John Breedon Everard

John Breedon Everard
John Breedon Everard in about 1900.
Born	22 September 1844 Groby, Leicestershire, England
Died	12 September 1923 (aged 78) Leicester, England.
Nationality	British
Occupation	Architect

John Breedon Everard (22 September 1844 - 12 September 1923) was an English civil engineer and architect strongly associated with works in Leicestershire, and co-founder of the firm Pick Everard.

Everard was born in Groby, Leicestershire, the son of a mine and quarry owner, Breedon Everard (1814-1882). In 1862, Everard was articled to John Brown, a partner in Messrs Brown and Jeffcock, a firm of civil and mining engineers in Barnsley and Sheffield, South Yorkshire. In 1866, he was appointed assistant resident engineer on construction of the Kentish Town to St Pancras section of the Midland Railway.

In 1868, he set up in practice as a civil engineer in Leicester.

Everard became a partner in the firm of Ellis and Everard (later Aggregate Industries) in 1874, helping in the development of the Bardon Hill quarry and associated worker facilities including a school (1895) and two churches, at Hugglescote (built in two phases, 1878, 1887) and Bardon (1898). Bardon mill house, originally constructed to his design between 1874 and 1878 to house stone-breaking equipment, was doubled in size in 1902.

Everard was elected a fellow of the Geological Society in 1870, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1886, and a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1887 (he was also President of the Leicestershire Society of Architects). He was also a member of the Surveyors' Institute and the Mining Institute.

Everard also specialised in water supply projects. He helped initiate the Derwent Valley scheme supplying water to Leicester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Derby, taking responsibility for the Leicester section of the scheme from Sawley to Hallgates, which included an aqueduct across the River Trent and two covered service reservoirs each holding two million gallons of water. His work also included buildings at Swithland Reservoir, completed in 1896.