John England

MICE A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

(1822 – 14 September 1877) 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 ...

prominent in the history of the Colony of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

History

John England junior, as he was generally known,Cumming, D. A. and Moxham, G. ''They Built South Australia'' pub. by the authors, Adelaide SA 1986 was the second son of John England, a prominent solicitor of

Hull Hull may refer to: Structures * The hull of an armored fighting vehicle, housing the chassis * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a sea-going craft * Submarine hull Ma ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. He was educated at the local High School and was articled to the eminent engineer (later Sir)

William Fairbairn Sir William Fairbairn, 1st Baronet of Ardwick (19 February 1789 – 18 August 1874) was a Scotland, Scottish civil engineer, structural engineer and shipbuilder. In 1854 he succeeded George Stephenson and Robert Stephenson to become the third ...

. On gaining his degree, he was put in charge of design and construction of engines for the HMSS ''Megara'' and her sister ship. When Fairbairn was commissioned by

Brunel Isambard Kingdom Brunel ( ; 9 April 1806 – 15 September 1859) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who is considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engi ...

to design girders for the

Menai Bridge Menai Bridge (; usually referred to colloquially as ''Y Borth'') is a town and community on the Isle of Anglesey in north-west Wales. It overlooks the Menai Strait and lies by the Menai Suspension Bridge, built in 1826 by Thomas Telford, j ...

, England and a Mr. Murray were charged with investigating various tubular forms and constricting a one-fourth scale model of the bridge to test its breaking strain. His work drew the attention of

Charles Vignoles Charles Blacker Vignoles (31 May 1793 – 17 November 1875) was an Irish railway engineer, and eponym of the Vignoles rail. Early life He was born at Woodbrook, County Wexford, Ireland in May 1793 the son of Capt. Charles Henry Vi ...

, who then employed England to supervise construction of the suspension bridge over the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

, a job which took five years, from 1842 to 1847. In recognition of his work he was offered the post of Captain in the Imperial Engineer Corps, but his health had suffered from the cold climate, and he decided to move to South Australia. He arrived in Adelaide in 1851, and after a brief sojourn in Melbourne, he set up a contracting business in Adelaide, and after constructing a number of wooden bridges, submitted a design for a tubular steel bridge over the

Torrens Torrens may refer to: Places South Australia * Electoral district of Torrens, a state electoral district * Lake Torrens, a salt lake north of Adelaide * River Torrens, which runs through the heart of Adelaide * City of West Torrens, a local go ...

, together with a plan for extending King William Street (as King William Road) to

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

. He and William Robson Coulthard erected the Glenelg jetty, the first screw-pile structure in Australia. He was appointed City Surveyor, but resigned that position to take over the Adelaide Waterworks on the retirement of

George Ernest Hamilton George Ernest Hamilton CE (ca.1800 – 8 October 1872) was a British civil engineer who played a leading role in development of the Colony of South Australia. History He was involved in various water supply schemes in England between 1826 and ...

in 1858 and the amalgamation of that position with that of Resident Engineer of South Australian Railways. He supervised construction of the Thorndon Park reservoir and its reticulation. He was instrumental in the erection of the

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

lighthouse and upgrading the Troubridge lighthouse. He left the Public Service in 1867 after a Select Committee found he had authorized over-payment to the Thorndon Park contractor, and joined the firm of Wallace and Morel, who were laying the railway north from Port Augusta. This project was abandoned, and England left for Japan, where he had been appointed Chief Engineer of the Japanese Imperial Railways. He died in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:England, John 1822 births 1877 deaths British bridge engineers Australian civil engineers