Edward Wilson
Edward Wilson was born on 12 August 1820 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the son of John Wilson, a civil engineer and was apprenticed to his father at Edinburgh Waterworks and then articled to Stark and Fulton, mechanical engineers in Glasgow and then the Railway Foundry in Leeds.
He was engaged on the Caledonian Canal under Jackson and Beane, the Glasgow and Ayr Railway and the Hull and Selby Railway. In 1847 he was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the York and North Midland Railway and in 1853 Engineer-in-Chief on the Midland and Great Western Railway in Ireland.
From 1856 to 1863 he was Engineer of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway and, when that was taken over, the West Midland Railway. He was appointed Chief Engineer there and settled in Worcester, working on designs for local railways. On amalgamation with the Great Western Railway in 1866 he established a consulting engineering practice at 9 DeanWilliam Dean, Chief Locomotive Engineer of the Great Western Railway 1877-1902’s Yard, Westminster. He continued to work for the GWRGreat Western Railway but also advised the Great Eastern Railway and the Metropolitan Railway. He gave evidence to Parliamentary hearings and advised the Royal Commissioners in Ireland. Among his best known works still standing are Liverpool Street Station, London and the 1870 road bridge over the River Severn at Stourport.
From about 1860, Wilson drew the first plans for the Kidderminster Loop Line. When the specification and contract was eventually let in 1874, he was named as the ‘Engineer’, with a clause that if he died, the ‘Engineer-in chief’ to the GWRGreat Western Railway would assume the role.
He was appointed a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, but not a member of the Civils.
He died on 26 August 1877 and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
