Marshall states that Booth was
born in Liverpool on 4 April 1788 and died there on 28 March 1869. Booth
was not a locomotive designer, but played an important part in locomotive
history. As treasurer of the uncompleted Liverpool & Manchester Railway,
he advised the Stephensons to work out and apply a multi-tubular boiler in
the locomotive intended for the Rainhill Trials in 1829. Although the Frenchman
Seguin was simultaneously working on a multi-tubular
boiler, it seems that Booth thought of this idea independently, and in fact
the Rocket was the first full-size locomotive to incorporate this
vital innovation. R.H.G. Thomas n his
history of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway states that James Neville
had patented a tubular boiler in 1826, but that Booth and the Stephensons
were probably unaware of this. Booth was the author of
An account of the Liverpool
and Manchester Railway published in 1830 (Ottley 6404):
see also Snell for an
appreciation. Rowatt Trans
Newcomen Soc.1927, 8, 19 noted that Booth invented a form
of the counter-pressure brake in 1836. Patents (via
Woodcroft) GB 6814/1835 Composition for greasing axle-bearings of carriages,
and the axle-spindles and bearing parts of machinery. ("Patent axle grease
and lubricating fluid.") 14 April 1835 GB 6961/1835 Method of attaching railway-carriages together, for
obtaining steadiness and smoothness of motion. 16 December 1835 See also Locomotive Mag.,
1946, 52, 47 GB 6989/1836Locomotive steam-engines and railway-carriages.
23 January 1836 GB 7244/1836Construction and arrangement of railway tunnels, to
be worked by locomotive-engines. 3 December 1836 GB 7335/1837 Construction of locomotive-engine boiler furnaces;-
applicable to other furnaces. 4 April 1837
See: L.T.C. Rolt, George
and Robert Stephenson (1960);
Anthony Dawson. The first railway strike.
Backtrack, 2019, 33,
493-5 Marshall, C.F.D. The Rainhill
Locomotive Trials of 1829. Trans Newcomen Soc. 1928/9, 9,
78-93. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
entry by Francis Watt revised by Ralph Harrington
Portrait in Thomas page 20
