Edward Watkin

Sir Edward William Watkin (26 September 1819 - 13 April 1901) was a Victorian railway chairman and politician.

Biography

Watkin was born in Salford, Lancashire, the son of a wealthy cotton merchant, Absalom Watkin who was noted for his involvement in the Anti-corn Law League.

After a private education, he returned to work in his father's mill business. In 1845 he founded the Manchester Examiner, by which time he had become a partner in his father's business.

Watkin began to show an interest in railways and at age 26, also in 1845, he took on the secretaryship of the Trent Valley Railway, which was sold the following year to the London & Birmingham and Grand Junction railways (which were about to amalgamate to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR)), for £438,000. He then became assistant to Captain Mark Huish, General Manager of the LNWR. He visited USA and Canada and published a book about the railways in these countries in 1852. Back in Great Britain he was appointed secretary of the Worcester & Hereford Railway. He then left the LNWR and became the general manager of the Manchester Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR). He held this position from 1854 to 1862 and was chairman of the company from 1864 to 1894. He was knighted in 1868 and made a baronet in 1880.

Abroad he encouraged the uniting of the Canadian provinces by the building of a railroad. He also helped to build the railway between Athens and Piraeus, advised on the Indian railways and organised the transport of the Belgian Congo.

Watkin also served on other railway companies. In 1866 he became a director on the Great Western Railway and later on the Great Eastern Railway. By 1881 Watkins was director of nine railways and trustee of a tenth. These included the Cheshire Lines, the East London, the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire, the Manchester, South Junction & Altrincham, the Metropolitan, the Oldham, Ashton & Guide Bridge, the Sheffield & Midland Joint, the South Eastern, the Wigan Junction and the New York, Lake Eyrie and Western railways.

Watkin is perhaps best known for being responsible for the building of the MS&LR's 'London Extension' during the 1890s, which was the last main line to be constructed into London (until the opening of 'High Speed 1' in 2007). Watkin not only saw an independent route to London as crucial for the long term survival and development of the MS&LR, but saw it as part of a grander scheme. Watkin's chairmanships of the South Eastern Railway, the Metropolitan Railway and the MS&LR meant that he controlled railways from England's south coast ports, through London and (with the London Extension) through the Midlands to the industrial cities of the North. He also held a seat on the board of the Chemin de Fer du Nord, the French railway company on the Calais side of the English Channel. Watkin's vision was for a Channel Tunnel coupled to a new mainline to the north of England providing Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds with a railway link to the Continent. The MS&LR changed its name to the Great Central Railway in 1892, and construction of the London Extension was completed by 1899. However, Watkin's plans for a Channel Tunnel ground to a halt soon after early excavations started due to both financial and political problems.

Watkin also served as a Liberal Member of Parliament for the constituencies of Great Yarmouth (1857-1858) Stockport (1864-1868) and later that of Hythe in Kent (1874-1895).

He was also responsible for the partially completed Watkins' Tower and an abortive attempt in the 1880s to create a new south-coast resort and deep-water port at Dungeness in Kent.

References

* Healy, John M.C. "Echoes of the Great Central", Greenwich Editions (1987) ISBN 0-86288-076-9
* Dyckhoff, Nigel. "Portrait of the Cheshire Lines Committee", Ian Allan, Shepperton, 1999 ISBN 0-7110-2521-5

External links

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