William Skinner (engineer)

William Skinner
about 1730 - unknown artist
Born	1700 St. Kitts
Died	25 December 1780 Greenwich
Nationality	British
Education	Paris and Vienna
Known for	Military Engineer

Lieutenant-General William Skinner (1700 – 25 December 1780) was Chief Engineer of Great Britain. He was well known for his work on the fortifications of Minorca and Gibraltar although he considered his work on Fort George to be his "monument".

Skinner was born in St. Kitts in 1700. Before he was an adult he lost his father, Thomas, and his mother, Elizabeth, and he was adopted by his aunt, Mrs Lambert. She remarried Captain Talbot Edwards who was the chief engineer in Barbados and the Leeward Islands. He was educated in Paris and Vienna and was trained by his adopted father as his father was promoted to be the second engineer of Great Britain. When his father died on 22 April 1719 Skinner inherited not only the plans and maps of his adopted father but also those of Sir Martin Beckman and Sir William Beckman. In less than a month of his father dying Skinner was recognised as a practitioner engineer on 11 May 1719.

In 1720 he was in Devonport working for Colonel Christian Lilly. In 1722 he was helping with fortifying Minorca and in 1724 he started his association with Gibraltar. He first helped Captain Jonas Moore with a survey of the peninsula which stood him in good stead for the 1727 Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar where he was rewarded with additional pay for his achievements. He was promoted steadily serving eventually as Director of engineering in Gibraltar.

In 1746 he was sent to Scotland where the government intended to increase the fortifications now that the Jacobite Rebellion had been ended. In 1751, he began work on Fort George which cost over 100,000 pounds and was made to Skinner's design. Skinner was to refer to the fort as his "monument" and would manage every detail which John Adam oversaw as the main contractor.