Robert Daglish (1779-28 December 1865) was a colliery manager,

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

mechanical Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations o ...

and

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 ...

at the start of the railway era. Daglish was born in

North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...

. He became 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 organization, charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters ar ...

in 1830. He died at Orrell on 28 December 1865 and is buried at the Church of St Thomas the Martyr,

Upholland Up Holland (or Upholland) is a village in Skelmersdale and is a civil parish in the West Lancashire district, in the county of Lancashire, England, west of Wigan. The population at the 2011 census was 7,376. Geography The village is on a sma ...

. He had married Margaret Twizel in 1804. Their children included George (1805-1870), who became a surgeon and Robert. Daglish moved to Lancashire in 1804 where he was employed by Lord Balcarres to manage

Haigh Foundry Haigh Foundry was an ironworks and foundry in Haigh, Greater Manchester, Haigh, Lancashire, which was notable for the manufacture of early steam locomotives. Origins Haigh Foundry was established in the River Douglas, Lancashire, Douglas Valley ...

and the adjacent Brock Mill Forge. While at Haigh he built pumping, winding and blast engines which in their day were described as "improved and efficient machines". Around 1810, Daglish moved to Orrell where he was appointed manager of John Clarke's Orrell Colliery. Having seen the rack locomotives

John Blenkinsop John Blenkinsop (1783 – 22 January 1831) was an English mining engineer and an inventor of steam locomotives, who designed the first practical railway locomotive. He was born in Felling, County Durham, the son of a stonemason and was ap ...

designed for the

Middleton Railway The Middleton Railway is the world's oldest continuously working railway, situated in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1758 and is now a heritage railway, run by volunteers from The Middleton Railway Trust Ltd. since 1960. The ...

near Leeds in 1812, under licence, he built the ''Yorkshire Horse'' to the same design as Blenkinsop's ''

Salamanca Salamanca () is a Municipality of Spain, municipality and city in Spain, capital of the Province of Salamanca, province of the same name, located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is located in the Campo Charro comarca, in the ...

''. He converted the colliery wagonway between the collieries at Winstanley and the

Leeds and Liverpool Canal The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , crossing the Pennines, and including 91 locks on the main line. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal has several small branc ...

at Crooke to a running track with stone sleepers and iron rails. The locomotive was built at Haigh Foundry. Under Daglish's management the colliery was extremely profitable. He built a second locomotive and said they each did the work of 14 horses saving the company about £500 per year. Daglish supervised much of the construction work on the

Bolton and Leigh Railway The Bolton and Leigh Railway (B&LR) was the first public railway in Lancashire. It opened for goods on 1 August 1828, and thus preceded the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) by two years. Passengers were carried from 1831. The railway oper ...

which opened in 1828. he rebuilt the locomotive, ''

Novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

'', for the

St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway The St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway was an early railway line owned by a company of the same name in Lancashire, England, which opened in 1833. It was later known as St Helens Railway. It ran originally from the town of St Helens to the area ...

in 1833. With his son, Robert who erected the machinery for that railway's

inclined plane An inclined plane, also known as a ramp, is a flat supporting surface tilted at an angle from the vertical direction, with one end higher than the other, used as an aid for raising or lowering a load. The inclined plane is one of the six clas ...

s, they operated the line from 1839 until 1848. Daglish was consulted by other railway companies such as the

Newcastle & Carlisle Railway The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (N&CR) (formally, the ''Newcastle upon Tyne and Carlisle Railway'') was an English railway company formed in 1825 that built a line from Newcastle upon Tyne on Britain's east coast, to Carlisle, on the west co ...

in 1832 and the

Great North of England Railway The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the ...

. He won a prize in the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

's competition for the best design for rail chairs. In North America, Daglish was consulted by the Baltimore and Susquehanna, the Boston and Providence, the New York and Harlem and

Norwich and Worcester Railroad The Norwich and Worcester Railroad (N&W) was a railroad in the U.S. states of Connecticut and Massachusetts. Its north-south mainline ran between its namesake cities of Worcester, Massachusetts, and Norwich, Connecticut, (later extended to Gro ...

Robert Daglish (1809-1883)

Daglish's son, Robert (1809-1883) was also an engineer. He trained with Hick and Rothwell in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

before moving to Lee Watson and Company's St Helens Iron Foundry. The foundry supplied machinery for mills, mines, waterworks, glassworks, and railways. Iron lattice truss bridges were supplied to the

Liverpool and Bury Railway The Liverpool and Bury Railway was formed by an act of Parliament in 1845 to link Liverpool and Bury via Kirkby, Wigan and Bolton, the line opening on 20 November 1848. The line became the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway's main line between ...

in 1846. He was also a railway contractor.

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* * * * {{authority control English mining engineers Rack railways in the United Kingdom British steam engine engineers Engineers from Lancashire British railway pioneers