place where the notice will be found. In other cases a few 
 words of explanation are appended. 
 
 1831. 
 
 ' Remarks on Canal Navigation, illustrative of the advantages 
 of the use of Steam as a Moving Power on Canals.' 8vo. pp. 93. 
 With five plates. London : Longmans & Co. 
 See Chap. IX., p. 135. 
 
 1836. 
 
 ' Reservoirs on the River Bann, in the county of Down, 
 Ireland, for more effectually supplying the Mills with Water.' 
 (Report) Tract, 4to. pp. 23. With large map. Manchester: 
 Robinson. 
 
 See Chap. X., p. 158.
 
 478 APPENDIX. 
 
 1837. 
 
 ' An Experimental Enquiry into the Strength and other Pro- 
 perties of Cast Iron from various parts of the United Kingdom,' 
 pp. 103. 
 
 Eead March 7, 1837, before the Literary and Philosophical 
 Society of Manchester, and published in their ' Transactions,' 
 vol. vi. 1842. 
 
 See Chap. X., p. 161. 
 
 ' On the Strength and other Properties of Cast Iron obtained 
 from the Hot and Cold Blast,' pp. 39. 
 
 Keport presented September 1837 to the British Association 
 for the Advancement of Science, and printed in their ' General 
 Keport,' vol. vi. 1837. 
 
 See Chap. X., p. 162. 
 
 1840. 
 
 ' An Experimental Enquiry into the Strength and other 
 Properties of Anthracite Cast Iron,' being a continuation of a 
 series of experiments on British irons from various parts of the 
 United Kingdom. 
 
 Eead November 1840 before the Literary and Philosophical 
 Society of Manchester, and published in their ' Memoirs,' vol. vi. 
 1842. 
 
 See Chap. XII., p. 180. 
 
 ' On the Economy of raising Water from Coal Mines on the 
 Cornish Principle,' pp. 15. With two plates. 
 
 Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society, vol. i. 
 8vo. London : Simpkin & Marshall. 1841. 
 
 See Chap. XII., p. 180. 
 
 1843. 
 
 ' Description of a Woollen Factory erected in Turkey.' 
 
 Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. vol. iii. 1843, p. 125. 
 
 See Chap. XL, p. 173. 
 
 1844. 
 
 ' Experimental Eesearches into the Properties of the Iron 
 Ores of Samakoff in Turkey,' &c. &c., pp. 20. 
 
 Min. Proc. Instit. C.E. vol. iii. p. 225. 
 
 See Chap. XL, p. 173.
 
 APPENDIX.' 479 
 
 ' On the Consumption of Fuel and the Prevention of Smoke,' 
 pp. 20. 
 
 Keport of the 14th Meeting of the British Association, 
 September 1844, p. 100. 
 
 See Chap. XIL, p. 183. 
 
 ' Keport of William Fairbairn, Esq., C.E., on the Construc- 
 tion of Fireproof Buildings,' with introductory remarks by 
 Samuel Holme. 
 
 Also Eeport of Mr. W. Fairbairn and Mr. D. Bellhouse, on 
 the cause of the Falling of Messrs. Eadcliffe's Mill at Oldham.' 
 
 Tract, 8vo. pp. 39. Liverpool : Thomas Baines, Castle 
 Street. 1844. See Chap. XIL, p. 185. 
 
 1847. 
 
 ' On some Defects in the Principle and Construction of Fire- 
 proof Buildings,' pp. 25. With a plate. 
 Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. vol. vii. p. 213. 
 See Chap. XIL, p. 186. 
 
 Evidence and Documents on the subject of Iron Struc- 
 tures. 
 
 Eeport of the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the 
 application of Iron to Eailway Structures. Presented to Parlia- 
 ment 1849. 
 
 See Chap. XIL, p. 188. 
 
 1849. 
 
 1 An Account of the Construction of the Britannia and Con- 
 way Tubular Bridges, with a complete history of their progress,' 
 &c. Large 8vo. pp. 291. With several plates. London : 
 Weale & Longman. 1849. 
 
 See Chap. XIII., p. 197. 
 
 ' On the Expansive Action of Steam, and a new Construction 
 of Expansion Valves for Condensing Steam Engines.' 
 
 Civil Engineers and Architects' Journal, vol. xii. p. 315. 
 
 Dingler's Polytechnische Journale, vol. cxv. p. 1 . 
 
 See Chap. XVIII., p. 319.
 
 480 APPENDIX. 
 
 * On Water-wheels with Ventilated Buckets.' 
 Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. vol. viii. p. 45. 
 
 See Chap. XIL, p. 188. 
 
 1850. 
 
 ' An Experimental Enquiry into the Strength of Wrought 
 Iron Plates and their Eiveted Joints, as applied to Shipbuilding 
 and vessels exposed to severe strain.' 
 
 Phil. Trans. 1850, p. 677. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 402. 
 
 ' On Tubular Girder Bridges.' 
 
 Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. vol. ix. p. 233. 
 
 See Chap. XXIL, p. 401. 
 
 * An Experimental Enquiry into the Relative Power of the 
 Locomotive Engine, and the Eesistance of Railway Gradients.' 
 
 Read before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Man- 
 chester, February 5, 1850, and published in vol. ix. of their 
 ' Memoirs.' 
 
 This paper consists of a record of several series of experi- 
 ments with locomotive engines on steep inclines on the Lanca- 
 shire and Yorkshire and the East Lancashire railways, to de- 
 termine the possibility of working such inclines with locomotive 
 engines instead of by fixed engines. 
 
 It is not clear what share Mr. Fairbairn had in these trials ; 
 but he reasoned upon them, and gave his opinion that 'the 
 locomotive engine of the present day is more than commensurate 
 for the attainment of these objects,' an opinion which has been 
 amply borne out by subsequent experience, as of late years 
 locomotive power has been used successfully for inclines much 
 steeper than those contemplated in the above paper. 
 
 4 On the Security and Limit of Strength of Tubular Bridges 
 constructed of Wrought Iron.' Read April 2, 1850, before the 
 same Society, and published also in their vol. ix. 
 
 This was for the most part a reproduction of the paper 
 presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers about the same 
 time.
 
 APPENDIX. 481 
 
 1851. 
 
 ' Two Lectures on the Construction of Boilers, and on Boiler 
 Explosions ; with the Means of Prevention.' Delivered before the 
 Leeds Mechanics' Institution April 23 and 24, 1851. 
 
 Tract, 8vo. London : Simpkin, Marshall & Co. ; Weale. 
 1851. 
 
 (Also in Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1851.) 
 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 263. 
 
 1852. 
 
 ' On Metallic Constructions.' Civ. Eng. and Arch. Journal, 
 vol. xv. p. 145. Franklin Inst. Jour. vol. xxiv. 
 
 A paper containing matter for the most part published 
 elsewhere. 
 
 'On a new Tubular Boiler' (Brit. Assoc.) C.E. and Arch. 
 Jour. vol. xv. p. 330. 
 
 This was a description of a proposed modification of his 
 original double flued boiler, but it involved some internal com- 
 plexity, and did not come into general use. 
 
 'On the Minie Rifle' (Brit. Assoc.) C.E. and Arch. 
 Jour. vol. xv. p. 331. 
 
 A description of the arm, then a novelty exciting much 
 interest in this country. 
 
 1853. 
 
 'Experimental Researches to determine the Strength of 
 Locomotive Boilers, and the Causes which lead to Explosion.' 
 Reports of the British Association. Hull Meeting, 1853. 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 264. 
 
 ' On the Mechanical Properties of Metals as derived from 
 repeated Meltings, exhibiting the Maximum Point of Strength 
 and the Causes of Deterioration.' 
 
 Jbid. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 405. 
 
 II
 
 482 APPENDIX. 
 
 6 On the Progress of Mechanical Science.' Address delivered 
 by the President of the Mechanical Section on the opening of 
 the business. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 See Chap. XXL, p. 369. 
 
 ' Experiments on the Strength of Cast Iron Smelted with 
 Purified Coke.' 
 
 Min. Inst. C.E. vol. xii. p. 360. 
 
 This related to a proposed mode of purifying coke from 
 sulphur by chemical means, and Mr. Fairbairn's experiments 
 showed that the process improved the quality of the iron,; but 
 it has not come into use. 
 
 ' On a new Description of Winding Engine.' 
 
 Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 
 1853. 
 
 This was an account of an engine erected by Messrs. Fair- 
 bairn and Sons at a colliery at Dukinfield near Manchester, 
 700 yards deep. The peculiarity of the engine was its large 
 size, 400 to 450 horse power, and the fact that it had been 
 modelled on the direct acting principle, similar to the marine 
 engines which the same firm had put in Her Majesty's frigates, 
 the ' Vulture,' ' Odin ' and ' Dragon.' The paper was accom- 
 panied by drawings of the engines. 
 
 < On the Eetardation and Stoppage of Railway Trains.' 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 The object of this was chiefly to describe the continuous 
 self-acting brake, invented shortly before by Mr. James Newall, 
 of Bury, and which has since come largely into use both in 
 England and abroad. The experiments quoted in the paper 
 showed that a train weighing 88 tons, when running at 48 miles 
 an hour down an incline of 1 in 40, could be stopped by this 
 break in 371 yards; when running on a level at 33 miles an 
 hour it could be stopped in 100 yards. 
 
 1854. 
 
 ' Description of an Improved Steam Travelling Crane.' 
 Read before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, July 
 1854, and published in their 'Proceedings.'
 
 APPENDIX. 483 
 
 This was an apparatus constructed for the purpose of lifting 
 heavy weights and moving them ahout, chiefly applied to large 
 stones during building operations. The hoisting machine was 
 made to traverse a scaffold erected overhead, having motion 
 both in the longitudinal and transverse directions ; the novelty 
 in this machine was that both the hoisting and the locomotion 
 were effected by the power of a small steam engine attached to 
 the machinery, and which moved about along with it ; this ap- 
 plication of power effecting a considerable saving both of labour 
 and time. 
 
 ' Description of the Sliding Caisson at Keyham Dockyard.' 
 
 Min. Proc. Inst. C.E. vol. xiii. p. 444. 
 
 See Chap. XVIII., p. 320. 
 
 * On the Application of Cast and Wrought Iron to Building 
 Purposes.' London : Weale. 1856. Large 8vo. pp. 183, with 
 plates. Second edition, with additions. Weale, 1857. Third 
 edition. Longmans, 1864. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 406. 
 
