THE BRITISH OVERSEAS RAILWAYS HISTORICAL TRUST   A UK Registered Educational Charity

Kevin Jones' Steam Index

Railway Promoters and Financiers

Addy, James
Promoter of  and Deputy Chairtman Dearne Valley Railway; owner of Yorkshire & Derbyshire Coal & Iron Co. see Archive, 2019, (102), 2

Allan, Hugh
Born in Saltcoats, Ayrshire on 29 September 1810. Scottish-Canadian shipping magnate, financier and capitalist. By the time of his death, the Allan Shipping Line had become the largest privately owned shipping empire in the world. He owned the Merchants Bank in Montreal and financed much Canadian railway activity and the political career of John Alexander Macdonald, a fellow Scottish Canadian. He died in Edinburgh on 9 December 1882, but was buried in Montreal where he had a mansion callled Ravenscraig. Wikipedia and Crampsey,

Armitage, Robert
Promoter and director of Dearne Valley Railway; wide colliery interests; also director East & West Yorkshire Union Railway. Born at Farnley Hall, Leeds: educated Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. see Archive, 2019, (102), 2

Backhouse, Jonathan
Born pn 19 January 1779. Died 7 October 1840. Member of Darlington Quaker banking family which helped to finance Stockton & Darlingon Railway. Vallance Railway enthusiast's bedside book.  Dawn Smith.

Balfour, James Maitland
Born 5 January 1820: educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge. inherited his father's neo-classical mansion Whittingehame House in East Lothian and his Highland estate at Strathconan, as well as a house in Grosvenor Square, London. He also inherited his father's business skills, and became a director of the North British Railway at the height of the railway mania, which earned him a fortune He was Chairman of the NBR from 1852 to 1855, but had to resign from ill-health (TB) from which he died on 23 February 1856 at Funchal in Madeira. Wikipedia and NBR Study Gp J. 105 p. 11.

Barratt, John
Born in Guennapp, Cornwall in 1793; died in Torquay? on 14 April 1866. Associated with development of copper mining at Coniston in the Lake District: memorial to him at Church Coniston. Internet page and for involvement in Coniston Railway see David Joy. Backtrack, 2020, 34, 570.

Bill, Charles Fitzherbert
Born 1843; died 1915. Promoted the Leek & Manifold Light Railway and was appointed a Director of the NSR in 1898. He was MP for Leek from 1892 to 1906. Fell, Backtrack, 2021, 35, 53

Blount, Sir Edward Charles
Born on 16 March 1809 at Bellamour, near Rugeley, Staffordshire, the second son of Edward Blount (1769–1843), banker and politician, member of a staunchly Catholic family. At home, he gained a knowledge of French from Father Malvoisin, an émigré priest. He was then educated at the grammar school in Rugeley, before attending St Mary's at Oscott, near Birmingham, from 1819 to 1827. In the summer of 1827 he joined the London office of the Provincial Bank of Ireland. He was appointed to the Home Office during George Canning's short-lived ministry and often went to the House of Commons, developing an interest in Catholic emancipation. In the autumn of 1829 Blount was appointed to the British embassy in Paris and served as an attaché under Lord Granville. In the summer of 1830 he transferred to the Rome consulate, where he met Cardinal Weld, Lord Shrewsbury, and the future Napoleon III. Such diplomatic and political connections proved invaluable during his banking career. He returned to Paris in 1831 and abandoned diplomacy to establish a fortune of his own. To begin with Blount lived on a family allowance and dabbled in journalism, writing for the first railway newspaper, The Railway Chronicle, before joining Callaghan & Co., a Paris bank that was agent for the Catholic bank of Wright, Selby & Co., of London. He then set up his own bank with his father's financial backing: Edward Blount, Père et Fils. On 18 November 1834 he married Gertrude Frances Jerningham (d. 1907), daughter of William Charles Jerningham. They had two sons and three daughters. The bank prospered with deposits from wealthy British expatriates. Blount soon formed a partnership with Charles Laffitte, nephew of Jacques Laffitte, a famous financier and politician. From 1836 Laffitte, Blount & Cie became a tireless promoter of French railways. Blount was surprised by French investors' lack of interest and, after parliament excluded state financing for the railways in 1838, he offered to finance and build a line from Paris to Rouen. He easily raised 15 million French francs in London, Liverpool, and Manchester, and this encouraged French investors to subscribe the same amount. The French government lent the project 14 million francs and authorized the line on 15 July 1840. A company, the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest, was formed by Blount, who became the first chairman. The board of directors was half French and half English, and those who backed the venture included Baron James de Rothschild, Lord Overstone. The line, which was designed by the British civil engineer Joseph Locke, with Thomas Brassey as contractor, was opened on 9 May 1843. To gain a thorough knowledge of railway management, Blount learned engine driving, spending four months on the London and North Western Railway. Buddicom, the locomotive manager of the LNWR at Liverpool, brought over fifty British engine drivers for the French railway, which prospered from the start. Laffitte, Blount & Cie subsequently promoted the construction of the expanding French railway network, in collaboration with Baron James de Rothschild and others. After the failure of the bank following the 1848 revolution, Blount, having paid its creditors in full, resumed business in 1852 as Edward Blount & Co., with the help of Thomas Brassey and other wealthy friends. Between 1838 and 1870 Blount helped finance the Rouen–Le Havre, Amiens–Boulogne, Nord–Dieppe–Fécamp, Creil–Saint-Quentin, Lyons–Avignon, and Lyons–Geneva railways. When these were absorbed into regional networks, Blount joined the board of the new companies, acting as director of the Compagnie du Nord, director and vice-chairman of the Paris–Lyons–Mediterranean railways, and chairman of the Chemins de Fer de l'Ouest until 1894. Blount also promoted Swiss, Austrian, Portuguese, and Middle Eastern railways, such as the Fell Railway over Mont-Cenis; and he financed other major engineering projects, becoming chairman of the Compagnie des Eaux. Attracted by the technical challenge he also invested in the Compagnie des Polders de l'Ouest to reclaim marshes as farmland, and the Channel Tunnel Company losing money in both ventures. To raise money for these projects Blount joined the Réunion Financière in 1856, a coalition of private bankers set up by James de Rothschild to counteract the rise of the Pereires' Credit Mobilier. In 1864 Blount was a founding member of Société Générale de Paris. In 1870 he transferred his business to this limited-liability bank and became its chairman. In 1901 he was made honorary chairman, remaining the bank's London agent. For his services during the Siege of Paris Blount was made CB on 13 March 1871, and KCB on 2 June 1878. He was also a commander of the Légion d'honneur. Blount founded and chaired the British chamber of commerce in Paris. He also belonged to the Paris Cercle de l'Union, the French Jockey Club, and the Reform Club in London. Additionally, he acted as banker to the papal government. After the war of Italian independence of 1859, and the annexation of the Papal States to the new kingdom of Italy, he had the delicate task of arranging the transfer of the financial liabilities of the Papal States to the new Italian government, and the conversion of the papal debt. A benefactor of the Roman Catholic church in Britain, Blount built a school near Birmingham, and a church at East Grinstead. Devoted to the turf, he was a patron of the stable of the Comte de Lagrange; and following the latter's death in 1883 he kept a small stable of his own. Blount died at his home, Imberhorne, East Grinstead, Sussex, on 15 March 1905. ODNB entry by Isabelle Lescent-Giles

