Benjamin Baker (engineer)
| Sir Benjamin Baker | |
|---|---|
Benjamin Baker as a young engineer
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| Born |
31 March 1840 Frome, Somerset, England |
| Died | 19 May 1907 (aged 67) Pangbourne, Berkshire, England |
| Nationality | English |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Education | Apprenticed to Messrs Price and Fox at the Neath Abbey Iron Works |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil engineer Structural engineer |
| Projects | Forth Bridge, First Aswan dam |
Sir Benjamin Baker KCB KCMG FRS FRSE (31 March 1840 – 19 May 1907) was an eminent English civil engineer who worked in mid to late Victorian era. He helped develop the early underground railways in London with Sir John Fowler, but he is best known for his work on the Forth Bridge. He made many other notable contributions to civil engineering, including his work as an expert witness at the public inquiry into the Tay Rail Bridge disaster. Later, he helped design and build the first Aswan dam.
He was born in Keyford, which is now part of Frome, Somerset in 1840, the son of Benjamin Baker, principal assistant at Tondu Ironworks, and Sarah Hollis.
He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School and, at the age of 16, became an apprentice at Messrs Price and Fox at the Neath Abbey Iron Works. After his apprenticeship he spent two years as an assistant to Mr. W.H. Wilson. Later, he became associated with Sir John Fowler in London. He took part in the construction of the Metropolitan Railway (London). He was also a key expert witness in the Tay rail bridge disaster of 1879.
He designed the cylindrical vessel in which Cleopatra's Needle, now standing on the Thames Embankment, London, was brought over from Egypt to England in 1877–1878.
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