 1855. 
 
 ' Description of a New Construction of Pumping Engine.' 
 
 Proceedings of the Inst. of Mechanical Engineers, 1855, 
 p. 177. 
 
 This was merely a description of a pumping engine erected 
 by Messrs. Fairbairn at Dukinfield Colliery. 
 
 1 Provisional Keport of Committee of the British Association 
 on the Properties of Metals used for Artillery.' 
 
 Brit. Assoc. Eep. vol. xxiv. p. 100. 
 
 This was the beginning of an enquiry that was not continued. 
 
 1856. 
 
 ' On the Tensile Strength of Wrought Iron at various Tem- 
 peratures.' 
 
 Brit. Assoc. Kep. vol. xxv. p. 405. 
 
 He had before investigated the same subject for cast-iron, 
 and the Association had made him a grant for continuing the 
 investigation. This paper was the result. It gave details of a 
 large number of experiments on wrought-iron, and it appeared
 
 484 APPENDIX. 
 
 that in a range from to 500 or 600 Fahr. no perceptible 
 variation in strength was caused by the alteration of tempe- 
 rature. 
 
 4 Useful Information for Engineers.' Being a series of lec- 
 tures, &c. London : Longmans. 1856. Large 8vo. Plates. 
 Followed by other editions. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 409. 
 
 1857. 
 
 * On Tubular Wrought Iron Cranes ;' with description of the 
 60-ton tubular crane recently erected at Keyham Dockyard, 
 Devonport. 
 
 Proceedings of the Inst. Mechan. Eng., 1857, pp. 87 to 96. 
 With four plates. 
 
 See Chap. XVIII., p. 321. 
 
 4 On the Comparative Value of various kinds of Stone as 
 exhibited by their Powers of resisting Compression.' 
 
 Kead before the Literary and Philosophical Society of Man- 
 chester April 1, 1856, and published in their 'Transactions,' 
 second series, vol. xiv. pp. 31-47. 
 
 This paper described a great number of experiments made 
 in crushing small cubes of various kinds of stone, and a compa- 
 rison of these with other materials, such as iron and timber. 
 Drawings of the fractures were also given. 
 
 1857. 
 
 Note on the ' Life of James Watt.' 
 
 In Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men. By 
 Francois Arago. London : Longmans. 1857. 
 See Chap. XXL, p. 378. 
 
 1858. 
 
 ' Experiments to determine the Strength of some Alloys of 
 Nickel and Iron, similar in Composition to Meteoric Iron.' 
 
 Eead before the Manchester Philosophical Society March 9, 
 1858. Published in their ' Transactions,' vol. xv. pp. 104-112. 
 It had been supposed that such a mixture would be stronger and 
 tougher than the simple iron, but these experiments proved the 
 contrary.
 
 APPENDIX. 485 
 
 ' On the Comparative Temperature of the Climate of Eng- 
 land and some parts of Italy.' 
 Ibid. pp. 45-48. 
 See Chap. XXI., p. 380. 
 * On the Resistance of Tubes to Collapse.' 
 Read before the Royal Society May 20, 1858. 
 Phil. Trans., 1858, pp. 389 to 413. With two plates. 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 270. 
 The same abbreviated. 
 pRep. Brit. Assoc. 1857, pp. 215-219. 
 ' On the Collapse of Glass Globes and Cylinders.' 
 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1858, pp. 174-176. 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 273. 
 
 ' The Patent Laws.' Report of Committee. Presented by 
 \V. Fairbairn. 
 
 Rep. Brit. Assoc. 1858, pp. 164-167. 
 
 A summary of the effect of recent patent legislation. 
 
 ' On Shipping Statistics,' Report of Committee. (W. Fair- 
 bairn, chairman.) 
 
 Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1858, pp. 239-260. 
 
 Having a view to the improvement of the character of statis- 
 tical records, particularly as regards the definition of tonnage. 
 
 ' Description of a Floating Steam Corn Mill and Bakery.' 
 'Proc.Inst. Mechanical Engineers,' 1858, pp. 155-158. Two 
 plates. 
 
 See Chap. XVIII., p. 330. 
 
 4 Notice of some Experimental Apparatus for determining 
 the density of Steam at all Temperatures.' 
 
 Contributed by Mr. Fairbairn to the Manchester Literary 
 and Philosophical Society on November 16, 1858, and published 
 in their ' Transactions.' This consisted of a brief sketch of the 
 apparatus with which he, in conjunction with Mr. Tate, was 
 performing the investigation afterwards laid before the Royal 
 Society. 
 
 ' An Experimental Enquiry into the effect of Severe Pres- 
 sure upon the Properties of Gunpowder.' 
 
 Read before the same society March 22, 1859. Published 
 in their ' Proceedings.'
 
 486 APPENDIX 
 
 The Government had, during the late war, requested him to 
 subject some samples of gunpowder to severe pressure, in order 
 to ascertain the effect of close contact between the particles on 
 its explosive properties ; and the effects are stated. 
 
 ' Experiments to determine the effects of different Modes of 
 Treatment on Cast Iron for the Manufacture of Cannon.' 
 
 Eead before the same society May 3, 1859, and published in 
 their ' Proceedings.' 
 
 This is an account of some experiments with certain peculiar 
 modes of casting which were applied to some guns made by him 
 and tried at Woolwich in 1855. 
 
 1859. 
 
 ' Eeport of Committee on the Patent Laws.' Presented by 
 W. Fairbairn. 
 
 Eep. Brit. Assoc. 1859, p. 191. 
 
 ' Experimental Eesearches to determine the Density of Steam 
 at various 'Temperatures.' By Wm. Fairbairn and Thomas 
 Tate. 
 
 Eep. Brit. Assoc. 1859, p. 233. 
 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 273. 
 
 'Three Lectures on the Eise and Progress of Civil and 
 Mechanical Engineering, and 011 Popular Education.' (Two 
 delivered at Derby and one at Blackburn.) Derby : W. & W. 
 Pike. 1859. 
 
 ' On the Eesistance of Glass Globes and Cylinders to Collapse 
 from External Pressure, and on the Tensile and Compressive 
 Strength of various kinds of Glass.' By W. Fairbairn and 
 Thomas Tate. 
 
 Phil. Trans. 1859, pp. 213 to 247. 
 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 273. 
 
 1859-60. 
 
 ' On the Efficiency of various kinds of Eailway Brakes.' 
 Eep. Brit. Assoc. 1859, p. 76. 
 
 Also a more extended paper on the same subject in Min. 
 Inst, C.E. vol. xix. pp. 490 to 517. 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 411.
 
 APPENDIX. 487 
 
 'Experimental Eesearches to determine the Density of 
 Steam at different Temperatures, and to determine the Law of 
 Expansion of superheated Steam.' By Wm. Fairbairn and 
 Thomas Tate. Phil. Trans. 1860, pp. 185 to 222. With 
 three plates. 
 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 273. 
 
 ( Useful Information for Engineers.' Second Series. London : 
 Longmans. 1860. 8vo. pp. 330. Plates. 
 
 See Chap. XXII.. p. 412. 
 
 ' The Strength of Iron Ships.' 
 
 Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects. Vol. i. 
 1860, pp. 71-81. Two plates. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 411. 
 
 1860-61. 
 
 ' Experiments to determine the effect of Vibratory Action and 
 long-continued Changes of Load upon Wrought-iron Girders.' 
 Brit. Assoc. Eep. 1860, pp. 45-48 ; Ditto 1861, pp. 286-9. 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 413. 
 
 1861. 
 
 1 Iron : its History, Properties, and Processes of Manufac- 
 ture.' (Eeprinted from the eighth edition of the ' Encyclopaedia 
 Britannica.') Edinburgh: Black. 1861. 8vo. pp. 236. Third 
 edition 1869. 
 
 See Chap. XXIL, p. 408. 
 
 ' On the Mechanical Properties of Iron Armour Plates.' 
 Eeport of the Iron Armour Committee, 1861 (not pub- 
 lished). 
 
 See Chap. XX., p. 359. 
 
 1 Treatise on Mills and Millwork. Part I. On the Prin- 
 ciple of Mechanism and on Prime Movers.' London: Long- 
 mans. 1861. Svo.pp. 280. Plates. 
 
 See Chap. XXIL, p. 414. 
 
 'Opening Address at the Meeting of the British Association 
 at Manchester.' 
 
 Eeport for the year. 
 
 See Chap. XXL, p. 386.
 
 488 APPENDIX. 
 
 ' Remarks on the Temperature of the Earth's Crust, as ex- 
 hibited in the Dukintield Deep Mine.' 
 
 Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1861, p. 53-56. One plate. 
 
 This mine was sunk above 700 yards deep, and careful ob- 
 servations were made of the temperatures of the strata at 
 various points in the descent. It increased from 62^ at 358 
 yards to 75 at 717 yards, and the experiments appeared to con- 
 firm the previous impression that the temperature increased 
 directly as the depth. 
 
 * On the Permeability of various kinds of Insulation for 
 Submarine Telegraph Cables.' Report of Joint Committee 
 on the Construction of Submarine Telegraph Cables, 1861. 
 Appendix No. 5. 
 
 See Chap. XXI., p. 382. 
 
 ' On the Resistance of Iron Plates to Statical Pressure, and 
 the Force of Impact by Projectiles at High Velocities.' 
 
 Brit. Assoc. Reports, 1861, pp. 280-286. 1862, pp. 178-184. 
 
 See Chap. XX. 
 
 1862. 
 
 4 On the Resistance of different kinds of Shot.' 
 
 4 On the Properties of Iron Armour Plates.' 
 
 Report of the Iron Armour Committee, 1862 (not pub- 
 lished). 
 
 See Chap. XX., p. 408. 
 
 4 Address at the Opening of the Section of Mechanical 
 Science, British Association.' 
 
 Brit. Assoc. Rep., 1862, pp. 178-182. 
 
 See Chap. XXI., p. 394. 
 
 ' On the Properties of Iron and its Resistance to Projectiles 
 at High Velocities.' 
 
 Lecture at the Royal Institution, May 9, 1862. Proc. vol. 
 iv. pp. 491-502. 
 
 See Chap. XX. 
 
 1863. 
 
 * Treatise on Mills and Millwork. Part II. On Machinery 
 of Transmission and the Construction and Management of 
 Mills.' 
 