Bosanquet, Samuel
Samuel Bosanquet, born into an old Huguenot family, was the eldest son of Samuel Bosanquet, Governor of the Bank of England, of Forest House, Essex, and Dingestow Court, Monmouth, and Eleanor daughter of Henry Lannoy Hunter, of Beech Hill in Berkshire. He married, 19 January 1798, Laetitia Philippa, younger daughter of James Whatman of Vinters in Kent. The marriage produced twelve children. Samuel Bosanquet’s father purchased the estate of Dingestow in Monmouthshire in 1801, and in 1806 Samuel junior, succeeded to the property. He was a Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant for Essex and Monmouth and High Sheriff of Monmouth in 1816. He was a subscriber to the Monmouthshire Railway incorporated in  1810. Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37, 128

Brocklebank, Sir Aubrey
Born on 12 July 1873; died 19 April 1929; son of Sir Thomas Brocklebank of Irton Hall, Cumberland. Graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge University, Cambridge.  He succeeded as the 3rd Baronet Brocklebank, of Greenlands and Irton Hall, on 12 January 1911.1 He was chairman of T and J Brocklebank Ltd.. Held the offices of Justice of the Peace for Cumberland and High Sheriff of Cumberland (latter in in 1921). Director of the the Cunard Steamship Company; Suez Canal Company and Great Western Railway. Financed the conversion of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway to 15-inch gauge. Joy Backtrack, 2020, 34, 570.

Brown, Ashley Geikie
Died 13 September 1957. General Secretary, British Railway Stockholders' Union. Worked for Admiralty; Special Grants Committee, Ministry of Pensions, 1914–18. One of the founders of the Railway Reform League, 1931; Member of the Council and Committee of the British Railway Stockholders Union, 1932–43, and General Sec. of that organisation, 1933–38; attached to General Manager’s Department, GWR, 1943–47. Publications: Greece Old and New, 1927; Sicily Present and Past, 1928; two works on railway matters: The Future of the Railways, 1928; The Railway Problem, 1932 (reviewed Locomotive Mag., 1932, 38, 378).Latterly lived in Wicklow. Letter Locomotive Mag., 1934, 40, 395..

Cavendish, William, 7th Duke of Devonshire
Born in London, 27 April 1808; died at Holker Hall in Furness. Educted at Eton and at  Trinity College Cambridge where he was Second Wrangler. Mathematician. Between 1834 and 1858 he was the Earl of Burlington. He played a leading part in launching the Furness Railway in 1843; this was designed to facilitate the transport of their estates' slate and iron ore to the coast at the village of Barrow, and eventually to a vast development in Barrow in terms of docks and urban development. He was a generous benefactor both in Barrow and in education, The Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge owed its inception to him. Extensive ODNB entry by F.M.L. Thompson. David Joy. Two dukes and a lord. Backtrack, 2018, 32, 292.   

Coffin, Walter
Born in 1784 he was the second son of Walter Coffin, founder of a tanning business in Bridgend, and his second wife Anne Morgan. Coffin was descended from a well known Bridgend family, the Prices of Ty'n Ton, into which his grandfather, an owner of an estate in Selworthy, had married. Coffin was educated at Cowbridge Grammar School and later at a nonconformist academy in Exeter; in 1804 he returned to Wales to join the family business. In 1791 his father had purchased several farmsteads in the parish of Llantrisant, including the area of Dinas Uchef Farm from William Humphries. In 1809, at the age of 24 and bored with the tanning industry, he set out to prospect for coal at his father's farm land in Dinas. He terminated the tenancy of Lewis Robert Richard at the site and with the financial support of his father began prospecting. At a depth of 40 yards a good seam of bituminous coal was struck at the Dinas Lower Colliery. When Coffin marketed his "Dynas No. 3" coal, later known as "Coffin's Coal", it gained an excellent reputation for its quality and low impurities, popular in metal working and coking. Coffin then needed to address the issue of transport. . In 1794 the Glamorganshire Canal was completed, linking the ironworks of Merthyr to Coffin's intended market at Cardiff Docks. One of the early proprietors of the canal, Dr. Richard Griffiths, had constructed a two-mile tramroad from his own coal level at Denia (Pontypridd), bridging the River Taff before his own private canalwork linked to the Glamorganshire Canal at Treforest. Coffin quickly made arrangements to construct a one-mile tramline to connect his mines in Dinas to that at Griffiths's Denia level and by 1810 the two men entered an agreement ensuring all coal raised in the Lower Rhondda used their interconnecting lines. Coffin now had transport links to the coast, his next step would be in finding a market. Coffin became a deputy chairman of the Taff Vale Railway in 1846, and in 1855 its Chairman. In 1812, Coffin moved his family from Nolton in Bridgend to Llandaff Court in Cardiff, a move which saw his influence and standing increase. He became a Justice of the Peace around the early 1830s and in 1835 was an alderman of Cardiff. He continued his rise in society becoming the mayor of Cardiff in 1848. Coffin became a Member of Parliament for Cardiff (1852–57) as a Unitarian Liberal, and was the Wales's first Nonconformist parliamentary representative. During his five years in the House of Commons, he never addressed the house. In 1857 he gave up his seat in Parliament and moved permanently to England to be near his family. He died on 15 February 1867 at his home in Kensington, but was buried at the Unitatian Church graveyard, Park Street, Bridgend. Mainly Wikipedia. Barrie, The Taff Vale Railway

Cooke, Thomas
Duffell (Backtrack, 2019, 33, 563) notes that he instigated the purchase of Bury enngines when a director of the London & Southampton Railway and Hodgkins George Carr Glyn notes that he was a northern director of the London & Birmingham Railway

Cox, James
Dundee merchant with jute works at Lochee; family changed its name from Cook to Cox; burgess of the council and held ranks of Baillie and Provost. Major promoter of first Tay Bridge and its replacement. An inspection of the latter in 1885 led to a chill and his death on 1 December of that year. Board member of the NBR. See Charles McKean Battle for the North.

