Thomas Telford

Thomas Telford (August 9, 1757 - September 2, 1834) was born in Westerkirk, Scotland. He was a civil engineer, architect, bridge- and canal builder.

At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to a stonemason. He worked for a time in Edinburgh and in 1792 he moved to London where he was involved in building additions to Somerset House. Two years later he found work at Portsmouth dockyard.

In 1787 he became a surveyor of public works for Shropshire, England. By this time Telford had established a good reputation as an engineer and in 1790 was given the task of building a bridge over the Severn river at Montford. This was followed by a the Ellesmere Canal, linking the ironworks and collieries of Wrexham with Chester and Shrewsbury. This involved building an aqueduct over the River Dee. For the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Telford used a new method of construction consisting of troughs made from cast-iron plates and fixed in masonry.

Telford was consulted in 1806 by the King of Sweden about the construction of a canal between Gothenburg and Stockholm. His plans were adopted and construction of the Göta canal began in 1810. Telford travelled to Sweden at that time to oversee some of the more important initial excavations.

After the completion of the Ellesmere Canal, Telford moved back to Scotland where he took control of the building of Caledonian Canal and redesigned sections of the Crinan Canal (1816). Other works by Telford include the Menai Suspension Bridge in north Wales (1819-1826) and the St Katharine Docks (1824-1828) close to Tower Bridge in central London.

In 1820, Telford was appointed the first President of the recently formed Institution of Civil Engineers, a post he held until his death in 1834.

Telford was also an important road builder. During his later years, he was responsible for rebuilding the Shrewsbury to Holyhead road (a task completed by his assistant of ten years, John MacNeill) and the North Wales coast road between Chester and Bangor. During his life Telford built more than 1,000 miles of road, including the main road between London and Holyhead. Thomas Telford is buried in Westminster Abbey.

When a new town was being built in the Wrekin area of Shropshire in 1968, it was named Telford in his honour.