James Beatty (31 March 1820 – 11 March 1856) was an Irish

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

. The son of a doctor from

Enniskillen Enniskillen ( , from , ' Ceithlenn's island') is the largest town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is in the middle of the county, between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 14,086 at the 2011 censu ...

, Beatty was first employed in 1842 at the age of 22 by Peto and

Betts Betts is an English Patronymic surname, deriving from the medieval personal name Bett, a short form of Bartholomew, Beatrice, or Elizabeth. It is also the americanized spelling of German Betz. The surname may refer to * Alejandro Jacobo Betts (1947 ...

on building the

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...

and

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

line. In 1853 he was in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

surveying the

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and despite adverse weather conditions, the line was staked out in good time. Towards the end of 1854 he was appointed by Peto, Brassey and Betts as Chief Engineer of the Grand Crimean Central Railway, built to convey supplies to the Allied forces in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

. He arrived in

Balaklava Balaklava ( Ukrainian and , , ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklavsky District that used to be part of the Crimean Oblast before it was transferred to Sevast ...

in January 1855 to join Donald Campbell and his team who had already started to survey the line. Beatty's energy and enthusiasm ensured that the line, which included a stretch at a gradient of 1 in 14, was laid in a very short time. In April, Beatty was involved in an accident on the line when a train went out of control. He sustained an injury which appeared originally not to be serious but he never fully recovered from it. With the railway substantially complete in November he was still far from well and he left for England. His condition continued to deteriorate and he died in March 1856 at the age of 35 from an

aortic aneurysm An aortic aneurysm is an enlargement (dilatation) of the aorta to greater than 1.5 times normal size. Typically, there are no symptoms except when the aneurysm dissects or ruptures, which causes sudden, severe pain in the abdomen and lower back ...

which was possibly the result of the accident. His widow was awarded a pension equivalent to that of a colonel dying on active service.

References

Citations Sources *Cooke, Brian (1990) ''The Grand Crimean Central Railway'', Cavalier House, Knutsford, . *Marsh, Philip (2000) ''Beatty's Railway'', Paperback, New Cherwell Press, . {{DEFAULTSORT:Beatty, James 1820 births 1856 deaths Deaths from aortic aneurysm People from Enniskillen Engineers from County Fermanagh British people of the Crimean War Irish people in rail transport Burials at Kensal Green Cemetery 19th-century Irish engineers