Crichton-Stuart family
Scottish land-owning family: the Marquises of Bute: the Second and Third. especially the former had the greatest involvement in railway affairs, most notably in the Cardiff Railway. Locomotive Mag., 1924, 30, 204-6

Cropper, James
Born in 1773 in Winstanley, near Wigan; died 1840. He began his commercial career as an apprentice under William Rathbone, another Quaker, in 1790. Rathbone, Benson and Co was among the first to import American cotton into Liverpool, and became a great success story. Cropper was obviously a promising youth, for after five years he was admitted as a partner, and only two years later felt able to set up in business on his own. In 1799 he went into partnership with Thomas Benson to form the successful firm of Cropper, Benson and Co, which occupied the rest of his working life. He succeeded in building the firm up without having to sell off any family land, yet was able to build a pocket stately home, Dingle Bank, to the south of Liverpool while retaining Fearnhead for a characteristically philanthropic project. Cropper continued for some forty years in the anti-slavery campaign. In October 1828 Cropper was one of a delegation sent to Darlington to investigate the relative merits of horse and locomotive haulage for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and on his return he submitted to the board a report advocating the use of stationary engines. This caused him to become an adversary to George Stephenson, whom he disliked, on this issue. Graces Guide and Dawson, Backtrack, 2020, 34, 380.

Currey, Benjamin
Clerk to the House of Lords. Financial adviser to the  Duke of Devonshire. First Chairman of the Furness RailwayTwo dukes and a lord. Backtrack, 2018, 32, 292.   

Dalkeith, Earl of
Chairman North British Railway, 1905-1912. Cattenach NBR Study Gp J. (105), 11

Dixon, Raylton
Born 8 July 1838; died 28 July 1901. Shipbuilding magnate from Middlesbrough.Served as Mayor of Middlesbrough. Dixon was one of the seven children of Jeremiah II Dixon (1804–1882) and Mary Frank (1803–1877) of Cockfield, County Durham who were married on 21 July 1833 in St Cuthbert's Church, Darlington. He was the great-grandson of George Dixon of the Cockfield Canal, and great, great nephew of Jeremiah Dixon. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Oxford, where he studied mathematics. The yard first did business under the name Backhouse & Dixon. Raylton Dixon started the firm of Raylton Dixon & Co. in 1873 with the substantial Dixon family coal mining fortune, and it operated until 1923 when it was dissolved. At the height of its production the three Dixon brothers, Raylton, John, and Waynman, were involved in running the company. In its 50-year life the Cleveland Dockyard built more than 600 vessels, the first ship, the iron steamship Torrington, being launched in 1874. The ship was later renamed Kwanon Maru No. 11 and ran aground and was wrecked off Yagoshi Point, Hokkaido on 7 March 1908. Raylton Dixon & Co earned a reputation for the construction of sound, large cargo-liners and during the 1890s had contracts with all the major shipping companies of the time. They also turned out refrigerated ships for the meat industry. Dixon was a close friend of George Young Blair (1826–1894), whose firm, Blair & Co., built marine triple expansion engines and were fitted in Raylton Dixon ships. Raylton Dixon ships played an important role in world history. The Montrose was built in 1897 as a refrigerated cargo steamship, with berths for 12 first-class passengers. In 1900 she was chartered to make eight voyages to Cape Town, ferrying the Dublin & Denbigh Imperial Yeomanry, with their horses, to the Anglo-Boer War. In 1914 she was sold to the admiralty for use as a blockship in Dover harbour, but broke her moorings in a gale and ran aground on the Goodwin Sands, her mast remaining visible until 1963. The general cargo steamship Mont-Blanc built at Raylton Dixon in 1899 devastated Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada when she blew up with a cargo of ammunition in the 1917 Halifax Explosion. Raylton Dixon was knighted in 1890 for his contributions to shipbuilding Dixon married on 5 August 1863 Elizabeth Walker, daughter of Robert Walker. She was born in 1841 and died in 1915, aged 74. They produced eight children: Raylton Dixon was buried in St Cuthbert's Marton churchyard. He was a Board member of the restructured Robert Stephenson & Co. Christopher Dean. Robert Stephenson & Company: a financil basket case? Part 2. A Phoenix? — and the Darlingon Project. North Eastern Express, 2019, 58, 105-.

Eyton, Thomas Campbell
Born in Wellington, Shropshire on 10 September 1809 into a landowning family

Furness, Christopher
Furness was born in West Hartlepool on 23 April 1852. He was the seventh son of John Furness of West Hartlepool, and Averill Eastor Furness (née Wilson) He started his career as a buyer in Thomas Furness & Co, wholesale provision merchants, a firm owned by his older brother Thomas, and became a partner two years later. Stock for the business had to be brought in by ship, and Christopher found that it would be cheaper to use their own vessels, rather than hire other peoples. Consequently, on his initiative, the firm bought several steam ships from local shipbuilder William Gray & Company in 1877. In 1882, Christopher Furness and Company was formed and the business was split into two. Thomas kept the provision merchants, while Christopher took charge of the shipping fleet. After seven years as a partner in the shipbuilding firm of Edward Withy and Company, Furness merged it with his own company in 1891, to form Furness, Withy and Company, which was run by his nephew, Sir Stephen Furness, 1st Baronet after his death. By a series of mergers, his firms become the main employers in Hartlepool, until they finally closed in the 1980s. Furness was also involved in politics, and was elected Member of Parliament for The Hartlepools at a by-election in 1891. He lost the seat in 1895, but was re-elected in 1900, and served until his re-election in January 1910 was declared void after an electoral petition.He was appointed a knight bachelor in the 1895 Birthday Honours, and in 1910 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Furness, of Grantley in the West Riding of the County of Yorkshire. In 1909 he was made an Honorary Freeman of West Hartlepool. On 16 May 1876, Furness married Jane Annette Suggitt (1855–1930), the only daughter of Henry Suggitt of Brierton, county Durham. They had one son: Marmaduke Furness (1883–1940), who in 1918 was created Viscount Furness. Christopher Furness died on 10 November 1912, aged 60. He was succeeded in the barony by his son Marmaduke He was a Board member of the restructured Robert Stephenson & Co. Christopher Dean. Robert Stephenson & Company: a financil basket case? Part 2. A Phoenix? — and the Darlingon Project. North Eastern Express, 2019, 58, 105-.

Galloway, William Johnson
Born in Sale on 5 October 1868; died in London on 28 January 1931. Educated at Wellington College and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. Joined family business of boiler making in Manchester. MP for a time. Director of Great Eastern Railway from 1903; then LNER until his death. Buried Weaste Cemetry. Conducted musical concerts held in Royal Albert Hall: see presentation to him Locomotive Mag., 1914, 20, 207.

Garnett, Robert
Duffell (Backtrack, 2019, 33, 563) notes that he instigated the purchase of Bury enngines when a director of the London & Southampton Railway and Hodgkins George Carr Glyn notes that he was a highly active Liverpool director of the London & Birmingham Railway.