 London: Longmans. 1863. 8vo. pp. 284. Plates. 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 414.
 
 APPENDIX. 489 
 
 ' On the Reconstruction of the Dinting and Mottram 
 Viaducts.' 
 
 Min. of Proc. Inst. C. E., May 24, 1869. 
 See Chap. XVIII., p. 331. 
 
 ' Four Papers on the Properties of Iron Armour Plates, and 
 of Projectiles.' 
 
 Report of the Iron Armour Committee, 1863. (Not 
 published.) 
 
 See Chap. XX., p. 408. 
 
 ' Experiments to determine the effect of Impact, Vibratory 
 Action, and long-continued Changes of Load on "Wrought-iron 
 G-irders.' 
 
 Phil. Trans. 1864, pp. 311-325. Two plates. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 414. 
 
 1864. 
 
 Three Papers on the Properties of Iron Armour Plates.' 
 Report of the Iron Armour Committee, 1 864. (Not pub- 
 ished.) 
 
 See Chap. XX., p. 408. 
 
 1864-5. 
 
 On the Atlantic Cable.' 
 
 Brit. Assoc. Rep. 1864, and 1865. 
 
 See Chap. XXI. 
 
 1865. 
 
 < Treatise on Iron Shipbuilding, its history and progress ; as 
 comprised in a series of experimental researches on the laws 
 of strain ; the strengths, forms and other conditions of the 
 material, and an enquiry into the present and prospective state 
 of the navy, including the experimental results on the resisting 
 powers of armour plates and shot at high velocities.' 8vo. 
 Plates and cuts. London : Longmans. 1865. 
 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 416. 
 
 1866. 
 
 4 Description of the Removing and Replacing of the Iron 
 Columns in a Cotton Mill.'
 
 490 APPENDIX. 
 
 Eead before the Institution of Mechanical Engineers 
 August 1, 1866, and published in their 'Transactions' for the 
 year, pp. 181-185. Three plates. 
 
 In consequence of the improvements in mule spinning it 
 became necessary to widen the old mills, and to effect this in 
 the case described a number of iron columns in a fire-proof 
 building carrying iron and brick floors of a weight of 90 tons 
 had to be removed while 300 persons were at work in the mill. 
 The paper gives a description, with plates, explaining how this 
 was successfully done. 
 
 ' Useful Information for Engineers.' Third series. London : 
 Longmans. 
 
 See Chap. XXIL, p. 416. 
 
 1869. 
 
 'An Experimental Enquiry into the Strength, Elasticity, 
 Ductility, and other Properties of Steel manufactured by the 
 Barrow Hsematite Steel Company.' London : Spottiswoode, 
 1869. 8vo, pp. 51. One plate. 
 
 ' On the Law of Eesistance of Armour Plates.' 
 Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects, 1869. 
 See Chap. XX. 
 
 ' The Eise and Progress of Manufactures and Commerce, 
 and of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, in Lancashire and 
 Cheshire.' Forming part of Baines's ' Lancashire and Cheshire, 
 Past and Present.' London : Mackenzie. 
 
 See Chap. XXIL, p. 416. 
 
 1870. 
 
 'On Governmental Boiler Inspection.' A letter to John 
 Hick, Esq., M.P. (Tract.) 
 
 Manchester Guardian Office. 1870. 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 278. 
 
 1871. 
 
 ' On Steam Boiler Legislation.' 
 
 Quarterly Journal of Science, April 1871, pp. 214-227. 
 
 See Chap. XVI., p. 278.
 
 APPENDIX. 491 
 
 1873. 
 
 * On the Durability and Preservation of Iron Ships, and on 
 Eiveted Joints.' 
 
 Proceedings of the Royal Society, vol. xxi. pp. 259-263. 
 See Chap. XXII., p. 418.
 
 INDEX
 
 INDEX. 
 
 A AEON MANBY,' the, 335 
 JLl. Abdul-Megid, Sultan of Turkey, 
 175 
 
 Accidents, protection against, 182 
 
 Admiralty, the, Fairbairn's work for, 
 395 
 
 Ainsworth, Mr., 444 
 
 Air-cooling apparatus, 369 
 
 Airy,G.D., 252 
 
 Albano Lake, drainage of, 9 
 
 Albert, Prince, his acquaintance with 
 Fairbairn, 450 
 
 Albion Mills, the, 34 
 
 Ali Effendi, ambassador to England, 
 172 
 
 Alps, the, Fairbairn's opinion of, 128 
 
 Amalgamated Society of Engineers, 
 322 
 
 'Amicus', letters of, to the ' Times,' 
 324, 325 
 
 Angelo, Michael, 10 
 
 ' Anthracite Cast Iron, Enquiry into 
 the Strength of,' 180 
 
 'Application of Cast and Wrought 
 Iron to Building Purposes,' 406 
 
 Aqueducts of Rome, 9 
 
 Arago, F., his acquaintance with 
 Fairbairn, 246 ; his correspondence 
 with Fairbairn, 251 
 
 Arch, invention of the, 8 ; iron arch 
 over the Severn, 30 
 
 Archimedes of Syracuse, a mecha- 
 nical engineer, 24 
 
 Ardrossan Canal, experiments con- 
 cerning law of traction in boats on, 
 133 
 
 Armour, iron ; see Iron armour 
 
 Armour-plates, iron, 48 
 
 Art Treasures Exhibition in Man- 
 chester, 379 
 
 Ashburton, Lord, and the strike of 
 1851, 324 ; letter to Fairbairn from, 
 375 
 
 Association for the prevention of 
 steam-boiler explosions, 264 ; first 
 steps for the formation of, 265 ; 
 
 BEE 
 
 preliminary meetings, 267 ; formal 
 establishment, 268 ; Fairbairn as 
 president, 268 ; present state of the 
 association, 268 ; objects of the in- 
 stitution, 268, 269 ; boiler legisla- 
 tion taken up by, 277 ; tribute to 
 Fairbairn's memory, 281 
 
 Athcnajum Club, its objects and mode 
 of election, 252, 253 ; Rule II., 253 ; 
 Fairbairn elected member without 
 ballot, 254 
 
 Atlantic Cable, the, 381 
 
 Atlas Locomotive Works, boiler ex- 
 plosion at, 262 
 
 Austin, John, 252 
 
 Autobiography of Fairbairn, 53-176 
 
 Automatic machine tools, 46 
 
 T)ABBAGE, Charles, 242, 252; his 
 
 \J calculating engine, 44 ; letters to 
 Fairbairn from, 211, 372 
 
 Baines, Edward, letter to Fairbairn 
 from, 262 ; his work ' Lancashire 
 and Cheshire, Past and Present,' 
 416 
 
 Bann, River, Fairbain's report on the 
 reservoirs, 157 
 
 Barker, Mrs., 83 
 
 Barlow, Prof., 252 
 
 Barrow, John, 242 
 
 Basle, Fairbairn's design for a bridge 
 at, 187 
 
 Bateman, John Frederick, assists 
 Fairbairn with the Bann River 
 reservoirs, 158 ; his marriage with 
 Fairbairn's daughter, 191 ; presi- 
 dent of the mechanical section of 
 the British Association in 1861, 388; 
 Fairbairn's visit to him, 430 
 
 Bazley, Thomas, 439 
 
 Beam, hollow, 199 
 
 Beaufort, Admiral, 242, 251 
 
 Beche, Sir Henry de la, 186, 252 
 
 Beeley, Thomas, 280 
 
 Beeswax, physical properties of, 296
 
 496 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 BEL 
 
 Belidor's ' Architecture Hydraulique,' 
 12 
 
 Bellhouse, D., 186 
 
 Belzoni, 102 
 
 Bessemer, Process, the, 37 
 
 Beyer, Charles F., 284, 439 
 
 Bidder, G. P., 381 
 
 Biographical notices of Fairbairn, 
 433 
 
 Birch, Rev. Canon, 433 
 
 Birkbeck, Dr., letters to Fairbairn 
 from, 191 
 
 Black Band ironstone, 36 
 
 Blackburn, boiler explosion at, 261 
 
 Blackfriars Bridge, London, 17 
 
 Blackfriars Bridge, Manchester, 105 
 
 Boiler explosions, their frequency in 
 manufacturing districts, 260 ; Fair- 
 bairn's lecture on, 263 ; association 
 for the prevention of, 264 
 
 Boiler-making, 316 
 
 Boilers, Cornish or Trevithicks, 258 ; 
 Lancashire or Fairbairn 'a, 258 ; two- 
 flued, 258 ; Fairbairn 's lecture on, 
 263 ; locomotive, 263, L'64 ; steam, 
 legislative interference in regard 
 to, 275 ; government inspection of, 
 277 
 
 Bolton, boiler explosion at, 261 
 
 Books written by Fairbairn, list of, 
 477 
 
 Booth, H., letter to Fairbairn from, 
 389 
 
 Booth, James, 242 
 
 Boring, difficulties as to, 42 
 
 Boulton, Matthew, 34 
 
 Brading Haven, embankment of, 14 
 
 Brady, Mr., 84 
 
 Brakes, self-acting, 411 
 
 Bramwell, Mr., 277 
 
 Brethren of the Bridge, association 
 of the, 11 
 
 Brewster, Sir David, 211, 252, 451; 
 his correspondence with Fairbairn, 
 303, 392, 426 
 
 Bridges, British, 8; cast iron, 30; 
 cast and wrought iron, 47 ; tubular, 
 197-213; Britannia and Conway, 
 197-213 ; at Cologne, 217 
 
 Bridge water canals, 15 
 
 Brindley, James, his construction of 
 canals in Lancashire, 15 ; as a mill- 
 wright, 28 
 
 Brisbane, General, 252 
 Britannia bridge, 48 
 Britannia and Conway Tubular 
 Bridges, book on the subject, 197 ; 
 origin and early history, 197 ; prin- 
 ciple of the beam, 199 ; doubts as 
 to form of tube, 200 ; nature of the 
 
 CHE 
 
 strains, 200 ; weakness of the up- 
 per part, 201 ; corrugated top, 202, 
 use of chains, 203 ; the large model, 
 205 ; commencement of construc- 
 tion, 206 ; drawings and contracts, 
 207 ; erection and fixing, 208 ; com- 
 pletion, 209 
 
