Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie (26 March 1839 – 18 May 1917) was a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing i ...

responsible for several major engineering projects, including several associated with crossings of the River

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He was born in London to a Scottish father, Alexander Binnie, and Hannah Carr from

Castle Sowerby Castle Sowerby is a civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria, England. In 2001 it had a population of 337, increasing to 344 at the 2011 Census, and includes the hamlets of How Hill, Millhouse, Newlands, Sour Nook, Southernby and Sowerb ...

, Cumberland. He was baptised at the Swallow Street Scotch Church, where his grandfather Alexander Birnie was an elder. He trained as an engineer by being articled in 1858 to Terence Flannagan and afterwards to Frederic la Trobe Bateman. He then worked on railways in mid-Wales before moving in 1868 to India to engineer the

Nagpur Nagpur (; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Nāgapura'') is the second capital and third-largest city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is called the heart of India because of its central geographical location. It is the largest and most populated city i ...

water supply system. He received the Telford Medal of the

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

in 1875 for his paper on the Nagpur waterworks. In 1875, he returned to England as Chief Engineer for Waterworks for the City of

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, West Yorkshire where he was concerned with the repair and construction of reservoirs and large water supply projects, such as Upper Barden Reservoir. He was then offered the post of Chief Engineer for

London County Council The London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today ...

in 1890, a post he held until 1902. Vauxhall bridge 3

As chief engineer for London County Council, his design feats included the first

Blackwall Tunnel The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, England, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south ...

(1897) and Greenwich foot tunnel (1902) (both in Greenwich, London) and, further upstream,

Vauxhall Bridge Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II* listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames in a southeast–northwest direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Pimlico on the north bank. Opened in 1906, it r ...

(1906). He was knighted in 1897 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

for services to engineering and elected President of the

in 1905. He also designed, with Sir Benjamin Baker, major parts of London's drainage system, including east London sewage treatment works at

Crossness Crossness is a location in the London Borough of Bexley, close to the southern bank of the River Thames, to the east of Thamesmead, west of Belvedere and north-west of Erith. The place takes its name from Cross Ness, a specific promontory on the ...

and Barking on the south and north sides of the Thames respectively (these were sited at the ends of the sewer outfalls created by Sir

Joseph Bazalgette Sir Joseph William Bazalgette (; 28 March 1819 – 15 March 1891) was an English civil engineering, civil engineer. As Chief Engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation of the London Main Drainage, t ...

during the late 19th century).

Legacy

Like several other notable engineers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g. Sir William Halcrow, Sir Alexander Gibb), Binnie founded a firm under his name, which his son

William William is a masculine given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin. It became popular in England after the Norman Conquest, Norman conquest in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle ...

took over on his father's retirement. In 1909, Sir Alexander Binnie and Son merged with another engineering consultancy to become Sir Alexander Binnie, Son &

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

; later it became Binnie & Partners, and from the 1990s it was part of the multi-national Black & Veatch consultancy. In January 2021, the Europe and Asian water businesses of Black & Veatch were acquired by

RSK Group RSK Group is a privately held UK-based environmental, engineering and technical services group, comprising over 175 companies employing some 10,500 people and with turnover of £1.9bn in 2024. History RSK Group was established in 1989 in Aberde ...

and renamed Binnies.

Personal life

Binnie married, in 1865, Mary Frances Eames, the daughter of Dr. William J. Eames, of Londonderry. Lady Binnie died in London 21 September 1901.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binnie, Alexander 1839 births 1917 deaths English civil engineers Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers Presidents of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers Knights Bachelor Engineers from London