Thomas Russell Crampton
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Thomas Russell Crampton MICE, MIMechE |
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| Born |
6 August 1816 Broadstairs, Thanet, Kent |
| Died | 19 April 1888 (aged 71) Westminster |
| Occupation | Railway Engineer |
Thomas Russell Crampton, MICE, MIMechE (6 August 1816 – 19 April 1888) was an English engineer born at Broadstairs, Kent, and trained on Brunel's Great Western Railway.
He is best known for designing the Crampton locomotive but had many engineering interests including the electric telegraph and the Channel Tunnel for which he designed a boring machine. His locomotives had much better success in France, Germany and Italy than they did in the UK.
Born to John and Mary Crampton of Prospect Cottage (in what is now Dickens Walk), Broadstairs, on 6 August 1816, Crampton was the son of a plumber and architect. He was educated privately. Crampton married Louisa Martha Hall, who was a singer and a friend of Jenny Lind, on 25 February 1841. They had 8 children, six boys and two girls. The eldest girl, Ada Sarah, died aged 4 on 16 February 1857. and Crampton gifted a stained glass window in St. Peter's church, Broadstairs in her memory. Their youngest daughter, Louisa, was to marry Sir Horace Rumbold, the Ambassador to the Netherlands.
He died at his home, 19 Ashley Place, Westminster on 19 April 1888 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
Crampton entered a career in engineering, initially with Marc Brunel and later with the Great Western Railway (GWR) in Swindon.
Crampton worked as assistant to Marc Brunel and on joining the GWR in 1839, then Daniel Gooch. Crampton was involved in the design of the "Firefly" class of locomotives. Gooch's aim was to produce broad gauge locomotives that were better than those on the standard gauge lines, thus proving the broad gauge system was the better technically. Crampton, unbeknown to the GWR, had the idea of improving standard gauge locomotives so that they could match those of the broad gauge. In 1843, he left the GWR.
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