 British Association, at Hull in 1853, 
 369; at Manchester in 1861, Fair- 
 bairn elected president, 385; at 
 Cambridge in 1862, 394 
 
 Brockedon, William, 242 
 
 Brodie, Sir B., 252 
 
 Brougham, Lord, 252, 451 ; letter to 
 Fairbairn from, 388 
 
 Brown, Robert, 251 
 
 Brunei, Sir Mark Isambard, designer 
 of the 'Great Eastern,' 48, 246 
 
 Brunelleschi, 10 
 
 Buchanan, Mr., of Catrine Bank, en- 
 gages Fairbairn to supply water- 
 wheels to his mills, 121 ; his cha- 
 racter, 123 ; his testimony to Fair- 
 bairn's improvements in water- 
 wheels, 313 
 
 Buckets, ventilated, for water- wheels, 
 188 
 
 Buckland, Dr., 252 
 
 Buddie, Mr., 71, 72 
 
 Bunsen, Chevalier, 217, 451 ; his cor- 
 respondence with Fairbairn, 218, 
 224, 228-230, 234 
 
 riAISSQN at Plymouth, 319 
 
 \J Caledonian canal, 18 
 
 Callender, W. R., M.P., on the memo- 
 rial to Fairbairn, 444 
 
 ' Canal Navigation, Remarks on,' Fair- 
 bairn's first literary essay, 135 
 
 Canal Street Works, foundation of, 
 313 ; enlargement of, 316 
 
 Canal works in ancient Italy, 9 
 
 Canals, competition with railways, 
 134 
 
 Cannon foundries in Turkey, 169 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, 254 
 
 Carron ironworks, the, 32 
 
 Cast-iron, effect of repeated meltings 
 on, 405 
 
 Catrine cotton-works, 121 
 
 Chain-bridge, proposed at Cologne, 
 217 ; competitive designs for, 
 233 
 
 Chains, proposed use of, for bridges, 
 203 
 
 Chantry, Mr., of Macclesfield, 105 
 
 Charlemagne, 11 
 
 Cheshunt mills, 91 
 
 Chester railwav, 197
 
 INDEX. 
 
 497 
 
 CIV 
 
 Civil engineer ; gee Engineer, Civil 
 
 Clark, Bracy, 252 
 
 Clarke, Edwin, 207 
 
 Clay, Mr., a metallurgical chemist, 
 173 
 
 Clement, Joseph, inventor of the 
 planing machine, 44 
 
 Cleveland iron-fields, 36 
 
 ' Coal Mines, Economy of raising 
 Water from, on Cornish Principle,' 
 180 
 
 Cobden, Richard, letter to Fairbairn 
 from, 368 
 
 Cockerell, Charles, 252 
 
 Colebrook Dale iron-works, 29 
 
 Collapse of tubes, 270 
 
 Collier ships, 85 
 
 Cologne, bridge at, application to 
 Fairbairn, 217; planning of the 
 bridge by Fairbairn, 217-237 ; com- 
 petitive designs, 233; Fairbairn 's 
 suggestion adopted, 235 ; present 
 bridge, 237 
 
 Combes, M. Charles, letter from Fair- 
 bairn to, 275 
 
 Comparative Temperature of the Cli- 
 mates of England and some Parts 
 of Italy,' 380 
 
 Compass, deviation of, in iron boats, 
 141 
 
 Conductive power, 301 
 
 Conservatory, iron, Fairbairn 's first 
 order, 111 
 
 ' Construction of the Britannia and 
 Con way Tubular Bridges,' 197 
 
 Construction of boilers, lecture on, 
 263 
 
 Consumption of Fuel and Prevention 
 of Smoke,' 183 
 
 Conway Tubular Bridge, 48 ; sec Bri- 
 tannia and Con way Tubular Bridges 
 
 Conybeare, Professor, 252 
 
 Copley medal, the, 384 
 
 Cormorant,' the, 338 
 
 Cornish boiler, 258 
 
 Correspondence illustrative of Fair- 
 bairn's character, 451 
 
 Cort, Henry, his improvements in iron 
 manufacture, 31 ; Fairbairn 's as- 
 sistance to, 378, 379 
 
 Cotgrave's ' Dictionary,' 7 
 
 Cotton-mill, adventures of during the 
 war, 124 ; dreadful accident at Old- 
 ham to, 186 
 
 Cranes, tubular, 320 
 
 Cran worth, Lord, on the strike of 
 1851, 324 
 
 Cross Street Chapel, Fairbairn 's letter 
 to trustees of, 457 
 
 Crossley, Louis J., 439 
 
 ENP 
 
 Cubitt, Thomas, 186 
 Cubitt, William, 187, 242 
 Curl, Mrs. William, aunt of Sir W, 
 Scott, 56, 58-59 
 
 DADIAN, Ohanes, American officer, 
 168, 170; heads mission to Eng- 
 land, 172 ; letter to Fairbairn from, 
 174 
 
 ' Daily News,' biographical notice of 
 Fairbairn, 433-435 
 
 Dal ton, Dr., 383 
 
 Danube canal, 11 
 
 Darby, Abraham, introduces a method 
 of making iron castings, 29 
 
 Deanstone, water wheels at, 129 
 
 De Caus, Solomon, his work on steam- 
 power, 25 
 
 Derby, Earl of, 451; letter from to 
 Fairbairn, 396 
 
 Dewer, 92, 93 
 
 Ditchburn, Mr., 208 
 
 Don, river, Fairbairn 's report on, 159 
 
 Donaldson, T. L., 252 
 
 ' Dragon,' the, 338 
 
 Driving machinery, improvements in, 
 313 
 
 Dudley, Dud, his invention of iron 
 smelting by coal, 29 
 
 Dugdale, Adam, 439 
 
 Dupin, Baron Charles, 246 ; letter 
 from Fairbairn regarding his early 
 labours in the construction of iron 
 vessels, 143 ; his correspondence 
 with Fairbairn, 250 
 
 ' Durability and Preservation of Iron 
 Ships, and on Riveting Joints,' 418 
 
 Dutch mechanics, 26 
 
 EARTH, the, igneous origin of, 287; 
 condition of its crust, 288 ; scien- 
 tific discussions, 289 ; experiments 
 commenced by Hopkins, 292 ; re- 
 sults of the experiments, 305 
 
 Eddystone Lighthouse, rebuilt, 16 
 
 Edgeworth, Mrs., letter from Fair- 
 bairn to, 230 
 
 Edwards, his fame in bridge-build- 
 ing, 15 
 
 Egerton Dye-works, Fairbairn's spe- 
 culation in the, 147 
 
 Egypt, engineering works of, 8 
 
 Ellesmere canal, 18 
 
 Elliot, John, Fairbairn's superinten- 
 dent, 139, 140; renders great ser- 
 vice to Fairbairn, 155 
 
 Enfield Small Arms factory, establish- 
 mcnt of, 327 
 
 K K
 
 498 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 FAT 
 
 Engineer ' biographical notice of 
 Fairbairn, 435 
 
 Engineer, origin and definition of the 
 word, 4 ; early French use of the 
 word, 5 ; English use of the term, 6 
 
 Engineer, civil, origin of, 13; forma- 
 tion of in France, 13 ; first use of 
 the term in England, 16 ; profes- 
 sion of, 23 ; enrolment of Fairbairn 
 as, 130 
 
 Engineers, ancient, 9 
 
 Engineering, interest attached to, 3 ; 
 ancient works, 7 ; hydraulic con- 
 structions, aqueducts and canal 
 works, 9 ; progress of in England, 
 14 ; early works, 14 ; true rise of, 
 15 ; definition of the profession of, 
 18 ; importance of the profession, 
 20 ; value of the works done, 20 ; 
 manufactories, 47 ; strike of work- 
 men, 322 
 
 Engineering, mechanical, a branch of 
 civil engineering, 23 ; early history 
 of, 24 ; works on, 25 ; rapid advance 
 of, 35 ; improvements in tools, 38 ; 
 founding and forging, 39 ; rivet- 
 ing and turning, 40 ; the slide rest, 
 41 ; boring, 42 ; planing, 43 ; shap- 
 ing, slotting, and screwing, 45 ; 
 iron bridges, ships, and guns, 48 
 
 English design, backwardness of, 374 
 
 English railways, conversation on, 
 
 171 
 Escher, Albert, his establishment, 
 
 129 
 
 Escher, G., his mills at Zurich, 123 ; 
 extension of his mills, 124 ; em- 
 ploys Fairbairn to supply him with 
 water wheels, 125 
 Etruscan engineering, 9 
 Exhibition of 1851, Fairbairn as a 
 juror in the machinery department, 
 368 
 
 FAIRBAIRN, Adam Henderson, son 
 of Sir William Fairbairn, vicar of 
 Waltham, 450 
 
 Fairbairn, Andrew, father of Sir Wil- 
 liam Fairbairn, outline of his life, 
 53 ; his connections, 56 ; his cha- 
 racter, 57 ; as steward to Macken- 
 zie, 62 ; his death, 192 
 
 Fairbairn, Anne, daughter of Sir 
 William Fairbairn, her marriage 
 with Mr. Bateman, 191 
 
 Fairbairn Engineering Company, 332 
 
 Fairbairn, John, son of Sir William 
 Fairbairn, his death, 425 
 
 Fairbairn, Lady, wife of Sir William 
 
 Fairbairn, letters of condolence to, 
 438 
 
 Fairbairn, Peter, uncle of Sir William 
 Fairbairn, 58. 
 
