Sir John Benjamin Macneill FRS (1793 – 2 March 1880) was an eminent Irish civil engineer of the 19th century, closely associated with

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

. His most notable projects were railway schemes in Ireland.

Life

He was born in Mountpleasant near the town of

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ga, Dún Dealgan ), meaning "the fort of Dealgan", is the county town (the administrative centre) of County Louth, Ireland. The town is on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the east coast of Ireland. It is h ...

County Louth County Louth ( ; ga, An Lú) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, M ...

, Ireland. Macneill started initially as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ...

and was employed practically in laying out roads and other engineering works since 1816. His survey of the Boyne estuary became the basis of a report by

Alexander Nimmo Alexander Nimmo FRSE MRIA MICE HFGS (1783 – January 20, 1832) was a Scottish civil engineer and geologist active in early 19th-century Ireland. Life and career Nimmo was born in Cupar, Fife in 1783, the son of a watchmaker, and grew up in ...

in 1826. During a trip to England in the 1820s he met engineer Thomas Telford who inspired him to become a civil engineer. Indeed, he became Telford's chief assistant for 10 years, eventually succeeding Telford as chief engineer on the massive London–

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and i ...

road project. He developed Macneill's road indicator in the late 1820s, an instrument for ascertaining the force necessary to draw a carriage over different kinds of roads and pavements, and consequently, the actual condition of the road. In 1831, Macneill gave evidence to a

Parliamentary select committee A select committee is a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues originating in the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Select committees exist in the British Parliam ...

on the effect of

steam carriage Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

s on road surfaces. After Telford's death in 1834 Macneill established his own consultancy, based in London and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, and turned his attention towards railways—his first projects were freight schemes in the Scottish coal and ironfields near

Wishaw Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it form ...

and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

. He was also consulting engineer at Grangemouth Docks and for various Scottish

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface f ...

projects.

During the late 1830s and early 1840s, Macneill focused on his native Ireland. He worked on various railway projects, including the

Dublin and Drogheda Railway Dublin and Drogheda Railway (D&D) was a railway company in Ireland which publicly opened its 31¾ mile main line between Dublin and Drogheda in May 1844. It was the third railway company in Ireland to operate passenger trains and the first to us ...

, including plans to extend the railway beyond Drogheda towards

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

. Much of Ireland's modern railway network still follows routes he proposed. For example, the Dublin-Belfast railway line follows the line of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway along the coast (Macneill was knighted in 1844 following its completion) and many of its impressive original structures remain such as the high

Boyne Viaduct , native_name_lang = , image = 02 Boyne Viaduct Drogheda 2007-10-5.JPG , image_size = , alt = , caption = , official_name = , other_name = , carries = Belfast-Dublin railway ...

near Drogheda, built 1851 to 1855, based on ideas developed by

William Bindon Blood William Bindon Blood (20 January 181731 January 1894) was an Irish civil engineer. Life He was born on the family estate in Cranagher,An Introduction to the Blood Family
dolmetsch online the 18-arch, high

Craigmore Viaduct Craigmore may refer to one of the following places: * Craigmore (hill), in the Trossachs, Scotland * Craigmore, part of Rothesay, Isle of Bute, Scotland * Craigmore, Nova Scotia, Canada * Craigmore, South Australia Craigmore is a large suburb ...

near

Bessbrook Bessbrook is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It lies about three miles (5 km) northwest of Newry and near the Newry bypass on the main A1 Belfast-Dublin road and Belfast-Dublin railway line. Today the village of Bessbrook str ...

, built 1849 to 1852, and the nearby Egyptian Arch. Macneill was also a noted teacher of civil engineering (his pupils included Sir Joseph Bazalgette and

G. W. Hemans George Willoughby Hemans (27 August 1814 – 29 December 1885) was an Irish architect and engineer who designed several major railway schemes in Ireland and the UK during the mid 19th century. He was born in St Asaph, North Wales, on 27 August 181 ...

