John Frederick Bateman

John Frederick Bateman
John Bateman in 1859
Born	30 May 1810 Lower Wyke, Halifax, England
Died	10 June 1889(1889-06-10) (aged 79) Farnham, Surrey, England
Nationality	English
Spouse(s)	Anne Fairbairn
Parent(s)	John Bateman and Mary Agnes La Trobe
Engineering career
Discipline	Civil
Institutions	Institution of Civil Engineers (president), Royal Society (fellow), Royal Society of Edinburgh (fellow), Royal Geographical Society (fellow), Geological Society (fellow), Society of Arts (fellow), Royal Institution (fellow)

John Frederick La Trobe Bateman FRSE FRS MICE FRGS FGS FSA (30 May 1810 – 10 June 1889) was an English civil engineer whose work formed the basis of the modern United Kingdom water supply industry. For more than 50 years from 1835 he designed and constructed reservoirs and waterworks. His largest project was the Longdendale Chain system that has supplied Manchester with much of its water since the 19th century. The construction of what was in its day the largest chain of reservoirs in the world began in 1848 and was completed in 1877. Bateman became "the greatest dam-builder of his generation".

Bateman also worked on water supply systems for Glasgow, Belfast, Bolton, Chester, Dublin, Newcastle upon Tyne, Oldham, Perth, and Wolverhampton, amongst many others. He carried out projects abroad as well, including designing and constructing a drainage and water supply system for Buenos Aires, and water supply schemes for Naples, Constantinople and Colombo.

He was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in Britain in 1878 and 1879.

In 1883, Bateman assumed his mother's family surname of La Trobe, by royal licence, becoming John Frederic La Trobe Bateman.

John Bateman was born on 30 May 1810 at Lower Wyke, a Moravian Church settlement near Bradford. He was the eldest son of John Bateman, "an unsuccessful inventor", and his wife Mary Agnes, daughter of Benjamin La Trobe, a member of the Moravian Church at Fairfield, near Ashton under Lyne. He spent his early years at Moravian settlement and was educated at the Moravian schools in Fairfield and Ockbrook before being apprenticed to a surveyor and mining engineer in Oldham in 1825.