Garrard, James
Born in 1795: better kown as the jeweller to British Royal family, but also an investor in railways both in France and in Britain. In 1835 James Garrard left the jewellery business, although he did not sever all connections with the goldsmith’s trade, but his interests developed into an administrative and regulatory role. He became an active member of the Goldsmiths’ Company and served twice as Prime Warden. He was involved, as senior officer of the Company, in arrangements for the Great Exhibition of 1851 and was a juror in the class devoted to precious metals and jewellery. All of this work was unpaid and the author was curious to discover how he earned a living. In 1832 he had bought a large estate in rural Middlesex called Pinner Place, but he cannot have had sufficient capital to live the life of a country squire on his private means for long and he must have found some other form of employment. After various failed business ventures, the 1861 census shows James’s occupation (somewhat imprecisely!) as ‘railways’.
His involvement with this new form of transport started in the boom years around 1845, when railway mania was at its height, and lines were being built all over the UK. His name can be found, for example, as a member of the provisional committee for the proposed Hull, Birmingham & Swansea Junction Railway.This line was never built and Garrard’s initial railway interests turned out to lie not in this country, but in France. In September 1845 he was listed as one of the English Directors of an Anglo-French company involved in the construction of the Paris to Lyon railway where the government designated the routes for the whole country and a series of seven routes, all starting from Paris and radiating out in different directions, was envisaged. There was no provision (in the early days) for any cross-country routes. The French government acquired the land that was needed, and started construction. Before the work was complete companies were invited to bid for the concession to run a particular line. A date for the adjudication of the bids was fixed, and the successful company then owned the concession for a fixed number of years. The price that the company paid was intended to cover the construction costs and reimburse the government’s expenditure, although clearly this could not be accurately calculated while construction was still proceeding. The government then took a percentage of the operating profits when the line opened.
The route from Paris to Lyon was seen as being potentially extremely lucrative and many companies intended to bid for the concession. Several of these were Anglo-French concerns, as the money that needed to be raised was exceedingly large. One such firm was the Compagnie du Sud-Est, and James Garrard was one of its English Directors. The company placed its first advertisements in the British press in September 1845, seeking deposits of £2 per share for the 400,000 shares on offer (Fig 1). Each share would eventually be priced at 500FF (around £20) thus raising £8million for the project. The company was commonly known as the Compagnie Griolet, after its prime mover and principal director in France, Eugene Griolet. This was a convenient format and the newspapers referred to the other rival companies in similar fashion as Compagnie Laffitte, Compagnie Ganneron etc.
As the date for the adjudication drew near in December 1845 it became apparent that none of these individual companies had raised enough money to make a successful bid on their own. And so a period of ‘fusion’ took place. Eleven companies, one of which was the Griolet, eventually amalgamated and on the day were the only bidders. The adjudicator had no option but to grant them the concession. The Griolet company was nearly the smallest in the conglomerate, and was allotted just 27,500 of the 400,000 shares that were issued (6.87 percent).
The shareholders of each individual company therefore did not receive the full entitlement they might have hoped for and many were due a refund on their investments. However, none of the investors should have lost money on the venture if the refunds were properly made.
Construction of the line proved to be more expensive than at first thought. It also took longer than expected and it was not only engineering problems that caused the delay. Social and political factors were involved and had an impact on progress. There was panic throughout Europe in 1847, for example, of an impending famine. The potato famine in Ireland is well-known in this country but there were also poor grain harvests for many years in the 1840s across the whole of Europe. The economies of countries suffered, leading to political turmoil: 1848 was a year of revolutions throughout mainland Europe, and France was no exception. It led, in that year, to the overthrow of the government, and the establishment of the 2nd French Republic under the presidency of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte. The succeeding years were relatively quiet but, after four years in office Louis-Napoléon staged a coup d’état. He was not permitted to seek re-election as President, and in 1852 he reclaimed the title of Emperor as Napoleon III, thus inaugurating the period now known as the Second Empire.
Although construction continued during this turbulent period, at the end of 1851 only the section of railway from Paris to Chalon-sur-Saône had been completed, and there remained a further 80 miles to finish before the entire route to Lyon could be opened. The 4 km tunnel at Blaisy, north of Dijon, had also delayed progress and eaten up money. A fresh appeal for funds was made in 1852, and a new concession was granted for the unfinished section. This led to disagreements between all the parties involved, and the line did not fully open until 1854. Meanwhile, concessions for the remaining sections of the complete route down to Marseille were also negotiated, and the Griolet company was one of those bidding for the Lyon–Avignon section. Once again, there were problems. The political situation and economic uncertainty led the British investors to claim that the costs and predicted income were incorrect, and they sought to renegotiate the contract. Construction stalled, but the investors were confident that the French authorities accepted their arguments. and that a new agreement was imminent. After the coup d’état in 1852, however, the British investors discovered that the new government had arbitrarily awarded the concession to a different (French) consortium. This caused consternation in London, as the original investors had lodged a large sum of ‘caution-money’ with the previous government to show their good faith in honouring the terms and conditions of the contract. A meeting of investors was held in London, and the chairman, David Salomons MP, was deputed to go to Paris and make the French government honour their original contract or, at least, return the caution-money. One can see that Garrard attended this meeting as he seconded the motion authorising Salomons to travel to France.Salomons was unsuccessful. The new National Assembly felt no obligation to honour the agreements made by a previous government. And a direct appeal to Louis-Napoléon also failed. He replied:
Sir, – I sent you the official report on the subject of the claim which you have addressed to me in the name of the former English shareholders of certain railway companies. I regret exceedingly that the result is not favourable to their pretensions, for I should much desire to attract English capital to France, and to give you personally a mark of my distinguished sentiments. (Signed) Louis NAPOLEON.
The British investors, with James Garrard amongst them, presumably lost their money.
There is no way of knowing precisely how and why Garrard became involved in the construction of French railways. There were many Anglo-French firms seeking investors, and that alone may have been what attracted him. However, it is also possible that he was persuaded to invest his money in the Compagnie Griolet by Monsieur Gustave Odiot. Gustave Odiot was the foremost French silversmith of his generation. Like Garrard, he came from a family who had worked in precious metals for generations and both his father and grandfather had been distinguished silversmiths in Paris – the Maison Odiot was established there in 1690. It may be that Odiot and Garrard first became acquainted through their mutual activities as gold and silversmiths. However, Odiot was also an investor in French railway companies and was one of the French directors of the Compagnie Griolet.
The friendship between the two men clearly came to extend beyond their professional interests – and one can appreciate this as Gustave Odiot was staying with James Garrard at Pinner Place on census night in 1851, and is listed in the census returns there.
After his experiences in French investments, Garrard limited his railway interests to the UK. Early in 1848 he became a Director of the Reading, Guildford & Reigate Railway Company. The chairman of this company was David Salomons, the same man who had gone to Paris to try and rescue the caution-money from the Lyon-Avignon fiasco. Garrard’s appointment as a director of this crosscountry route presumably grew from their common interests in the affair.
James Garrard then became the prime mover and founding chairman of the Staines, Wokingham & Woking Railway (SWW). It was apparent that a gap in the network existed at the time between Staines and Wokingham. Staines was already linked to London Waterloo, and Wokingham lay on the Reading to Reigate railway just mentioned. Connecting the two towns would enable through trains to run from Waterloo to Reading, thus providing an alternative route to the GWR into Paddington. Parliamentary approval for the line was obtained in 1852 and construction started in 1853. The line passed through Ascot, and was advertised as being a convenient method for race-goers to travel to the course. It might also be worth mentioning that James Garrard’s brother, Robert, had a country estate in Wokingham. The railway could prove a more convenient way for him to travel to London! The route from Staines to Wokingham opened in 1856, but the proposed line from Staines to Woking via Chobham was never built.\
The SWW spawned an offshoot in 1863 with the Sunningdale and Cambridge Town (now Camberley) branch. This left the existing route at Ascot, and travelled south through the afore-mentioned towns to Aldershot and Guildford. James Garrard was the chairman of this company; and he also became involved as a director and chairman of the MidSussex line from Horsham through Billingshurst and Pulborough to Petworth which started construction in 1857.
These railways were never viable as separate entities, and were always intended to be operated as part of a longer route by the larger companies. As such, they lent themselves to acquisition by these companies and, as early as 1860, the London Brighton &South Coast railway was considering purchasing the Mid-Sussex line.15 The SWW was leased to the London &South Western Railway in 1858, and absorbed by them in 1878. The SWW was therefore still an independent company in 1870 and Garrard chaired a meeting of the Directors on 11 October (Fig 3). At the following meeting on 7 November 1870, the Secretary reported that ‘Mr James Garrard died suddenly on the 3rd inst’. There is no further comment about his death, which must have been unexpected, in the Minute Books, or any appreciation of his work for the railway. The lines with which he was involved are all still in operation, although the section of the Mid-Sussex line to Petworth no longer exists. The section from Horsham to Pulborough still remains as part of the route from London to Littlehampton.
I do not know how profitable – or otherwise – Garrard’s railway activities might have been, but in 1855 he found it necessary to mortgage Pinner Place.Twelve years later in 1867, at his request, the ownership of the entire estate was transferred to his goldsmith brother, Sebastian.The terms of the sale allowed James to continue living in the house until his death and I assume Sebastian Garrard promptly paid off the mortgage.
James Garrard died on 3 November 1870. When probate on his will was granted, his effects were valued at ‘under £1,500’. Not a negligible sum, but much less than the value of the Pinner Place estate. It indicates that he had had monetary problems in the past, and the sale of the estate in 1867 was probably necessary to pay off his debts.
Coincidentally, his brother Sebastian died the following week, on 8 November 1870. The probate indexes show that his effects were valued at ‘under £120,000’. Clearly, being a goldsmith to royalty was far more profitable than running railway companies! See J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2018, 368