), and in 1842 he was appointed the first Professor of the Practice of Engineering at

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, a post he held for 10 years. Monaghan Railway Station - geograph

He was involved with

harbour A harbor (American English), harbour (British English; see spelling differences), or haven is a sheltered body of water where ships, boats, and barges can be docked. The term ''harbor'' is often used interchangeably with ''port'', which is ...

improvements in his birthplace town of Dundalk in the early 1850s, but was not averse to the occasional overseas commission. In 1855, he helped survey part of a route for a railway line linking Europe to

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

, participating in an expedition to the valley of the River

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

. Closer to home, however, as chief engineer of the

Belfast and County Down Railway The Belfast and County Down Railway (BCDR) was an Irish gauge () railway in Ireland (later Northern Ireland) linking Belfast with County Down. It was built in the 19th century and absorbed into the Ulster Transport Authority in 1948. All but th ...

(founded in 1846), he was responsible for crossing the marshy estuary of the River Quoile (the first bridge was constructed of timber piles driven into the riverbed) to bring the line to

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...

in March 1859 (part of the line is still operational from the town's railway museum). Soon after, in April 1860, Macneill was appointed engineer of the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway, intended to link

Lough Foyle Lough Foyle, sometimes Loch Foyle ( or "loch of the lip"), is the estuary of the River Foyle, on the north coast of Ireland. It lies between County Londonderry in Northern Ireland and County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland. Sovereignty over ...

and

Lough Swilly Lough Swilly () in Ireland is a glacial fjord or sea inlet lying between the western side of the Inishowen Peninsula and the Fanad Peninsula, in County Donegal. Along with Carlingford Lough and Killary Harbour it is one of three glacial fjords ...

across the

Inishowen Inishowen () is a peninsula in the north of County Donegal in Ireland. Inishowen is the largest peninsula on the island of Ireland. The Inishowen peninsula includes Ireland's most northerly point, Malin Head. The Grianan of Aileach, a ringfort ...

peninsula in north

Donegal Donegal may refer to: County Donegal, Ireland * County Donegal, a county in the Republic of Ireland, part of the province of Ulster * Donegal (town), a town in County Donegal in Ulster, Ireland * Donegal Bay, an inlet in the northwest of Ireland b ...

. It was around this period that the Victorians' enthusiasm for railways began to wane, and the Lough Swilly company was one of many that rarely made a profit. This was disastrous for Macneill as many of his commissions were to be rewarded through share dividends on any profits. He had also unwisely made himself financially liable for calls on shares for unprofitable railway companies. With his income dwindling, Macneill became utterly impoverished. A fire in 1857 destroyed the principal industrial enterprise on his estate, the linen-mill and factory employing over 300 men, and this had been uninsured. He was then forced in 1868 to sell Mountpleasant House, his home in north Louth, which he had designed and built, and he moved to

Surbiton Surbiton is a suburban neighbourhood in South West London, within the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames (RBK). It is next to the River Thames, southwest of Charing Cross. Surbiton was in the historic county of Surrey and since 1965 it ha ...

and then London. He later became blind, abandoned by his friends and pupils, reportedly surviving on a pittance earned from making matchboxes in the single room where he lodged. He died at his son Torquil's house in

Cromwell Road Cromwell Road is a major London road in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, designated as part of the A4. It was created in the 19th century and is said to be named after Richard Cromwell, son of Oliver Cromwell, who once owned a hous ...

, south-west London on 2 March 1880. Another son, Telford Macneill, later bought back Mountpleasant House in 1894 and lived there until 1934.

Legacy

A commemorative plaque was unveiled on 20 July 2001 at his (previously) unmarked grave in

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

in London. It lies towards the north-east corner of the cemetery.

References

Sources

* Diarmaid Fleming (2001) "Macneill: remembering engineering's forgotten hero” ''New Civil Engineer magazine'' (London, UK), pp. 24–25, 19 July. {{DEFAULTSORT:Macneill, John Benjamin 1793 births 1880 deaths Irish civil engineers Irish people in rail transport Academics of Trinity College Dublin People from Dundalk Burials at Brompton Cemetery Fellows of the Royal Society