John Chester Craven

John Chester Craven was a British locomotive engineer born at Hunslet near Leeds in 1813. He was the locomotive, carriage and wagon superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from 1847 until his resignation in 1870. He died in 1887.

Little is known of Craven's parentage and there is also some confusion over his early career, but all sources agree that he was born 11 September 1813 at Hunslet a suburb of Leeds. According to John Marshall, Craven began an apprenticeship with Robert Stephenson and Company of Newcastle, later transferring to Fenton, Murray and Jackson of Leeds at the age of fourteen. Bradley states that he began his apprenticeship Fenton Murray and Jackson. He appears to have left Fenton, Murray and Jackson in 1837, and worked briefly for Carrett, Marshall and Company of the Sun Foundry, followed by a year working for Maudslay and Company of Westminster. He then returned to Leeds to become works manager either for Todd, Kitson & Laird followed by Shepherd and Todd or else Shepherd and Todd. He spent three years at Leeds working with David Joy and John Gray, before he was appointed Locomotive Foreman of the Manchester and Leeds Railway. In 1845 he became Locomotive Engineer for the Eastern Counties Railway at Stratford Works but little is known of his work there. In December 1847 he took up his principal post as Locomotive, Carriage and Wagon Superintendent of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway following the dismissal of John Gray.

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