 Fairbairn, Sir Peter, brother of Sir 
 William Fairbairn, 450 
 
 Fairbairn, Sir Peter, nephew of Sir 
 William Fairbairn, 450 
 
 Fairbairn, Sir Thos., son of Sir Wil- 
 liam Fairbairn, enters his father's 
 business, 317 ; takes an active part 
 in the strike of 1851, 323; writes 
 under the signature of 'Amicus,' 
 324, 325 ; sole partner, 331 ; -his 
 particulars concerning the Millwall 
 works, 342 ; chairman of the Art 
 Treasures Exhibition, 379 ; a royal 
 commissioner at International Ex- 
 hibition of 1862, 394; letter to 
 Hugh Mason, 441 ; commissioner for 
 the Exhibition of 1851, 449 ; chair- 
 man of Art Treasures Exhibition, 449 
 
 Fairbairn, Sir William, on mill- 
 wrights, 26 ; as a mechanical engi- 
 neer and philosopher, 49 ; his auto- 
 biography, 53, 176; his birth, 53; 
 pedigree, 53 ; his schooling, 54 ; a 
 good athlete, 55 ; his description of 
 his family circumstances, 55 ; at 
 the Moy farm, 59 ; his education 
 effected by his stay at Moy, 60; 
 early taste for mechanics, 61 ; at 
 Mullochy school, 62 ; takes the ma- 
 nagement of a farm near Knares- 
 borough, 63 ; with his uncle at Ga- 
 lashiels, 64 ; a labourer at Kelso, 
 65 ; serious accident to him, 65 ; at 
 Percy Main Colliery, 69 ; leads 
 coals at Percy Main Colliery, 70 ; 
 boxing matches, 70 ; his first vic- 
 tory, 71 ; bound apprentice, 71 ; his 
 course of study, 72, 73 ; his first 
 love attachment, 73 ; his mechani- 
 cal pursuits, 75 ; designs an orrery, 
 75 ; home-brewed music, 75-77 ; 
 takes charge of the pumps and 
 steam-engine, 77 ; his severe duties, 
 78 ; completes his apprenticeship, 
 79 ; makes the acquaintance of 
 George Stephenson, 79; gets em- 
 ployment at Newcastle and Bed- 
 lington, 83 ; leader in a Discussion 
 society, 84 ; voyage to London, 85 ; 
 perils of the voyage, 85 ; his first 
 impressions of London, 87 ; his in- 
 terview with Mr. Rennie, 89 ; re- 
 fused permission to work by the 
 society, 90 ; discouragement, 91 ; 
 gets work at Cheshunt mills, 92 ; re- 
 turns to London, 92 ; and obtains em-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 499 
 
 FAI 
 
 FAI 
 
 ployment, 93 ; his steam-ploughing 
 machine, 97 ; his sausage-making 
 machine, 98 ; at Bath, 99 ; at Dub- 
 lin, 99 ; engaged at the Phoenix 
 foundry, 100 ; at Liverpool, 101 ; at 
 Manchester, 101 ; takes scarlet 
 fever, 101 ; preparations for mar- 
 riage, 103 ; his marriage, 104 ; in 
 the service of Mr. Hewes, 104 ; ac- 
 cident to his wife by lire, 105 ; do- 
 mestic arrangements, 105 ; resolves 
 to start business on his own account, 
 106 ; in partnership with Lillie ; 
 his first order, 111 ; difficulties, 111 ; 
 gets orders from A. and G. Murray, 
 112 ; and effects alterations in their 
 mill, 113 ; completes Murray's 
 order, 114 ; recommended to O'Con- 
 nel and Kennedy, 114 ; improve- 
 ments in mill- work, 115; increase 
 of business, 117 ; constant occupa- 
 tion, 117 ; order for new water 
 wheels at Catrine, 121 ; his journey 
 to Zurich, 125 ; his employment at 
 the Zurich mills and his alterations 
 there, 127 ; pleasure excursions, 128 ; 
 success in business, 129 ; enrolled as 
 a civil engineer, 130 , his experi- 
 ments on law of traction in boats, 
 133; constructs the first iron ves- 
 sel, the ' Lord Dundas,' 136 : his 
 anxiety regarding its trials, 137- 
 140 ; results of the trials, 142 ; letter 
 to Baron Dupin regarding the con- 
 struction of iron vessels, 143 ; trou- 
 bles in business, 146 ; his specula- 
 tion in the Egerton Dye-works and 
 its failure, 147 ; dissolves partner- 
 ship with Lillie, 148; takes to 
 building iron ships, 153 ; estab- 
 lishes shipbuilding works at Mill- 
 wall, 154 ; difficulties and anxieties, 
 154-155 ; his literary and scientific 
 ambition, 156-157 ; his investiga- 
 tion on the strength of iron, 159 ; 
 introduces the riveting machine, 
 163 ; commission from Turkey wait 
 upon him, 167 ; his visit to Constan- 
 tinople, 168 ; explores the country, 
 168; receives large orders from 
 Turkish government, 172 ; his own 
 account of his Turkish work, 173 ; 
 obtains Telford medal, 173 ; com- 
 plimentary letter from Turkish au- 
 thorities, 174; presented with a 
 decoration from the Sultan, 175; 
 continues his experiments on the 
 strength of cast-iron, 180; his 
 paper on the prevention of smoke, 
 183 ; on the use of iron in the con- 
 
 struction of large buildings, 184- 
 186 ; his evidence before the Iron 
 Structure Commission, 188; his 
 improvement of water wheels, 188 ; 
 his pupils, 190 ; death of his father, 
 192 ; letters from Haydon and Ste- 
 phenson, 193-194 ; consulted about 
 the Britannia and Conway Tubular 
 Bridges, 198 ; experimental details 
 concerning the Britannia and Con- 
 way Tubular Bridges, 197-210 ; his 
 position, 208 ; his retirement, 210; 
 consulted by the Prussian govern- 
 ment regarding bridge across the 
 Rhine, 217-237 ; his impression of 
 Berlin, 219; visits Berlin, 219; is 
 presented to the king of Prussia, 
 222 ; dines with him, 223 ; Prussian 
 Government adopt his suggest ion, 
 235 ; culminating point of his life, 
 241 ; elected member of Royal 
 Society of London, 241-42 ; proposed 
 as a candidate for the Institute 
 of France, 246-247 ; his election, 
 251 ; elected member of the Athe- 
 naeum Club without ballot, 254 ; 
 his minor honours, 254 ; his con- 
 nection with steam boilers, 257 ; 
 invention of the two-flued boiler, 
 258; interests himself in the in- 
 vestigation of boiler explosions, 
 260-262 ; his lectures on boilers, 
 263 ; undertakes the investigation 
 of theoretical principles, 269 : his 
 essay on the collapse of tubes, 271 ; 
 on the strength of glass, 273 ; on 
 the properties of steam, 273 ; his 
 opinions on legislative interfe- 
 rence in regard to steam boilers, 
 274; his late improvements in 
 boilers, 278 ; wishes to resign the 
 chairmanship of the Boiler Asso- 
 ciation, 280 ; his last letter on en- 
 gineering matters, 281 ; as a manu- 
 facturing engineer, 311 ; new 
 branches of business, 314 ; compe- 
 tition with Lillie, 315 ; his success 
 in shipbuilding, 315; takes his 
 sons into the business, 317 ; his im- 
 provements in steam engines, 319 ; 
 constructs caisson at Plymouth, 
 319 ; invention of tubular cranes, 
 320; on the strike of 1851, 326; 
 great prosperity of his business, 
 328 ; his retirement, 329 ; his early 
 experiments on shipbuilding, 336 ; 
 his difficulties at Millwall, 339 ; un- 
 favourable reports as to his credit, 
 340 ; depression and anxiety, 340 ; 
 serious loss sustained by the Mill- 
 
 K K 2
 
 500 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 wall works, 342 ; his application of 
 iron to defensive purposes, 345 ; 
 his investigations on iron armour 
 plates, 359 ; his visit to Northern 
 Europe, 363 ; his visit to Sweden, 
 363 ; interview with the Emperor 
 of Eussia, 366 ; receives medal from 
 the king of Sweden, 367 ; as a 
 juror in the Exhibition of 1851, 
 368 ; as president of the Institution 
 of Mechanical Engineers, 371 ; 
 business in France, 371 ; awarded 
 the Legion of Honour, 377 ; his 
 journey to Italy, 380 ; on the At- 
 lantic cable Commission, 381-382 ; 
 as president of the Manchester 
 Philosophical Society, 384 ; awarded 
 gold medal by Royal Society, 384 ; 
 president of British Association at 
 Manchester 1861,385 ; his address, 
 386 ; offer to and refusal of knight- 
 hood, 390-391 ; his honorary de- 
 grees, 392-394 ; on the machinery 
 of the Exhibition of 1862, 395 ; the 
 honour of the baronetage con- 
 ferred on him, 396 ; a voluminous 
 writer, 401 ; his literary work, 401; 
 his paper for the Royal Society, 
 402 ; re-writes the article 'Iron,' in 
 ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 408 ; 
 contributes to Baines' ' Lancashire 
 and Cheshire, Past and Present,' 
 416 ; as a lecturer, 418 ; his last ad- 
 dress, 419 ; his constitution, 425 ; 
 first serious illness, 425 ; bronchial 
 attack, 428 ; at Brighton and Hol- 
 land Park, 429 ; his last letter, 429 ; 
 his last days at Moor Park, 430 ; 
 his death, 431 ; his funeral, 432 ; 
 obituary notices, 433 ; Manchester 
 memorial to, 441-446 ; personal de- 
 tails of his life, 449 ; his hospitality, 
 450-451 ; his mode of dealing with 
 impracticable schemes, 453 ; his re- 
 ligious feelings, 456 ; tablet to his 
 memory, 458 ; a Unitarian, 458 ; 
 novel reading, 460 ; his correspon- 
 dence with Mrs. Eskell, 460-462 ; 
 his professional and scientific cha- 
 racter, 462-467 ; his personal and 
 private traits of character, 467- 
 473 ; his activity and regular and 
 punctual habits, 467 ; his liberality, 
 470 ; and popularity, 471 ; reality 
 of his merits, 472 ; list of his books, 
 papers, and memoirs, 477 
 Fairbairn, William Andrew, son of 
 Sir William Fairbairn, 449 ; enters 
 his father's business, 317 ; retires 
 from business, 330 
 
 ORE 
 
 Faraday, Michael, 251 
 Field, Joshua, 242 
 
 Fire, the use of iron as a preven- 
 tive against, 184-185 
 Fire-engine, invention of, 83 
 ' Fire-proof Buildings, Defects in the 
 
 Principle and Construction of,' 
 
 186 
 
 Fire-proof warehouses, 185 
 Fletcher, Lavington, 264, 277; on 
 
 boiler explosions, 281-284 
 Flour mill and bakery, floating, 330 
 Forbes, Professor James D., 211, 252 
 Forging, advance of, 39 
 Forster, John, letter to Fairbairn 
 
 from, 407 
 Forth and Clyde Canal Company, 
 
 136 
 
 Founding, 39 
 Fourneyron, Mr., 127 
 Fowler, John, 401 
 Fox, W. J., M.P., 325 
 France, Institution of Civil Engineers 
 
 in, 13 
 
 Franklin, Sir John, 252 
 Fraser, Donald, master of Mullochy 
 
 school, 62 
 Frederick and Felicia, correspondence 
 
 between, 73 
 
 'Freres Pontiers,' the, 11 
 Fucino, Lake, drainage of, 9 
 
 pAISFORD, Thomas, 251 
 
 U Galton, Captain Douglas, R.E., 
 187 
 
 Gaskell, Rev. W., on the memorial to 
 Fairbairn, 444 ; letter from Fair- 
 bairn to, 456 
 
 Gaskell, Mrs., 451 ; letters to Fair- 
 bairn from, 460-462 
 
 Gauges, standard, 44 
 
 Geflowski, G. E., 446 
 
 Germany, Fairbairn 's fame in, 437 
 
 Gibraltar shield, the, 360 
 
 Gibson, Rev. Canon, 433 
 
 Girders, effect of vibratory action on, 
 413 
 
 Gladstone, W. E., letter to Fairbairn 
 from, 396 
 
 Glass, strength of, 273 
 
 Gothic engineering, 10 
 
 Graham, Professor, of Glasgow, 252 ; 
 at the trial of the ' Lord Dundas,' 
 138 
 
 Grant, Sir Francis, P.R.A., 254 
 
 Granville, Earl, 451 
 
 'Great Eastern,' 369, 383 
 
 Greeks, the ancient, en ineering 
 works of, 8
 
 INDEX. 
 
