William Bragge

Infobox Person
name = William Bragge


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birth_date = 31 May 1823
birth_place = Birmingham, England
death_date = 6 June 1884
death_place = Birmingham, England
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nationality = English
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known_for = "Bibliotheca nicotiana"
education = Birmingham
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occupation = Civil engineer, antiquarian, author
home_town = Birmingham
title = F.S.A., F.G.S.
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William Bragge, F.S.A., F.G.S., (31 May 1823 – 6 June 1884) [Stephen 1886:194] was a civil engineer, antiquarian, and author. He established a museum and art gallery. He was notable in his day for collecting a library containing the entire literature on tobacco. The collection contained tobacco information in all its forms, almost all languages, with pamphlets, engravings, and other publications filling 17 large volumes. [cite news |title=Some Gossipy Foreign News |url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E0CE3DF1E3EE433A25752C1A9609C94639FD7CF&oref=slogin |work= |publisher="The New York Times" |date=1882-06-11 |accessdate=2008-06-05] In the English language, the two oldest bibliographies on books are Bragge's original and revised volumes on tobacco. [cite Journal |url=http://www.pt-magazine.com/home.php?id=119&cid=703&article_id=10181 |title=BIBLIOGRAPHIES |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last=Rapaport |first= Ben |coauthors= |date=Winter 2008 |work= |publisher=pt-magazine.com]

Early life

Bragge was born in Birmingham. His father, Thomas Perry Bragge, was a jeweller. His brother, Joseph, was six years younger. Bragge studied mechanics and mathematics in Birmingham cite web |last=Grant |first=Sir Alan |coauthors= Joseph, Michael |http://www.btinternet.com/~raewbrown/ssformation.html |title=Formation of John Boran & Co. LTD. |work=Ships & Steel : The Story of John Brown's |year=1950 |url=http://www.btinternet.com/~raewbrown/ssformation.html] , practical engineering with two firms in Birmingham, [Stephen 1886:194] and trained as an engineer and railway surveyor.

Career

He began his career in 1845 as a civil engineer and began railway surveying, first as an assistant engineer, later as Chief Mechanical Engineer with the Birkenhead Railway for a portion of the Chester to Holyhead railroad line.

With a recommendation from Sir Charles Fox, Bragge, representing Edward T. Belhouse & Co. of Manchester, was sent to Brazil where he worked on the project to light Rio de Janeiro with gas, as well as surveying the first railway in Brazil. For his fine work, Bragge received distinctions from the emperor Don Pedro, [Stephen 1886:194] including the Order of the Rose. Bragge built the first line that was hauled by the locomotive, "La Porteña", on the Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires. In addition, he built gas and waterworks for the city of Buenos Aires. He was a founder of Argentina's Primitiva de Gas Company.cite web |url=http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/casamirror/argentine%20railways.htm |title=The Western Railway Company |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last=Yooll |first=Andrew Graham |coauthors= |date=1981 |work=Extracted from "The Forgotten Colony" |publisher=Hutchison]

Bragge returned to England in 1858 and, in Sheffield from 1858-1872, was a managing director of John Brown & Company. In 1870, he became Master Cutler of Sheffield. He established an armour-plate manufactory in Sheffield as well.

In 1872, Bragge went to Paris and was unsuccessful in developing a sewage system for Société des Engrais. [Stephen 1886:194] Upon his return to Birmingham in 1876, he established a watch-making factory. [cite web |url=http://www.instappraisal.com/searchinstappraisal.php?query=anno |title= 18 ct gold hunter pocket watch - |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=instappraisal.com]

His memberships include: [Stephen 1886:195]
* Free Libraries Committee
* School of Art
* Fellow, Society of Antiquaries
* Fellow, Anthropological Society
* Fellow, Royal Geographical Society

Antiquarian

In addition to South America, Bragge's travels took him to Russiacite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/accessions/2005/05returns/05ac199.htm |title=Sheffield Archives: 2005 Accessions |accessdate=2008-06-05 |publisher=nationalarchives.gov.uk] and Bragge was a frequent visitor to Spain where he developed an interest in its literature, including that of Miguel de Cervantes.

Bragge donated his collected items to the Birmingham Free Library, including his 1500 volume Cervantes collection in 1873 and study of tobacco collection. [Stephen 1886:194] The fire of 1879 destroyed many of the items.cite web |title=The Cervantes Collection |date=2007-12-19 |url=http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=17934&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=5396
publisher=birmingham.gov.uk] [Stephen 1886:194] He collected gems and precious stones from all over Europe, as well as 13,000 pipes, hundreds of types of tobacco, and snuff-boxes. [Stephen 1886:195] In 1880, Bragge published a revised bibliography on the subject of tobacco, "Bibliotheca nicotiana", amounting to 248 quarto pages. [cite web |url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Tobacco |title=Consumption of Tobacco |accessdate=2008-06-05 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=]

Later years

Bragge lived for a time on Shirle Hill, Birmingham. His wife, a sister of Rev. George Beddow, preceded him in death [Stephen 1886:195] Bragge was blind for a period before his death at Clarendon House, Handsworth, Birmingham. [Stephen 1886:195]

His descendents include a daughter, Mrs. W.H. Haywood,cite book |author=Liverpool Art Club |year=1878 |title=Catalogue of specimens of art work in Chinese snuff bottles and other articles in porcelain, ivory etc. connected with the use of tobacco: forming part of the collection of Wm. Bragge, Esq., F.S.A., F.G.S., etc., Shirle Hill, Birmingham |date=October 1878 |location=Liverpool |publisher=Liverpool Art Club. |oclc=200831273] who presented to the Birmingham Central Reference Library, Language and Literature Department, a marble profile medallion portrait of her father at age 42, sculpted by Edward William Wyon in 1865.cite web |url=http://pmsa.cch.kcl.ac.uk/BM/WMbiBIxx261.htm |title=William Bragge (1823-1884) |accessdate=2008-06-05 |publisher=Public Monument and Sculpture Association (PMSA), National Recording Project] He had two sons, Charles Bragge (b. Chester, Cheshire), and Frank Bragge (b. Sheffield).cite web |url=http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/SingleIndexIndView.aspx?ix=uk1881census&hpp=1&rf=*,z*&qt=i&zdocid=12759031 |title=UK 1881 Census |accessdate=2008-06-06 |last= |first= |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=worldvitalrecords.com]

Partial works

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Notes

References

* cite book |last=Stephen |first=L. |coauthors=Lee, S. & Smith, G. |title=Dictionary of National Biography |year=1886 |location=London |publisher=Smith, Elder
url=http://books.google.com/books?id=NyoJAAAAIAAJ

Persondata
NAME = Bragge, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = "Bibliotheca nicotiana"
DATE OF BIRTH = 31 May 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH = Birmingham, England
DATE OF DEATH = 6 June 1884
PLACE OF DEATH = Birmingham, England