Gaskell, Holbrook
Born in Wavertree, Liverpool on. 5  March 1813; the eldest son of Roger Gaskell, a sailcloth manufacturer. He was the cousin of the Unitarian minister William Gaskell, husband of the novelist Mrs Gaskell and was from a Unitarian family himself. He was educated privately at a school in Norton near Sheffield. Died at Woolton Woods on 8 March 1909 . Probate was almost £500,000.
Worked as an apprentice clerk in the firm of Yates, Cox and Co, who were iron merchants and nail makers in Liverpool. In 1836 formed a partnership with James Nasmyth which led to the creation of Nasmyth, Gaskell and Co and the building of the Bridgewater Foundry at Patricroft near Manchester. Nasmyth recalls this in his biography "He had served his time at Yates and Cox, iron merchants, of Liverpool. Having obtained considerable experience in the commercial details of that business, and being possessed of a moderate amount of capital, he was desirous of joining me, and embarking his fortune with me. He was to take charge of the counting-house department, and conduct such part of the correspondence as did not require any special knowledge of mechanical engineering. I am much pleased by the frank and friendly manner of Mr. Gaskell, and I believe that the feeling between us was mutual. We continued working together for a period of sixteen years; and I believe Mr. Gaskell had no reason to regret his connection to the Bridgewater Foundry".
In 1841 he married Frances Ann Bellhouse, who was the daughter of Henry Bellhouse of Manchester and niece of David Bellhouse, the Manchester builder that Nasmyth and Gaskell had contracted during the initial building of the Patricroft site. Over the next 13 years they had 8 children, 5 daughters and three sons.
In 1855 he entered into a second partnership with the industrial chemist Henry Deacon, who had worked with him in Nasmyth, Gaskell and Co. Gaskell, Deacon and Co's plant in Widnes was set up to develop the ammonia-soda process that Deacon believed he could make successful. However, after various setbacks, Gaskell could not see this making money and he forced Deacon to abandon the venture. Instead they established one of the largest and most successful Leblanc factories in Widnes. Gaskell's three sons, Holbrook II, James Bellhouse and Frank all became partners in the company. In 1860 when the governments of Britain and France formed a treaty to raise duties on materials made from salt, Holbrook Gaskell went with Edmund Knowles Muspratt to Paris to negotiate terms for the manufacturers. Gaskell remained a director of the company until 1890 when it became part of the United Alkali Co. He became vice president and later president of that company. Gaskell served as a magistrate in Widnes, was an active liberal and a member of the Liverpool Reform Club, supporting causes including the extension of the franchise. He endowed a chair of botany and provided chemistry laboratories at University College, Liverpool. He paid for public baths in Widnes and supported convalescent homes in Heswall and Southport. He was involved with the Liverpool Daily and Weekly Post and Echo and when this amalgamated with the Liverpool Mercury in 1904 he became its chairman. He owned a fine art collection which included works by Turner and Constable which was loaned to the Walker Art Gallery in 1885. With his accumulated wealth Holbrook Gaskell moved to Woolton Woods in Much Woolton. He became a renowned collector of orchids. Frederick Sander, an orchid dealer, received a new Cattleya species in 1883 from his collector Seidl and named it Cattleya gaskelliana after Holbrook Gaskell in recognition of a good customer and someone who "by great diligence has acquired one of the finest collections of orchids in the North of England". He was buried in the churchyard of Cairo Street chapel, Warrington. The estate of Woolton Woods passed to his sons who sold it to Col James P Reynolds, who in turn sold it to Liverpool City Council. Via  Graces Guide

Gould, Jason (Jay)
Born in Roxbury in New York State on 27 May 1836; died of tuberculosis in New York on 2 December 1892. From 1859 became a major speculator in Amercian railroad finaance; beginning with small railroads and moving on to control the Erie Railroad, Union Pacific and other lines. Mausoleum in Woodlawn Cemetery, New York and Jay Gould Memorial Reformed Church. Wikipedia and Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2015, 38, 252.

Harris, George
Son of founder of C. & J. Harris of Calne, pork processors. On board of Calne Railway. See Fenton Backtrack, 2021, 35, 36.