 501 
 
 ORE 
 
 Greg, Henry R., 439 
 
 Grey, Sir George, his correspondence 
 with Fairbairn, 390, 391 
 
 Gros, Mr., 77 
 
 Grundy, Mr., 94 
 
 Gull, Sir William, 429 
 
 Guns, iron, 48; astrological consi- 
 derations about casting, 170 
 
 TTAARLEM Lake, drainage of, 180 
 
 -Ll Halifax, boiler explosion at, 261 
 
 Hall, Mr., 94 
 
 Hallam, H., 252 
 
 Hallel Pasha, Seraskier, 170 
 
 Hamilton, Sir W., Edinburgh, 252 
 
 Hamilton, W. R., 252 
 
 Harcourt, Rev. Vernon, 451 
 
 Hardie, Dr., 103 
 
 Hay, Sir John Dalrymple, R.N., 351 
 
 Haydon, B. R., letter to Fairbairn 
 from, 193 ; his opinion of Fairbairn, 
 460 
 
 Heathcote, Mr., factory inspector, 182 
 
 Heaton, Charles, 439 
 
 Hebeler, B., Prussian consul, letter 
 from Fairbairn to, 219 
 
 Henderson, Col. W., R.A., 351 
 
 Henderson, Miss, Fairbairn 's mother, 
 54 ; her character and abilities, 
 56 
 
 Henry, Dr., 383 ; on Fairbairn 's first 
 literary essay, 135, 383 
 
 Hercules, labours of, 7 
 
 Hero, a mechanical engineer, 24 
 
 Heron, Sir Joseph, 442 
 
 Herschel, Sir John, 252 
 
 Hetherington, John, 258 
 
 Hewes, T. C., 104, 105 
 
 Heydt, Van der, 227 
 
 Heywood, Oliver, 442 ; on the memo- 
 rial to Fairbairn, 445 
 
 Hick, John, 277 
 
 Highland roads, 18 
 
 Hind, G. R., 252 
 
 Hodgkinson, Eaton, 156, 187, 383 ; his 
 investigations on the strength of 
 cast iron, 160 ; letters to Fairbairn 
 from, 181, 182 ; consulted regard- 
 ing the Britannia and Conway Tu- 
 bular Bridges, 201 
 
 Hodgson, B. H., 251 
 
 Hogg, David, 83, 85 
 
 Holland, Henry, 242 
 
 Holme, Messrs., on fire-proof ware- 
 houses, 185 
 
 Holyhead railway, 197 
 
 Holyhead roads, 18 
 
 Hopkins, William, of Cambridge, his 
 investigations in the application to 
 
 IRQ 
 
 mechanics of geology, 287 ; his re- 
 port on 'Geological Theories of 
 Elevation and Earthquakes,' 289 ; 
 consults Fairbairn, 289-291 ; ob- 
 tains government grant for the in- 
 vestigation on the effect of pressure 
 on the temperature of fusion, 291 ; 
 his correspondence with Fairbairn, 
 289-291 ; consults Mr. Joule, 291- 
 293 ; commencement of his earth 
 experiments, 292 ; scientific cor- 
 respondence with Joule, 295-301 ; 
 an account of his experiments read 
 before the Association, 302 ; pro- 
 gress of experiments, 303 ; his fail- 
 ing health, 304 ; his death, 305; re- 
 sults of his experiments, 305 
 
 Horner, Leonard, 222, 451 
 
 Hot blast, introduction of, 36 
 
 Houghton, Lord, 451 
 
 Houldsworth, Henry, his interest in 
 the association for the prevention 
 of boiler explosions, 266 
 
 Houston, Mr., of Johnstone, his prin- 
 ciple of traction, 133 
 
 Houtson, James, his kindness to Fair- 
 bairn, 101 
 
 Houtson, John, outline of his life, 102 
 
 Hulme, J., Ill 
 
 Humboldt, Baron Von, his correspon- 
 dence with Fairbairn, 220-221, 225, 
 232, 236, 293 
 
 Hydraulics, construction, 9 ; works 
 in the north of Italy, 11 
 
 TNDEPENDENT Millwrights' So- 
 
 J. ciety, 92 ; Fairbairn admitted as a 
 member, 93 
 
 Indicator, magnetic, 295 
 
 Institute of France, its foundation 
 and constitution, 243 ; a vacancy 
 occurs, 246 ; Fairbairn proposed as 
 a member, 246 ; election of Fair- 
 bairn, 251 ; list of English mem- 
 bers, 251 
 
 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, , 
 Fairbairn as president, 371 
 
 International Exhibition of 1862, 394 
 
 Iron, history of its manufacture, 28 ; 
 melting by coal, 29 ; works in Sus- 
 sex, 29 ; first arch, 30 ; first use of 
 rails, 30 ; Welsh works, 31 ; Scotch 
 works, 32 ; great improvements in 
 the production of, 36; Cleveland 
 and Lancashire fields, 36 ; increase 
 of its production, 37 ; statistics of 
 production in Great Britain, 37 ; 
 first bridges, 47 ; st ructure of bridges 
 in, 47 ; structure of ships in, 48 ;
 
 502 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 IRQ 
 
 LYO 
 
 armour plates, 48; construction 
 of guns, 48; construction of ves- 
 sels, 136; results of the trials of 
 steamboats, 142 ; investigation on its 
 strength, 159 ; iron ores in Turkey, 
 172 ; use of, in the construction of 
 large buildings, 184; structure com- 
 mission, 187 ; application of to de- 
 fensive purposes, 345 ; compared 
 with wood as a material for ship- 
 building, 403 ; papers on, for build- 
 ing purposes, 406 ; Fairbairn re- 
 writes the article, 'Iron' in the 
 ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 408 
 
 Iron armour, practicability of using 
 it for ships of war, 348 ; want of 
 policy by the government, 350 ; ap- 
 pointment of special committee 
 on, and their labours, 351 ; the 
 evidence obtained, 352 ; nature of 
 the material to use, 352 ; the 
 mode of manufacture, 353 ; ham- 
 mering and rolling plates, 353, 354 ; 
 material of the shot, 355 ; laws of 
 resistance of plates, 356 ; form of 
 defensive material, 356 ; mode of 
 applying the plates, 356 ; wood 
 backing, 357 ; experimental tar- 
 gets, 358 ; favourable results, 358 
 
 'Iron, Enquiry into the Strength of,' 
 161 
 
 'Iron; its History, Properties, and 
 Processes of Manufacture,' 408 
 
 ' Iron Ores in Turkey, Experimental 
 Researches on,' 173 
 
 Iron ships, Fairbairn on the con- 
 struction of, 143-146, 153-157; 
 early history of, 335 ; Fairbairn's 
 first experiments, 336 ; outlay, ma- 
 nagement and orders, 337 ; work 
 for the Admiralty, 338 ; difficulties, 
 339 ; suggested for the use of war, 
 345; refusal of the Admiralty to 
 use them, 346 ; ignorance and pre- 
 judice in regard to, 346 ; strength 
 of, 411 ; on the durability of, 418 
 
 'Iron, Strength and other Proper- 
 ties, from Hot and Cold Blast,' 
 162 
 
 Inventors, 367 
 
 Italy, hydraulic works in, 11 ; hydrau- 
 lic engineering in, 12 ; temperature 
 of, 380 
 
 JACOB, William, 252 
 James, Captain Henry, R.E., 187 
 Jervois, Major, R.E., 351 
 Johnson and the French Academy, 243 
 Johnson, Jabez, 439 
 
 Johnson, Richard, letter to Fairbairn 
 
 from, 265 
 Jones, Inigo, 14 
 Joule, Mr., consulted by Mr. Hopkins 
 
 concerning his earth experiments, 
 
 291-293; scientific correspondence 
 
 with Hopkins, 295-301 
 
 T7ELSO New Bridge, 65 
 
 JY Kennedy, John, of Manchester, 
 
 his improvements in millwork, 
 
 115 
 
 Ker's seminary, 54 
 Keyham Dockyard, caisson for, 319 
 Kreuter, M., 229 
 
 T ABELYE, designer of Westmin- 
 
 JJ ster Bridge, 15 
 
 ' La Gloire,' 349 
 
 Laird, John, 336 
 
 Lancashire boiler, 258 
 
 Lancashire iron districts, 36 
 
 Lathe, the, improvements in, 41 ; the 
 slide, 41 
 
 Lavater, the physiognomist, 124 
 
 Leake, William Martin, 251 
 
 Lee, Rev. Prince, 451 ; letter to Fair- 
 bairn from, 393 
 
 Leeds iron district, 36 
 
 Legion of Honour awarded to Fair- 
 bairn, 377 
 
 Lillie, James, in partnership with 
 Fairbairn, 111 ; dissolves partner- 
 ship, 148 
 
 Lindley, 252 
 
 Linen factories on the Bann river, 
 158 
 
 Lisbon aqueduct, 9 
 
 Literary and Philosophical Society, 
 Manchester, 383 
 
 Liverpool landing stage, 318 
 
 Locks, invention of, 12 
 
 Locomotive engines, 316 ; express, 
 320 
 
 ' Locomotive Boilers, Experimental 
 Researches to determine Strength 
 of,' 243, 264 
 
 Lohse, Mr., 237 
 
 London Bridge, 17 
 
 London Docks, 17 
 
 ' Lord Dundas,' constructed by Fair- 
 bairn, 136; satisfactory trial of, 
 138 ; description of its sail to the 
 Isle of Man, 139 ; errors of the com- 
 pass, 139, 140; further trials, 141 ; 
 final results, 142 
 
 Lowe, Mr., of Nottingham, 121 
 
 Lyons, old bridge at, 11
 
 INDEX. 
 
