John Wolfe-Barry

John Wolfe-Barry, around 1890

Sir John Wolfe-Barry ( 7 December 1836 - 22 January 1918 ) was an English civil engineer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His most famous building is Tower Bridge over the Thames in London . He was the youngest son of the architect Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), who had designed the Palace of Westminster , among other things . In 1898 he added his family name to Wolfe-Barry .

Wolfe-Barry was a student of the civil engineer John Hawkshaw and worked with him on several projects. In 1878 the professional collaboration began with Henri Marc Brunel , the son of Isambard Kingdom Brunel . In the same year, the architect Horace Jones proposed a drawbridge over the Thames for the first time. In 1885 Parliament passed a law allowing the Corporation of London to build Tower Bridge . Jones had been named architect. However, he died that same year, after which Wolfe-Barry took over responsibility.

In addition to the Tower Bridge, Wolfe-Barry was involved in numerous other projects. This includes:

• Cannon Street Railway Bridge (1866)
• Blackfriars Railway Bridge (1886)
• the docks at Barry at Cardiff
• the District Line of London Underground (with John Hawkshaw)
• Pumping stations on Regent's Canal in London
• Kew Bridge (1903)
• Extension of Greenland Dock in London (1904, now part of Surrey Quays )

In 1896 he was elected President of the British Civil Engineers Association ICE and knighted as Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1897 . Wolfe-Barry played a central role in the development of industry standards. In 1901 he was involved in the founding of British Standards , from 1900 to 1917 he was chairman of Cable & Wireless .

literature

• Robert C. McWilliam: Barry, Sir John Wolfe (1836-1918). In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004.