Hornby, William Henry
Born on 2 July 1805 in Blackburn into family of cotton spinners. He followed into this business, adopting steam power for the spinning machinery, and his Brookhouse Mills became one of the llargest local employers. He promoted the Blackburn, Darwen & Bolton Raillway which included a major tunnel at Sough (see Jeffrey Wells, Backtrack, 2015, 29, 366). He became a Director of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, Mayor of  Blackburn and a Tory MP, but he appears to have been an enlightened employer. He had  been a keen athlete in his youth and one of his Albert Neilson Hornby was a notable cricketer. He died  at Poole Hall in Cheshire on 5 September 1884. J. Geoffrey Timmins ODNB entry makes no mention of the railway (yet another failing in this so-called national treasure)

Hague, Ernest
Promoter of Dearne Valley Railway; owner of Hickleton Main and Manvers Main Collieries. see Archive, 2019, (102), 2

Hunter, Edward
Promoter of Dearne Valley Railway; owner of Houghton Main and Manvers Main Collieries see Archive, 2019, (102), 2

Laird, Sir William
Born c1830; died 1901 when Chairman of NBR (since 1899) Partner with William Baird & Son, iron works in Anniesland, Glasgow

Louderback, Delancey
Chicago millionaire and associate of Yerkes. Made his money through real estate and street railways. Sent by Yerkes to London to assess potential. M.A.C. Horne. London's District Railway. Volume 2.

Macdonald, John Akexander
Born 11 January 1815 in Glasgow. When he was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston in the Province of Upper Canada. He became the first Canadian Prime Minister was greatlly involved in building the natioanl trans-Canada railway which included some illicit activity (the Pacific Scandal). but the railwas built and British Columbia became integral as did the Maritime Provinces despite United States interference. He died on 6 June 1891 of a stroke in Ottawa.Wikipedia very extensive entry and Crampsey.

McLaren, William
Died at his residence, Blackdown, Woking, on 14 January 1916 aged 62 years. He was chairman of G.D. Peters & Co., Ltd., of Moorfields; The Superheater Corporation, Ltd., Westminster, and the Patent Impermeable Millboard Co., Sunbury-on-Thames Locomotive Mag., 1916, 22, 40. .

McLintock, Sir William
Born 1873. Created baronet in 1934 of Sanquhar in the County of Dumfries. Accountant; senior partner in the firm of Thomson McLintock & Co, chartered accountants. Board member LMS; died 1947. See Pearson, Man of the rail, London: Allen & Unwin, 1967. 203pp.

Manning, John
Partner in Manning Wardle: see Lowe, British steam locomotive builders, Cambridge: Goose, 1975, 705pp.[reprinted by Pen & Sword without Supplement in 2014]

Mosley, Tonman (Lord Anslow)
Born in Anslow, Burton upon Trent on 16 January 1850; died on 20 August 1933. Educated at Repton between 1862 and 1868 and Corpus Christi, Oxford 1868-71. Practiced as a barrister, Chairman of Buckinghamshire County Council 1904-1921 and Chairman of the North Staffordshire Railway 1904-1923. Wikipedia 19-02-2018. Portrait Backtrack, 2018, 32, 146 also unveiled War Memorial at Stoke station see Fell, Backtrack, 2020, 34, 625.

Nicholson, Cornelius
See Jeffrey Wells, Backtrack, 2015, 29, 646. Fought unsuccessfully for Lancaster & Carlsle Railway to be routed through Kendal. See also Backtrack, 2016, 30, 715

Pearson, Charles (duplcate entry)
Not a traditional railway manager, but a promoter of Metropolitan Railway. Born in London on 4 October 1793 and died in Wandsworth on 14 September 1862. In 1839 Pearson was appointed City solicitor and held the office until his death. In this position, and as MP for Lambeth from 1847 to 1850, he campaigned for London improvements including the embankment of the Thames, a central railway terminus in the Fleet valley and improved transport by an underground railway, in which he was successful. Pearson was associated, with the City's consent, with early versions of this project, and in 1857 he joined forces with the promoters of the Metropolitan Railway from Paddington to Farringdon Street, which was in financial doldrums with no work started; the City took £200,000 in shares in 1859 (which it later sold at a profit), and Pearson's skilful advice and lobbying. He also pushed for cheap workmen's fares to asssit the poor to move to healthier suburbs. Michael Robbins in ODNB. Also Wragg Historical dictionary

Pease, Joseph Whitwell
Pease was a member of the Darlington Pease family, being the son of Joseph Pease and his wife Emma Gurney, daughter of Joseph Gurney of Lakenham Grove, Norwich. His father was a Quaker industrialist and railway pioneer of Darlington, and M.P. for South Durham from 1832 to 1841. Pease was educated at the Quaker run Lawrence Street school in York, (which later became Bootham School). He was a banker, an owner of coal and ironstone mines in Durham and Yorkshire, and a director of numerous companies, including the family's original woollen mill business Henry Pease &Co., the family bank J &JW Pease, The Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate, the locomotive manufacturers Robert Stephenson and Company, and the North Eastern Railway of which he became chairman. He was a J.P. for Durham and a Deputy Lieutenant, J.P. for the North Riding of Yorkshire, President of the Peace Society, President of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, and a campaigner against capital punishment. He was President of the Bootham School Old Scholars Association (BOSA) from 1879 until his death in 1903. At the 1865 general election Pease was elected Member of Parliament for South Durham. He held the seat until it was reorganised under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. He was created a baronet of Hutton Lowcross and Pinchinthorpe in 1882, the first Quaker to accept an honour from the state, and in 1894 was offered a peerage by Gladstone, but expressing his indifference left the decision to his eldest son Alfred, who let the matter lapse .At the 1885 general election he was elected MP for Barnard Castle. He held the seat until his death in 1903. In his capacity as President of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade, Pease attempted to pass a motion in the House of Commons in 1891 to declare the opium trade "morally indefensible" and remove Government support for it. The motion failed to pass (despite majority support in the House) due to an amendment calling for compensation to India, but it brought the anti-opium campaign into the public eye and increased opposition to the trade.Towards the end of his life, Pease's businesses had problems and in 1902 the Pease Bank failed. He was forced to sell much of his art collection. He died the following year in Falmouth, Cornwall on his 75th birthday. Christopher Dean. Robert Stephenson & Company: a financil basket case? Part 2. A Phoenix? — and the Darlingon Project. North Eastern Express, 2019, 58, 105-

Probyn, William
Landed gentry. He was a subscriber to the Monmouthshire Railway incorporated in  1810. Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37, 128

Purcell, Peter
Dublin financier; wealthy landowner; stage coach operator. Instigated Great Southern & Western Railway and enlisted London & Birmingham Railway investors and John Macneill

Renton, James Hall
Invested his personal fortune in West Highland Railway: figurehead of him at Rannoch station Humm J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2015, 38, 252. See also Backtrack, 26, 410, for photograph of memorial. Chairman of the Ayrshire & Wigtownshire Railway formed in 1887 to take over the Girvan & Portpatrick Railway (see Locomotive Mag., 1946, 52, 120. Also Deputy Chairman Forth Bridge Company and Director LTSR (Dawn Smith).

