James Brunlees
| Sir James Brunlees | |
|---|---|
Sir James Brunlees
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| Born | 1816 Kelso, Scottish Borders |
| Died | 1892 Wimbledon, London |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Education | University of Edinburgh |
| Spouse(s) | Elizabeth Kirkman (1845) |
| Parent(s) | John Brunlees, Margaret Rutherford |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil |
| Institutions | Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Institution of Civil Engineers (president), |
Sir James Brunlees FRSE MICE (1816–1892) was a Scottish civil engineer. He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1882-3.
He was born in Kelso in the Scottish Borders in 1816.
Brunlees was the son of John Brunlees, the gardener of the Duke of Roxburghe's agent, and Margaret Rutherford.
As a youth he assisted the surveyor Alexander Adie in surveying the roads on the Duke's estates and decided to be a civil engineer. He studied at Edinburgh University then worked on the Bolton and Preston Railway under Adie before working on various railways in Scotland and Northern England in a staff of engineers.
In 1850, Brunlees worked on the Londonderry and Coleraine Railway. For this job he was obliged to build an embankment over Rosse’s Bay on the River Foyle, surmounting great difficulties.
Brunlees was the Construction Engineer for the Ulverston and Lancaster Railway. This was a short but difficult and important railway to link the Furness Railway network to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway line and thence to all points further south in the British network. The route was planned by McClean and Stileman at 19 miles in length of which ten miles comprised embankments and viaducts across tidal water. Much of this was sand running to a depth of 30 to 70 feet. This made it very challenging to build. In business terms the Manchester-based railway contractors John Brogden and Sons were the prime movers of this railway.
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