William Weston (1763 – 29 August 1833) was an English civil engineer who worked in England and the United States of America. [1] For a brief period at the end of the 18th century, Weston was the pre-eminent civil engineer in the new US and worked on the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company, the Western and Northern Inland Lock Navigation Companies in New York, the Middlesex canal in Massachusetts, the Schuylkill Permanent Bridge at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Potomac navigation. [2]
Career
William Weston is first noticed with his work on Trent Bridge, Gainsborough, between 1787 and 1791. In 1792, he sailed from Falmouth to the US to start a five-year engagement as engineer to the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company in Pennsylvania. Among others, Weston trained (in 1794) Benjamin Wright, later chief engineer of the Erie Canal and Loammi Baldwin chief engineer of the Middlesex Canal. He returned to England in 1801, but retained his connection with the US and was a consultant to the Erie Canal Commissioners.
Biography
He was the son of Samuel Weston, the Oxford Canal engineer. He married Charlotte Whitehouse of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, in 1792. Their daughter, Sophia, was born in Albany and later, in England, married a Staveley. [3]
Sometime after Weston returned to England, Weston commissioned a porcelain service which came to light circa 2005. Possible connections of William Weston to William Weston Young and Lewis Weston Dillwyn - financial backers of the potter and ceramic artist William Billingsley - were then investigated. [3]
His notebook, donated to the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, includes, amongst other things, a diagram of "centring at Sawley Bridge", the costings of a guard lock, a diagram of a canal bridge and costings of "Gainsboro' Bridge". [3]
Summary of works
- 1791 Trent Bridge, Gainsborough
- 1795 Schuylkill and Susquehanna Navigation Company
- 1798 Delaware and Schuylkill Canal
- 1793 Conewago Canal, Pennsylvania
- 1796 Middlesex Canal, Massachusetts
- 1796 Potomac River Locks
- 1798 Western Inland Lock Navigation, New York
- 1796 James River Canal
- 1801 Schuylkill River Bridge
References
- ^ A biographical dictionary of civil engineers in Great Britain and Ireland. By A. W. Skempton
- ^ Calhoun, Daniel Hovey (1960). The American civil engineer: Origins and conflict. Technology Press, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
- ^ a b c Pamela (Theophilus) Gardner (2010). Billingsley, Brampton and Beyond ... in search of The Weston Connection. Matador/Troubador Publishing Ltd.
External links
- An Historical Review of Waterways and Canal Construction in New York State by Henry Wayland Hill, published 1908 by the Buffalo Historical Society.
- Report of the directors of the Western and Northern Inland Lock Navigation by Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, Philip John Schuyler, William Weston, Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company, published 1796, 20 pages.
- Transactions, Volume 16 by Newcomen Society (Great Britain) Published 1937, William Weston and his Contribution to Early American Engineering.
- The Water-Supply of the City of New York 1658-1895 By Edward Wegmann, published 1896, 310 pages, page 9 mentions William Weston.
- Engineering Legends: Great American Civil Engineers : 32 Profiles of Inspiration and Achievement by Richard Weingardt, William Weston pages 4–8. Published 2005, 165 pages.
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