The Life of Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer
With an Introductory History of Roads and Travelling in Great Britain

This 1867 biography combines a history of roads with Thomas Telford's career as a builder of roads, bridges and canals.

Samuel Smiles (Author)

9781108067898, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 17 July 2014

368 pages, 68 b/w illus. 2 maps
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.47 kg

This biography of the civil engineer Thomas Telford (1757–1834) was published in 1867 by Samuel Smiles (1812–1904), the author of Self-Help and of other biographies of engineers and innovators. Smiles had already written about Telford's life and achievements in Volume 2 of his Lives of the Engineers (which is also reissued in this series), but in returning to the topic he adds to this new edition an introductory section (taken from Volume 1 of Lives of the Engineers) on the history of roads in Britain, from prehistoric trackways, via the Romans, to the modern road-building system pioneered by John Metcalf (the extraordinary 'Blind Jack of Knaresborough') and Telford himself. This illustrated work gives engaging accounts from earlier writers of the perils of road travel, and also deals in detail with Telford's own career as a builder of roads, bridges and canals.

Preface
Part I. Early Roads and Modes of Travelling: 1. Old roads
2. Early modes of conveyance
3. Manners and customs influenced by the state of the roads
4. Roads and travelling in Scotland in the last century
5. Roads and travelling in England towards the end of the last century
6. John Metcalf, road-maker
Part II. Life of Thomas Telford: 1. Eskdale
2. Langholm - Telford a stonemason
3. Working mason in London, and foreman at Portsmouth
4. Surveyor for the county of Salop
5. First employment as engineer
6. The Ellesmere canal
7. Iron and other bridges
8. Highland roads and bridges
9. Telford's Scotch harbours
10. Caledonian and other canals
11. Telford as a road-maker
12. The Menai and Conway suspension bridges
13. Docks, drainage, and bridges
14. Southey's tour in the Highlands
15. Telford's later years - death and character
Index.

Subject Areas: History of engineering & technology [TBX]