Roberts, Hugh Beavor
Solicitor with interests in slate industry in North Wales and had an influence on the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways and the purchase of its locomotives, See Deegan Rly World, 1983, 44, 298

Rushton, Thomas Lever
Born: Bolton 1811. Died: Cannes, France 8 February 1883. Banker, solicitor, industrialist and landowner. Proprietor of Bolton Ironworks as Rushton and Eckersley. He was a partner in Bolton's first commercial bank, Hardcastle, Cross & Co. (Grace's Guide). See also article by Peter Townend in Rly Arch., 2016 (50), 53 which includes portrait of him.

Russell, James Cholmeley
Born in Bloomsbury on 26 June 1841. Died 29 August 1912. Brought up at Longdene House, Haslemere: father had a  large chancery and bankruptcy practice. Educated at Harrow School (1855–1859) and Magdalene College, Oxford (graduated 1864). Barrister, financier, property developer and railway entrepreneur. He was a key shareholder of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways company  (ultimately receiver for) from which the Welsh Highland Railway Company ultimately emerged. Business associate of the engineer, Sir James Weeks Szlumper. Russell was involved with various other railway schemes including the Manchester and Milford Railway and the Vale of Rheidol. 1892, he was involved in an ultimately unsuccessful project for a railway between Royal Exchange and Waterloo. During the last decade of his life, Russell spent several months of the year in Scotland having acquired Creag Mhor at Onich near Fort William and cruised from here in his steam yacht Madge. From 1900, Russell was winding down but suffered from increasing ill health and in 1912, he died of a stroke, aged 71. Russell appears to have owned at least two if not three steam yachts. The Royal Highland Yacht Club records show him as visiting with a 37 ton steamer called Rona between 1906 and 1909. However the website Clydeships shows Rona registered to Russell from 1910 onwards, finally being disposed of by his widow in 1915. The locomotive Russell was financed by him and named after him. Mainly Wikipedia also Deegan Rly World, 1983, 44, 298

Salomons, Sir David
Born 22 November 1797. Died in London on 15 July 1873. Stockbroker and banker. Member of Parliament. Sought Jewish emancipatuion. ODNB. See also James Garrard.

Scott, Walter Francis Montagu Douglas (Fifth Duke of Buccleuch)
Born 25 November 1806; died on 16 April 1884. Improved the port of Granton and together with the Duke of Devonshire devleloped Barrow-in-Furness including the Furness Railway which was developed into a coast-line of the first importance, and large docks were built. The Duke of Buccleuch continued to be a director of the Furness Railway until his death, and always took an active interest in the progress of the company, and especially in the Barrow Docks. David Joy. Two dukes and a lord. Backtrack, 2018, 32, 292.   

Smith, Donald A.
Born in 6 August 1820 in Forres. Joined Hudson's Bay Cpmpany when 18. Became Chief Factor and eventually Chief Commissioner. In 1875 was among the incorporators of the Manitoba Western Railway.In May 1879, Smith became a director in the St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railway Company, having control over 20% of its shares. He was subsequently a leading figure in the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Smith had the honour of driving the last spike at Craigellachie, British Columbia to complete the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway rail line.Created Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal. Died 21 January 1914 in London. Wikipedia and Crampsey,

Somerset, John Arthur Henry (Lord)
Born 12 February 1780; died 18 April 1816. educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, taking a BA in 1799 and an MA in 1803. He was commissioned a major in the Monmouthshire and Breconshire militia that year. Somerset was commissioned a lieutenant in the 7th Foot on 19 May 1804. As an aspiring poitician he was defeated at Gloucester in August 1805, but in November, was returned as Member of Parliament for Monmouthshire and was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Monmouthshire and Breconshire in December. On 26 June 1806, he was made a captain in the 4th West India Regiment and on 2 October exchanged into the 91st Foot. He was a subscriber to the Monmouthshire Railway incorporated in  1810. Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37, 128

Stephen, George
Born: 5 June 1829 in Dufftown but made his fame in Montreal and was the first Canadian to be elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was the financial genius behind the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway. He was President of the Bank of Montreal and is remembered as one of the greatest philanthropists of his time: he built a new wing at the Montreal General Hospital, donated generously to various hospitals in Scotland and gave over £1.3 million to the Prince of Wales Hospital Fund in London, working closely with George V. He and his first cousin, Lord Strathcona, purchased the land and then each gave $1 million to the City of Montreal to construct and maintain the Royal Victoria Hospital. His home in Montreal's Golden Square Mile later became the Mount Stephen Club. In 1888, he retired to England, living between Brocket Hall and 17 Carlton House Terrace. He died: on 29 November 1921 at Brocket Hall,  near Lemsford. Wikipedia and Crampsey (portrait)

Swinnerton, Mary
She was a subscriber to the Monmouthshire Railway incorporated in  1810. Locomotive Mag., 1931, 37, 128

Tomline, George
Born 3 March 1813; died in London on 25 August 1889. Educated Eton. Performed Grand Tour. MP for constuencies in Lincolnshire and Shropshire. Developed Felixstowe  Railway and Dock. Residence at Orwell Park.

Tweeddale, Marquis of (William Hay) duplicate entry
Born Yester House, East Lothian 29 January  1826; died 25 November 1911. Educated Imperial Service College. Served in Bengal Civil Service. High Commissioner General Assembly Church of Scotland. MP (Liberal) Taunton the Haddington Burghs. Portrait Nock Railway race to the north. Cattenach North British Rly Study Gp J., (105), 11 notes ousted by Wieland cabal..

Van Horne, William Cornelius
Born 3 February 1843 near Frankfort, Illinois in USA; died 11 September 1915 in Montreal. Aged fourteen, Van Horne began working on railroads, serving in various capacities on the Illinois Central Railroad until 1864. He went on to work for the Chicago and Alton Railway, serving as general superintendent 1878–1879. In 1882, he was appointed general manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway, becoming vice-president in 1884 and president in 1888, finally becoming chairman of the board in 1899. He is most famous for overseeing the major construction of the first Canadian transcontinental railway, a project that, under his leadership, was completed in under half the projected time (mostly Wikipedia). See biography by Omer Lavallée..

Van Sweringen brothers (Vans)
Oris Paxton was born on 26 April 1879 and died on 22 November 1936. Mantis James was born on 8 July 1881 and died on 12 December 1935. Inseperable brothers who owned or controlled an enormous railroad mileage by the 1930s. Mausoleum at Shaker Heights in Cleveland. Internet and J. Rly Canal Hist. Soc., 2015, 38, 252.

Watts, Phillip
He was a Lieutenant-Colonel and Board member of Sir W.G. Armstrong & Co. and  the restructured Robert Stephenson & Co. Christopher Dean. Robert Stephenson & Company: a financil basket case? Part 2. A Phoenix? — and the Darlingon Project. North Eastern Express, 2019, 58, 105-.

