William Dargan
| William Dargan | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
28 February 1799 County Laois, Ireland |
| Died |
7 February 1867 (aged 67) Dublin, Ireland |
| Other names | The father of Irish railways. |
William Dargan (28 February 1799 – 7 February 1867) was arguably the most important Irish engineer of the 19th century and certainly the most important figure in railway construction. Dargan designed and built Ireland's first railway line from Dublin to Dún Laoghaire in 1833. In total he constructed over 1,300 km (800 miles) of railway to important urban centres of Ireland. He was a member of the Royal Dublin Society and also helped establish the National Gallery of Ireland. He was also responsible for the Great Dublin Exhibition held at Leinster lawn in 1853. His achievements were honoured in 1995, when the Dargan Railway Bridge in Belfast was opened, and again in 2004 when the Dargan Bridge, Dublin a new cable stayed bridge for Dublin's Light Railway Luas were both named after him.
Dargan was born near Carlow town, Ireland on 28 February 1799. He was the eldest in a large family of tenant farmers on the Earl of Portarlington's estate. He attended a local hedge school in Graiguecullen near Carlow, where he excelled in mathematics and accounting. He subsequently worked on his father's 101-acre farm before securing a position in a surveyor's office in Carlow. With the assistance of prominent local people, particularly John Alexander, a prominent Carlow miller, and Henry Parnell MP for County Laois Dargan began working with the Scottish engineer Thomas Telford on the Holyhead side of the London-Holyhead road. He worked there between 1819 and 1824. In 1824 Telford asked Dargan to begin work on a road from Raheny to Sutton in Dublin. The young Dargan earned the relatively large sum of £300 for his work on this road and this provided the capital for future public works investments.
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