William Edgeworth (1794?–1829) was an Anglo-Irish civil engineer.

Life

He was the son of

Richard Lovell Edgeworth Richard Lovell Edgeworth (31 May 1744 – 13 June 1817) was an Anglo-Irish politician, writer and inventor. Biography Edgeworth was born in Pierrepont Street, Bath, England, son of Richard Edgeworth senior, and great-grandson of Sir Sal ...

and his third wife Elizabeth, making him one of a very large Anglo-Irish family, including the novelist

Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the n ...

. His father moved to Ireland to take care of an estate near

Edgeworthstown Edgeworthstown or Mostrim () is a small town in County Longford, Ireland. The town is in the east of the county, near the border with County Westmeath. Nearby towns are Longford 12 km to the west, Mullingar 26 km to the east, Athlone 4 ...

. William Edgeworth's practical interests initially followed those of his father, such as surveying; he moved into cartography. Edgeworth was involved in the construction of the

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the secon ...

parish church at

Collon Collon () is a village and townland in the south west corner of County Louth, Ireland, on the N2 national primary road. The village is home to the Cistercian Abbey of New Mellifont, and to Collon House, the ancestral home of the Foster family. ...

in County Louth, where he worked with

Daniel Augustus Beaufort Daniel Augustus Beaufort LL.D. (1 October 1739 – 1821), was an Anglican priest and geographer, born in England to French Huguenot parents. He was rector of Navan, County Meath, Ireland, from 1765 to 1818, and a talented amateur architect also ...

(father of Richard Lovell Edgeworth's fourth wife). Others were William Fletcher (killed there in the building work), and Samuel Jones, brought up by William Edgeworth. Edgeworth's surveying work in Ireland included soundings in the River Inny and the mapping of bogs. Irish Bogs Commission was active in the period 1809 to 1814, and under an Act from 1774 there was funding for county maps from grand juries; Edgeworth reported on issues of bog drainage and reclamation. His 1813 map of County Longford was noted, and was followed by a map of County Roscommon with Richard Griffith. He worked also with William Hampton and John Brinkley. Unlike some other surveyors in Ireland at the time, he encountered little opposition to his work; he took a tactful and communicative line with local people. William Strutt, a connection of his father's through

Lunar Society The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 ...

who became a close friend, gave William Edgeworth introductions to

Peter Ewart Peter Ewart (14 May 1767 – 15 September 1842) was a British engineer who was influential in developing the technologies of turbines and theories of thermodynamics. Biography He was son of the Church of Scotland minister of Troqueer near D ...

and

George Augustus Lee George Augustus Lee (1761 – 5 August 1826) was a British industrialist. His cotton mill in Salford was an early iron-framed building, and he pioneered the use of steam power and gas lighting in industry. Early life He was the only son of the act ...

. He paid a visit to Lee's mills in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. Later Edgeworth was employed 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 ...

. This took him to County Galway and County Waterford. He worked on the Glengariff road. Henry Habberly Price engaged him to do a survey of the River Tees, in north-east England, in 1825–7, on behalf of the

Tees Navigation Company The Tees Navigation Company was a British Company chartered by an Act of Parliament in 1808, for the purpose of improving navigation of the River Tees between the towns of Stockton-on-Tees and Middlesbrough.John Brewster, ''The parochial history an ...

; this work was later used by the

Stockton & Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected coal mining, collieries near Shildo ...

, and for conservancy by William Bald. He carried out an early railway survey of 1828 in Ulster ( Armagh to

Newry Newry (; ) is a City status in Ireland, city in Northern Ireland, divided by the Newry River, Clanrye river in counties County Armagh, Armagh and County Down, Down, from Belfast and from Dublin. It had a population of 26,967 in 2011. Newry ...

), done in fact two years before that. Edgeworth was elected a member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

in 1829, and was a member of the Royal Irish Academy and the

Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NG ...

. He corresponded with

William Rowan Hamilton Sir William Rowan Hamilton LL.D, DCL, MRIA, FRAS (3/4 August 1805 – 2 September 1865) was an Irish mathematician, astronomer, and physicist. He was the Andrews Professor of Astronomy at Trinity College Dublin, and Royal Astronomer of Irela ...

. Edgeworth died, unmarried, at Edgeworthstown, 21 April 1829. Charles Babbage wrote, as illustration of economic doctrine, about a "money pump" devised by Edgeworth.

Notes

External links

National Library of Ireland
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edgeworth, William 1794 births 1829 deaths Irish civil engineers English civil engineers Members of the Royal Irish Academy Engineers from County Longford People from Edgeworthstown