Thomas Meik ( – )Thomas Meik
''Grace's Guide''. Retrieved: 8 October 2015. was a 19th-century Scottish engineer. He is particularly associated with

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

s and railways in Scotland and northern England, Meik fathered two prominent engineering sons: Patrick Meik and Charles Meik. The firm they founded remains active, today part of the

Jacobs Engineering Group Jacobs Solutions Inc. is an American international technical professional services firm based in Dallas. The company provides engineering, technical, professional, and construction services as well as scientific and specialty consulting for a ...

Early career

He was born at Easter

Duddingston Duddingston is an affluent, historic village in the east of Edinburgh, Scotland, next to Holyrood Park.It is a conservation area, not to be confused with the rest of Duddingston, which stretches down towards Portobello. Duddingston Village bo ...

on 20 January 1812, the son of Patrick Meik and his wife, Barbara Scott. Educated at the High School and

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, Thomas Meik worked for two years with a firm of millwrights named Moodie and was then apprenticed to John Steedman, an engineer and contractor who was working in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on the Hutcheson Bridge (designed by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of author

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

). His first long-term post was as assistant engineer to William Chadwell Mylne of the New River Company, London.

River Wear Commission

In 1845, at the age of 33, Meik was appointed engineer to the

River Wear The River Wear (, ) in Northern England rises in the Pennines and flows eastwards, mostly through County Durham, to the North Sea in the City of Sunderland. At long, it is one of the region's longest rivers. The Wear wends in a steep valley t ...

Commission (responsible for maritime works around

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

). In 1859, the commission took over the construction of the

Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...

Dock on the south side of the Wear, and Meik was responsible for the entire works (the task included a grain warehouse and a

lighthouse A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of physical structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lens (optics), lenses and to serve as a beacon for navigational aid for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways. Ligh ...

– which, although relocated when the South Pier was shortened in 1983, still stands today). Just a few miles further north, he was also consulting engineer to Blyth Harbour from 1862.

Partnerships

In 1868, he entered into partnership with William David Nisbet (1837–1897) in Sunderland and Edinburgh. Commissions included a rail freight link, the Hylton, Southwick and Monkwearmouth Railway, transporting coal from collieries sited along the line to the nearby port at Sunderland. The railway was subsequently acquired by the North Eastern Railway. However, later railway designs were to prove more successful for Meik. In Scotland he designed a rail link to

Eyemouth Eyemouth is a town and civil parishes in Scotland, civil parish in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is east of the main north–south A1 road (Great Britain), A1 road and north of Berwick-upon-Tweed. The town's name ...

, an extension to the

Forfar Forfar (; , ) is the county town of Angus, Scotland, and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million-pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town had a population of 16,280. The town ...

Brechin Brechin (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin was described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Scottish Reformation, Reformation Roman Catholic diocese (which contin ...

line, the

Newburgh and North Fife Railway The Newburgh and North Fife Railway was a Scottish railway company formed to build a connecting line between St Fort and Newburgh, in Fife, intended to open up residential traffic between the intermediate communities and Dundee and Perth. It ope ...

and the East

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

Central Railway. The partnership with Nisbet was dissolved in 1875 and Meik formed a new partnership with his sons. Work included the Scottish ports of

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

Burntisland Burntisland ( , ) is a former Royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland, on the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. It was previously known as Wester Kinghorn or Little Kinghorn. The town has a population of 6,269 (2011). Burntisland is known ...

and

Bo'ness Borrowstounness, commonly known as Bo'ness ( ), is a town and former burgh and seaport on the south bank of the Firth of Forth in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically part of the county of West Lothian (historic), ...

, and the firm acted as consulting engineers to the new dock at

Silloth Silloth, or Silloth-on-Solway, is a port town and civil parish in the Cumberland (district), Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town stands on the coast of the Solway Firth, west of Carlisle. It was developed from the 1850s onwards a ...

for the

North British Railway The North British Railway was one of the two biggest of the five major Scottish railway companies prior to the 1923 Grouping. It was established in 1844, with the intention of linking with English railways at Berwick. The line opened in 1846, ...

. In 1880 he had offices at 6 York Place, Edinburgh. He retired in 1888 and died at his home in Newbattle Terrace in Edinburgh in 1896 aged 84, leaving his business in the hands of his sons,

Patrick Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

and

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''* ...

. He was buried in

Duddingston Kirk Duddingston Kirk is a Parish Church in the Church of Scotland, located adjacent to Holyrood Park in Duddingston Village, on the east side of the City of Edinburgh. Regular services are held at the kirk. History Cassel identifies the buildin ...

yard.Thomas Meik: 1812 – 1896
''Gazetteer of Scotland''. Retrieved: 8 October 2015. The grave lies in the south-west corner. The firm they founded remains active. It was later known as Halcrow Group Limited, taking its name from Sir William Halcrow, who joined the company in the early years of the 20th century; Halcrow was acquired by US firm

CH2M Hill CH2M, earlier CH2M Hill, was an engineering company that provided consulting, design, construction, and operations services for corporations and governments. The company was organized in Corvallis, Oregon, and headquartered at 9191 South Jamai ...

in 2011, and in 2017 CH2M was acquired by

Family

He was married to Julia Hunter (1825–1911), daughter of Walter Hunter of Bow in Middlesex. Their children included Thomas Carsie Meik (1847–1894), Julia (died in infancy), Patrick Walter Meik MICE (1851–1910), Edward (died in childhood), Charles Scott Meik (1853–1923) and Henry Hunter Meik WS (d.1923).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meik, Thomas 1812 births 1896 deaths People from Midlothian Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish civil engineers