 503 
 
 MAC 
 
 MACAULAY, T. B., 252 
 Machinery of the Paris Exhibi- 
 of 1855, 371-374 ; of the Exhibition 
 of 1862, 395 
 
 M'Connel and Kennedy's new mill, 
 115 
 
 MacCulloch, J. R., 252 
 
 Mfvgnetic indicator, 295 
 
 Mahmoud, Sultan of Turkey, sends 
 commission to England, 167 ; his 
 death, 168 
 
 Manby, Aaron, 335 
 
 Manchester : Geological Society, 180 ; 
 rebuilding of viaduct on railway, 
 331 ; Art Treasures Exhibition, 375) ; 
 Literary and Philosophical Society, 
 383 ; Steam User's Association, 438 ; 
 Memorial to Fairbairn, 441-446 
 
 Manchester, Bishop of, 451 ; on the 
 memorial to Fairbairn, 443 
 
 ' Manchester Examiner,' biographical 
 notice of Fairbairn, 436 
 
 ' Manchester,' the, canal steamer, 
 153 
 
 Manchester Works, their origin, 311; 
 Canal Street works, 313 ; iron ship- 
 building, 315 ; steam engines and 
 boiler-making,. 316 ; locomotive en- 
 gines, 316 ; work for Constanti- 
 nople, 317; Liverpool landing 
 stage, 318 ; improvements in steam 
 engines, 319 ; caisson at Plymouth, 
 319 ; cranes, 319 ; strike of engi- 
 neering workmen, 322 ; great pros- 
 perity of, 328; Fairbairn retires, 
 329 ; railway viaducts, 331 ; trans- 
 ferred to a limited liability com- 
 pany, 332 ; winding up, 332 ; con- 
 trasted with the Millwall ship- 
 building factory, 335 
 
 Manufactories, engineering, 47 ; im- 
 perfections of, in Turkey, 169 
 
 Mar, Dorothy, 84 ; her marriage with 
 Fairbairn, 104 ; serious illness, 104 
 
 Mare, Mr., 208 
 
 Marochetti, Baron, 254 
 
 Mason, Hugh, 439; letter to Fair- 
 bairn from, 280 ; letter from Thomas 
 Fairbairn to, 440 
 
 Mathematical investigation, 299 
 
 Maudslay, Henry, his invention of 
 the slide rest, 41 
 
 Maurier, Gustave, 409 
 
 Maxwell, Major, letter from Fair- 
 bairn to, 429 
 
 Meagher, becomes acquainted with 
 Fairbairn, 100 
 
 Mechanical Engineering ; gee Engi- 
 neering, Mechanical 
 
 Mechanical Science, progress of, 369 
 
 Mechanics, early history of, 24 
 
 ' Megaera,' the, 338 
 
 Memoirs by Fairbairn, list of, 477 
 
 Memorial in Manchester to Fairbairn, 
 441-446 
 
 Menai bridge, the, 18, 48 
 
 Mesopotamia, ancient engineering 
 works of, 8 
 
 Metal plates, patent for improve- 
 ments in joining them, 182-183 
 
 Millwall Shipbuilding Works, con- 
 trasted with the Manchester busi- 
 ness, 335 ; outlay, management and 
 orders, 337; work for the Admi- 
 ralty, 338 ; difficulties, 339 ; clos- 
 ing of the works, 341 ; their sale, 
 342; serious loss by these works, 
 342 
 
 Millwork, improvements in, 115 ; trea- 
 tise on, 414 
 
 Millwrights, description of, 26 ; decay 
 of, 47 
 
 Millwrights' Society, the, stringent 
 rules of, 89, 90 
 
 ' Mining Journal, 'extract from, 266 
 
 Moorsom, Capt. W., 233 
 
 Morice, Peter, his pumping appara- 
 tus, 26 
 
 Morin, General, 246 ; his correspon- 
 dence with Fairbairn, 247, 249 
 
 Moseley, Rev. H., Canon of Bristol, 
 211, 242, 252 ; letter to Fairbairn 
 from, 368 
 
 Moy Farm, the, 58 ; improvements 
 on, 59 ; Fairbairn 's life at, 60 
 
 Mullochy School, its discipline, 62 
 
 Murchison, Sir Roderick, 252, 254 
 
 Murdoch, Mr., of Soho, reminiscences 
 of, 116 
 
 Murphy, James, 112, 115 
 
 Murray, A. and G., give orders to 
 Fairbairn, 112 ; alterations effected 
 in their mill, 113 
 
 Murray, Andrew, 154 
 
 Murray, Matthew, of Leeds, 116 
 
 Mushet discovers the Black Band 
 ironstone, 36 
 
 Myddclton, Sir Hugh, 8 
 
 Mylne, Robert, 17 
 
 Mylne, W. C., 242 
 
 \[ AIL-MAKING machinery, 100 
 ll Napier, Sir Charles, 336 
 Napoleon III. introduces iron armour 
 
 to defend ships of war, 348 
 Nasmyth, James, 211 ; his invention 
 of the steam-hammer, 39 ; a fre- 
 quent visitor of Fairbairn 's, 156; 
 letter to Fairbairn f rom, 212 ; letter
 
 504 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 NAY 
 
 to Fairbairn regarding steam-ham- 
 mer, 409 
 
 Navy, change in the construction of 
 the, 345 ; refusal of the Admiralty 
 to use iron ships, 346 
 
 Neilson, Beaumont, introduces the 
 hot blast, 36 
 
 Newcomen, 33 
 
 New River, construction of, 14 
 
 Nicholls, Mr., 442 
 
 OBITUARY notices of Fairbairn, 
 433 
 
 Odin,' the, 338 
 
 Oldham, dreadful accident at, 186 
 
 Onions, Peter, his improvements in 
 iron manufacture, 31 
 
 Orrery, clock, Fairbairn 's design for 
 a, 75 
 
 Oscar, King of Sweden, presents Fair- 
 bairn with medal, 367 
 
 Overstone, Lord, letter from Fairbairn 
 to, 374 
 
 Owen, Richard, 252 
 
 Owen's College, Manchester, opening 
 of, 428 
 
 PALLISER, Captain, 355 
 Palmerston, Lord, letter to Fair- 
 bairn from, 392 
 
 Pankhurst, Dr., on the memorial to 
 Fairbairn, 444 
 
 Papers written by Fairbairn, list of, 
 477 
 
 Paris, Fairbairn 's opinion of, 126 ; 
 Fairbairn on the machinery of the 
 Exhibition of 1855, 371-374 
 
 Parkinson, Adam, 101 
 
 Parry, Sir Edward, 252 
 
 Patents, riveting machine, 164 ; for 
 improvements in joining metal 
 plates, 182 ; for Tubular Bridges, 
 212 ; for two-flued boiler, 258 ; for 
 Tubular Cranes, 320 ; for the im- 
 provement of driving the screw 
 propeller, 338 ; for improvements in 
 the construction and arrangement 
 of steam-engines, 338 
 
 Patronage, royal, of the Fairbairn 
 family, 450 
 
 Penn, John, 277, 439 
 
 Percy, Dr. John, F.R.S., 351 
 
 Percy Main colliery, 69 
 
 Ferret, M. L., 408 
 
 Petrie, John, 439 
 
 Phillips, Professor, 296 
 
 Phrenix Park, Dublin, 100 
 
 Planing-machine, invention of, 43, 44 
 
 EIV 
 
 Pliny, 9 
 
 Plutarch on Pontiffs, 10 
 
 Plymouth caisson, 319 
 
 Plymouth breakwater, 17 
 
 Pole, Dr. William, F.R.S. ; a mem- 
 ber of the iron committee, 351 ; his 
 criticism on Fairbairn 's ' Treatise 
 on Mills and Millwork,' 414-416 
 
 Polygon, the, society at, 450 
 
 Poncelet, General, his correspondence 
 with Fairbairn, 246, 249 ; on water 
 wheels, 249 
 
 Ponsonby, Lord, British ambassador, 
 168 
 
 Pont du Gard, 9 
 
 Pontifex, origin of the title, 10 
 
 Porter, G. R., 242 
 
 'Pottinger,' the, 338 
 
 Powder mills in Turkey, 169 
 
 Prussia, commission from regarding 
 bridge across the Rhine, 217, 225- 
 228 
 
 Puddling, invention of, 31 
 
 Pumping apparatus at London bridge, 
 
 T)ADOWITZ, General, 234 
 It Rails, iron, first use of, 30 
 Railways, modern era of, 18 ; corr> 
 
 petition with canals, 134 ; English, 
 
 conversation on, 171 
 Ramelli, Agostino, 5, 25 
 Rankine, Professor Macquorn, 369 ; on 
 
 Fairbairn's experimental investi- 
 gations, 465 
 Rawlinson, H., 251 
 Reed, Mr., 395 
 Regnault, P., letter to Fairbairn from, 
 
 275 
 Religious toleration, peculiar notions 
 
 of, 458-459 
 
 Rennie, Messrs. George, 187 
 Rennie, George, 211, 241 , 242, 254 ; at 
 
 the trial of the ' Lord Dundas,' 138 ; 
 
 on Fairbairn's address at British 
 
 Association, 388 
 Rennie, John, 17, 242 ; his assistance 
 
 to Watt, 35 ; interview with Fair- 
 bairn, 88 
 Reservoirs constructed on river Don, 
 
 159 
 ' Reservoirs on the river Bann,' report 
 
 on, 158-159 
 
 Rialto at Venice, the, 11 
 Rifled guns, 347 
 Rifled shell, 347 
 Rigby, Samuel, 439 
 Righi, the, 128 
 Riveted joints, 402
 
 INDEX. 
 
