James Henry Greathead
|
Statue of Greathead in London which was only erected in 1994 |
James Henry Greathead (
6 August 1844 -
21 October1896) was an
engineer renowned for his work on the
London Underground.
Born in Grahamstown,
South Africa he moved to Britain in
1859 to continue his education in
civil engineering. In
1864 he began working with
Peter W. Barlow and then spent time (around
1867) as assistant engineer on the
Midland Railway between
Bedford and
London (working with Barlow's brother,
William Henry Barlow).
Soon after, in
1869, he rejoined Barlow and they began work on designs for the
Tower Subway, a
tunnel under the river
Thames in central London. This began a long fascination with the challenges of tunnelling through soft, waterlogged soil. Today Greathead is particularly remembered for his pioneering work in relation to
tunnelling shield techniques, in which he greatly improved the shield developed by
Marc Isambard Brunel in
1818 for the construction of the
Thames Tunnel. He patented many of his improvements including use of compressed air and forward propulsion by hydraulic jacks, both of which are now standard features of tunnel construction.
Greathead was Chief Engineer on the
City & South London Railway (now part of the
Northern Line, opened in
1890), and, shortly before his death in
Streatham, began work on the Central Line (opened
1900) with Sir
Benjamin Baker. He was also a consultant in relation to the construction of the
Blackwall Tunnel and the
Waterloo & City Line, both completed after his death.
An English Heritage
blue plaque marks his home in
Barnes, south-west London, 3 St Mary's Grove, where he lived between 1885 and 1889, and the statue shown here is next to the
Royal Exchange in the City of London.
*
Family records*
Genealogy*
(Ms Word doc format) or
(HTML version) Newsletter of the Friends of
West Norwood Cemetery (where Greathead is buried)