Wemyss, Randolph Gordon Erskine
Born in Wemyss Castle on 11 July 1858. Following a death in November 1907 at the Lochhead and Victoria of a miner, Wemyss, assisted with the underground rescue operations, and developed symptoms from shock and exposure. He never recovered and died on 17 July 1908. He was buried at Wemyss in the Chapel Garden. He had been tutored at home by Revd. John Thomson; minister of St. Adrian’s church in West Wemyss, until he entered Eton College in 1873. Following the early death of his father in March 1864, he inherited the Lairdship and the estates. Day to day management was carried out by his mother until he reached the age of twenty-one. The principal activity on the estate was coal extraction centred on West Wemyss, under the Wemyss Coal Company. A new wet dock was opened in 1872 at a cost of £10,000. Railway schemes were developed to assist the business, and construction of the Wemyss Private Railway from Thornton to Buckhaven began in 1879, and was completed in 1881 at a cost of £25,000.
In January 1900 he embarked on the steam yacht Vanadis for a honeymoon cruise to Egypt and South Africa. The honeymoon, however, was interrupted by the outbreak of the Boer War. Wemyss donated the yacht to the war effort as a hospital ship and he was promoted to the rank of Captain and on 4 September 1900 travelled to Mafeking with Charles Cavendish, 3rd Baron Chesham. He returned from South Africa in July 1901. After his service in the Boer War, business continued in the coalfields on his estates, the docks at Methil and the creation of the Wemyss and District Tramways Company from Leven to Kirkcaldy.
As a benevolent landlord, he provided improved housing for workers. He oversaw the developments at East and Coaltown of Wemyss, and a new village at Denbeath. He personally spent around £75,000 on housing in the parish. The Randolph Wemyss Memorial Hospital was erected in Buckhaven in his memory at a cost of £10,000, and opened on 28 August 1909. Not in ODNB: Wikipedia (09-01-2017) and Munro. The railways of Wemyss  NBRSGJ, 1995 (60), 4.

Whitbread, William
Bedford land owner, born in 1795 and died in 1867; related to brewing family. Briefly MP for Bedford. Promoter of Leicester and Hitchin Railway (a brief element in communication between the East Midlands and London via the Great Northern Railway. Mention en passim: Peter Butler The stations at Wellingborough.  Backtrack, 2020, 34, 36

Wills, Charles
Born at Denbury, Newton Abbot on 1 March 1838; died 17 April 1921. Bristol clothing manufacturer. Promoted the expension of Avonmouth Docks and was involved in the proposed Bristol, London & Southern Counties Railway to connect Bristol with the London & South Western at Overton and the Midland & South Western at Collinbourne. Reginald Fellows. Rival routes to Bristol. Part 2. Railway World, 1960, 21, 359.

Withy, Henry
Born in Bristol on 11 November 1852; died 31 May 1922. His parents were Edward Withy (Woollen Draper and Tailor) and Sarah Withy (née Atree). In his early childhood, he attended Brean Villa (Quaker) Preparatory School, Weston Super Mare, Aged ten he went to Friends' School, Sidcot, from 1862 to 1867. He served as an apprentice at Withy, Alexander & Co. in West Hartlepool for 5 years, between 1869 and 1874. His first connection with business was in a large hardware establishment in the City of Bristol but he did not remain there long. He started business at the beginning of 1868, and twelve months later saw him moving to Hartlepool, where he went into the yard of Withy, Alexander & Co. where his elder brother, Edward Withy was a partner. Here, he worked as an apprentice for five years, whilst picking up the rudiments of the knowledge of shipbuilding. In the 19th century, the Clyde was in the hey-day of its fame as a shipbuilding centre and it was there that he went, to improve his knowledge of the profession of shipbuilding. In 1873, Henry Withy proceeded to Govan, to the historic shipyard of Robert Napier & Sons, afterwards putting in some time with the Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company. In all, Henry Withy spent three years on Clyde side, and then returned to his brother's yard at Hartlepool. Before finally settling down in earnest, he decided to see something of the world and took an extended trip to South America. Upon his return home, in 1876, Henry assisted his brother Edward in the management of the business of Edward Withy & Co. for about two years, after which Henry assumed the sole responsibility for managing the works, after his brother decided to retire from the firm and move to New Zealand. In 1891, the Furness Line Company of Christopher Furness and Edward Withy & Co. were merged in Hartlepool to form the Company of Furness Withy. Henry Withy's theoretical and practical knowledge of electricity enabled him to exploit the practicability of using it as a motive power, and utilising it for motor purposes, as well as for lighting the works. The result was that all of the machines in the extensive establishment of Furness, Withy and Co., Limited were worked by electricity, and as an indication of the progressive character of the firm and Henry in particular, that Furness, Withy and Co. was, at the time, the only shipyard in the United Kingdom to be driven throughout by electric power. Other areas of innovation, where Furness, Withy and Co. took the lead, include building of the first triple steamship in the port, and with the first use of telephone communication. Furness, Withy & Co. was also renowned, as a company, for the quality and quantity of work turned out. Specific statistics of note are that in 1869, the average tonnage of the vessels they built was 436 tons; in 1879, it was 1,145 tons; while in 1899 it had increased to 5,442 tons. The shipyard was, in 1900, equipped for dealing with vessels of up to 600 ft (180 m) in length, and has turned out numerous fine passenger and cargo boats. The yard also possessed a graving dock, capable of taking in steamers up to 7,000 tons deadweight, where many extensive jobs were undertaken. Private life In his private life, Henry Withy was, besides being a director of Furness, Withy and Co., a Justice of the Peace (JP) and Town Councillor for the Borough of Hartlepool; member of the Board of Guardians; member of the Port Sanitary Authority; member of Lloyd's Technical Sub-Committee; member of the Institute of Naval Architects; of the Steel and Iron Institute; of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (5 August 1884, proposed by his brother Edward Withy); of the Institute of Civil Engineers (6 December 1904) and of the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders (past President, 1900-1901).[3] He was also Mayor of Hartlepool in 1889-90. He was a Board member of the restructured Robert Stephenson & Co. Christopher Dean. Robert Stephenson & Company: a financil basket case? Part 2. A Phoenix? — and the Darlingon Project. North Eastern Express, 2019, 58, 105-.

Yerkes, Charles Tyson (duplicate entry)
Born in Philadelphia, USA, on 28 June 1837 and died in New York on 29 December 1905. Name rhymes wityh "turkeys". He was a financial speculator who had made a fortune on the stock exchange by the age of 30, but was subsequently sent to prison for embezzlement, but this did not deter his progress for long as he subsequently became involved in investing in transport for Chicago including the Loop elevated railway. When the going became too hot there he moved to London in the 1890s and joined with Edgar Speyer and Robert William Perks to invest in the London Undergroud system, notably by electrifying the District line and by financing the completion of the tube lines. ODNB biography by Theo Barker. See also Stephen Halliday's Fraud, liquidation and ingratitude. Backtrack, 2008, 22, 437. and Tim Sherwood's Charles Tyson Yerkes: the traction king of London. 2008. M.A.C. Horne. London's District Railway. Volume 2.