John Buddle was born at West Kyo, near Lanchester, County Durham,
on 15 September 1773 and died at Wallsend on 10 October 1843.
He followed his father into the profession of colliery viewer, a calling
which he helped to develop into the modern concept of mining engineer. He
succeeded his father as manager at Wallsend Colliery in 1806 and introduced
the safety lamp invented by Humphry Davy there. One of his major works was
the construction of Seaham Harbour.
He worked closely with William Chapman and
recent research by Guy Early
Railways 1 p. 117 et seq , but
especially p. 132 et seq and Rees (page 145 et seq) has shown that both Buddle and Chapman were far more inflential in early
locomotive development (notably the Steam Elephant at Wallsend) than
had been appreciated earlier. ODNB biography by H.J. Heesom.
Winifred Stokes in
Early Railways 3 notes the importance of Buddle as a colliery
viewer in developing steam locomotion. He was also in introducing steam traction
on Cape Breton Island: see Herb
MacDonasld in Early Railways 3..