 505 
 
 scs 
 
 Riveting, improvements in, 40 
 
 Riveting machine, 40 ; Fairbairn's in- 
 troduction of, 163; patent taken 
 out for it, 164 
 
 Robberds, Rev. J. G., 456 
 
 Roberts, Richard, Fairbairn endea- 
 vours to obtain provision for, 391 
 
 Roberts, William, 439 
 
 Robinson, Dr., of Armagh, 451 ; letter 
 from Fairbairn to, 223-224; let- 
 ter from to Fairbairn, 406 ; letter 
 to Fairbairn regarding his illness, 
 427 ; on Fairbairn's scientific know- 
 ledge, 464 
 
 Robinson, John, colliery engineer, 71 
 
 Rochdale, boiler explosion at, 266 
 
 Roebuck, Dr., establishes the Carron 
 iron works, 32 
 
 Romans, ancient engineering works 
 of, 8 ; mechanics, 25 
 
 Rome, hydraulic construction of, 9 ; 
 aqueducts of, 9 
 
 Romney Marsh embankments, 14 
 
 ' Rose,' the, 338 
 
 Ross, Sir James Clark, 252 
 
 Rosse, Lord, 292, 451 
 
 Royal medals, 384 
 
 Royal Society of London, 241 ; Fair- 
 bairn elected a member, 242 ; grant 
 to Mr. Hopkins, 291 ; award Fair- 
 bairn a Royal medal, 384 
 
 Rumford medal, the, 384 
 
 Russell, Scott, 342 
 
 Russian war, first use of iron armour 
 on ships at, 348 
 
 QABINE, General (Sir Edward), 228, 
 
 Cj 412, 451 
 
 St. Esprit bridge, 11 
 
 Salt, Mr., his works at Saltaire, 327 
 
 Saltaire works, construction of, 327 
 
 Sausage-making machine, 98 
 
 Schofield, Thomas, 439 
 
 Schuster, Leo, 103 
 
 Schwedler, Mr., 233 
 
 Science, appreciation of, 12 
 
 Scientific ambition of Fairbairn, 157 
 
 Scoresby, Captain, 251 
 
 Scotch iron works, 32 
 
 Scott, Sir W., his connection with the 
 
 Fairbairn family, 56, 58 
 Screws, improvements in the making 
 
 of, 45 
 Sedgwick, A., letter to Fairbairn from, 
 
 390 
 
 Segovia, aqueduct of, 9 
 Self-acting Brakes for Railway 
 
 Trains,' 411 
 Senior, Nassau, 252 
 
 Severn, construction of iron bridge 
 across, 30 
 
 Shaftesbury, Lord, 451 ; on the strike 
 of 1851, 325 
 
 Shakspeare's use of the term engineer, 
 6,7 
 
 Shaping machines, 45 
 
 Sheffield railway, rebuilding of via- 
 duct on, 331 
 
 Sheridan, Henry B., 284 
 
 Shields for land defences, 360 
 
 Ships, iron ; see Iron ships 
 
 Ships of war, practicability of defend- 
 ing them by iron armour, 348 
 
 Slotting machines, 45 
 
 Small arms manufactory in Turkey, 
 169; factory at Enfield, establish- 
 ment of, 327 
 
 Smeaton, John, engineering works of, 
 16 ; first styles himself civil engi- 
 neer, 17 ; a mechanical engineer, 
 28 ; at the Carron Works, 33 
 
 Smiles, Mr., on the early difficulties 
 Watt had to contend with, 38 
 
 Smith, Professor Piazzi, 371 
 
 Smith, Robert, 341 ; assists Fairbairn 
 with his riveting machine, 163, 
 341 
 
 Smoke nuisance, the, 183 
 
 Smyth, Captain, 252 
 
 Soham Mere drainage, 157 
 
 Soho Works, 34 
 
 Southwark iron bridge, 17, 47 
 
 Spoleto aqueduct, 10 
 
 Standard gauges, 46 
 
 Steam, properties of, 273 ; super- 
 heated, 274 
 
 Steam-boilers, Fairbairn's improve- 
 ment of, 257 
 
 Steam-engine, improvements in, 33, 
 319 ; invention of the rotary motion, 
 34 
 
 Steam hammer, invention of, 40 
 
 Steam ploughing machine, modelled 
 by Fairbairn, 97 
 
 Stephenson, George, letter to Fair- 
 bairn from, 194; makes the ac- 
 quaintance of Fairbairn, 79 
 
 Stephenson, Robert, on iron bridge 
 across the Severn, 30; his idea of 
 Tubular bridges, 198-213; his 
 article on iron bridges, 408 
 
 Stockport, boiler explosion at, 265 
 
 Strength of Iron Ships, the, 411 
 
 Strikes of workmen, cause of, 46 ; in 
 1851, 322 
 
 Suez canal, 8 
 
 Sumner, Bishop, his death, 431 
 
 Superheated steam, 274 
 
 Sussex, iron manufactories in, 29 
 
 L
 
 506 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 TABLET to Fairbaim's memory in 
 Cross Street Chapel, 457 
 
 Tank engine, the, 317 
 
 Tate, Thomas, 21], 270; on the pro- 
 perties of steam, 273 ; assists Fair- 
 bairn in his early publications, 421 
 
 Taylor, James, 439 
 
 Telford, Thomas, 17 ; his erection of 
 iron bridges, 47, 48 ; president of 
 the Institution of Civil Engineers, 
 135 
 
 Temperature of the earth, investiga- 
 tions on, 287 ; results, 305 
 
 Thames embankments, 14 
 
 Thistle,' the, 338 
 
 Thomson, Professor William, 294, 
 295 
 
 Tillock, Mr., 94 
 
 Timber ships, casing of with iron, 
 348 
 
 ' Times,' biographical notice of Fair- 
 bairn, 433 
 
 Tooke, 252 
 
 Tools, improvements in, 38 ; develop- 
 ment of automatic tools, 46 
 
 Toothed wheel, origin of, 24 
 
 Traction in boats, experiments on, 
 133 
 
 Trades' Unions, 92 
 
 Trajan's bridge, 8 
 
 Trajan works, 9 
 
 Transverse strength, 161 
 
 ' Treatise on Iron Ship-building,' 416 
 
 ' Treatise on Mills and Millwork,' 414 
 
 Trevithick's boiler, 258 
 
 Trustees of Cross Street Chapel, letter 
 from Fairbairn to, 457 
 
 Tubes, resistance of, to collapse, 270 
 
 Tubular bridges, 198-213 ; patent for, 
 212 ; extensive manufacture of 
 them, 213 ; great success of the pa- 
 tent, 318 
 
 Tubular cranes, 320 
 
 ' Tubular Girder Bridges,' paper on, 
 401 
 
 Turbine water wheel, 127 
 
 Turkey, trades in the open air, 171 ; 
 iron ores in, 172 
 
 Turkish Government, sends mission to 
 England, 167 ; engages Fairbairn, 
 169; second mission, 172; Fair- 
 bairn's survey of establishments, 
 168-169 
 
 Turkish habits, 170 
 
 Turner, Wright, 489 
 
 Turning, improvements in, 40 
 
 TTNWIN, Mr. W. Cawthorne, 270, 
 U 274 ; assists Fairbairn in his in- 
 
 WIL 
 
 vestigations on iron armour-plates, 
 360 ; his great assistance to Fair- 
 bairn, in his investigations and 
 publications, 421 ; on the scientilic 
 position of Fairbairn, 463 
 
 Ure, Andrew, 211, 242 
 
 ' Useful Information for Engineers,' 
 263 ; first series, 409 ; second series, 
 412 ; third series, 416 
 
 VENICE engineering, 11 
 Vermuyden, Cornelius, 14 
 
 Viaducts of Manchester and Sheffield 
 Railways, rebuilding of, 331 
 
 Vibratory action, effect of, on girders, 
 412 
 
 Vitruvius, on mechanical engineer- 
 ing, 25 
 
 'Vulture,' the, 338 
 
 Vyse, Howard, 252 
 
 WADDLE, William, 84 
 Wales, Prince of, his acknow- 
 ledgment of Fairbairn 's works, 450 
 Walker, J., 242 
 
 Walker, Mr., foreman of Rennie's, 89 
 Wallbaum, Mr., 237 
 Wallich, 252 
 Ward, William, 305 
 < Warrior,' the, 349 
 Waterloo bridge, 17, 88 
 Water wheels at Catrine, 121 ; sus- 
 pended, 127 
 
 Water wheels with Ventilated Buck- 
 ets,' 188 ; Poncelet on, 249 ; testi- 
 mony to their efficiency, 313 
 Watkin, Sir Edward, M.P., 442 
 Watt, James, 17 ; his improvements 
 in the steam engine, 33 ; his con- 
 nection with Roebuck and Boulton, 
 34 ; his invention of the rotary en- 
 gine, 34 ; his difficulty regarding 
 boring, 42 ; his statue at Manches- 
 ter, 377 
 
 Webster, Mr., 277 
 Welsh iron works, 31 
 Westminster bridge, 15 
 Whateley, Dr., 252 
 Wheatstone, Professor, 252, 381 
 Whewell, W., letters to Fairbairn 
 
 from, 390, 394 
 White's school, 54 
 Whitworth, Sir Joseph, 267, 277, 439 ; 
 
 his mechanical improvements, 46 
 Wilkinson, John, inventor of a boring 
 
 bar, 42 
 
 Willis, Professor Robert, 162, 187, 242 
 Wilson, Horace Hayman, 251
 
 INDEX. 
 
 507 
 
 woo 
 
 Wood compared with iron as a ma- 
 terial for ship-building, 403 
 
 Woodcroft, Bennett, 156 
 
 Woollen factory in Turkey, account 
 of, 174 
 
 Woolner, T., B.A., 441, 458 
 
 Workshop processes, 37 
 
 ' Workshop,' the, proposed establish- 
 ment of, 156 
 
 Wright, Thomas, 251 
 
 ZOH 
 
 Wrigley, Edward W., 439 
 
 Wrottesley, Lord, 187, 451 ; on Fair- 
 bairn's claims to scientific distinc- 
 tion, 385, 386 
 
 Wrought iron plates, strength of, 402 
 
 ZOHRAB, Edward, consul-general, 
 17 
 
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