Thomas Hawksley

Infobox Engineer


image_width = 150px
caption = Thomas Hawksley
name = Thomas Hawksley
nationality = English
birth_date = birth date|1807|7|12
birth_place = Arnold, Nottinghamshire
death_date = Death date and age|1893|9|15|1807|7|12
death_place = Kensington, London
education = Self-taught from age 15
spouse =
parents =
children =
discipline = Civil engineering
institutions = Institution of Civil Engineers (president), Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers (president), Fellow of the Royal Society
practice_name =
significant_projects = Lindley Wood, Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs
significant_design =
significant_advance =
significant_awards =

Thomas Hawksley (birth date|1807|7|12-Death date|1893|9|15) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with water engineering projects.

Born in Arnold, near Nottingham on birth date|1807|7|12cite web|url=http://presidentschoice.imeche.org.uk/thomashaksleyinfo.htm|title=IMechE biography] , Hawksley was largely self-taught from the age of 15 onwards, having at that point become articled to a local firm of architects that also undertook a variety of water-related engineering projects.

He remains particularly associated with schemes in his home county. He was engineer to the Nottingham gas and water companies for more than half a century, having, early in his career, completed the Trent Bridge waterworks (1831). This scheme delivered Britain’s first high pressure ‘constant supply’, preventing contamination entering the supply of clean water mains. [cite web|url=http://www.papplewickpumpingstation.co.uk/nottswh1.htm|title=Nottingham Water Supply - history]

This achievement led him to be appointed to many major water supply projects across England, including schemes for Liverpool, Sheffield, Leicester, Leeds, Derby, Darlington, Oxford, Cambridge, Sunderland, Wakefield and Northampton. He also undertook drainage projects, including schemes for Birmingham, Worcester and Windsor.

In 1852, Hawksley set up his own engineering practice in Westminster, London. He was the first president of the Institution of Gas Engineers and Managers [cite web|url=http://www.igem.org.uk/company/history.asp|title=IGEM History] (serving for three years from 1863), a Fellow of the Royal Society [cite web|url=http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/page.asp?id=1727|title=Royal Society list of fellows] , and was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1872 (a post his son Charles later occupied in 1901).Citation | first = Garth | last = Watson| title = The Civils | publisher = London: Thomas Telford Ltd | page = 251
year = 1988 | isbn = 0-727-70392-7]

Between 1869 and 1879, Hawksley acted as consultant to the construction of Lindley Wood, Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs for the Leeds Waterworks Company.cite book|author=Bowtell, Harold D| title=Lesser Railways of the Yorkshire Dales and the Dam Builders in the Age of Steam| publisher=Plateway Press| year=1991| id=ISBN 1-871980-09-7]

He died in Kensington, London in 1893 [ [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12691 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] ] and is buried in his family plot at Brookwood Cemetery, Surrey. In December 2007 a granite memorial was placed over his previously unmarked grave. [ [http://www.brookwoodcemetery.com/press%20releases.htm Brookwood Cemetery press release] ]

References

s-start s-npo|pro s-bef|before=Charles Blacker Vignoles s-ttl|title=President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
years=December 1871 – December 1873 s-aft|after=Thomas Elliot Harrison end

Persondata
NAME= Hawksley, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with water engineering projects
DATE OF BIRTH= 12 July 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH= Arnold, Nottinghamshire
DATE OF DEATH= 1893-9-15
PLACE OF DEATH= Kensington, London