Michael Lane (engineer)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Michael Lane

Michael Lane (born October 26, 1802 in Shadwell , † February 27, 1868 ) was a British civil engineer . He worked with Sir Marc Brunel and his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel on various projects. For the last eight years of his life he was chief engineer of the Great Western Railway (GWR).

biography

Michael Lane began his career under Marc and Isambard Brunel in 1825 on the construction of the Thames tunnel in Wapping . The project almost cost him his life when the tunnel suddenly leaked and flooded in May 1827. According to a published by Isambard Brunel's son report, Michael Lane developed due to his leadership skills and craftsmanship of the masons polishing of the most trusted assistant Isambards into one.

Because of his experience in tunneling, he was commissioned in 1830–32 to build the Beaminster tunnel in Dorset. Lane worked as a liaison engineer at Isambard Brunel's Bristol Docks from 1832-34 . He later accompanied Brunel to Monkwearmouth Docks in Sunderland and worked there until December 1840. There he married Maria McSweeney in the mid-1830s, with whom he had a daughter in 1836. The pressures of work on the Great Western Railway forced Brunel to finish work on Monkwearmouth Docks in September 1838. He asked Michael Lane to work with him at the GWR in Bath . Michael Lane married his second wife Jane Harris there and had ten children with her.

Lane did not stay in Bath long. In April 1839 the Monkwearmouth directors asked him to return to his post in the north. Brunel resisted, urging the directors to take care of Lane. Spur returned to GWR in January 1841 to work as assistant to the liaison engineer on the western section of the railway. He moved to Hull Docks in 1842, where he worked as a liaison engineer, before joining GWR in August 1845. There he remained in various positions for fourteen years.

Following the retirement of Brunel's successor, TH Bertram, Michael Lane became chief engineer of the GWR in 1860 and held the post until his death in 1868. His final years were marred by Bright's disease , an inflammatory disease of the kidney. After his death he was buried in the Kensal Green Cemetery in London.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums - Collection - DX1269. Tyne & Wear Archive Service, accessed December 1, 2016 .
  2. ↑ a b c d Obituary. Michael Lane, 1802-1868 . In: Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers . tape 30 , no. 1870 . Institution of Civil Engineers, 1870, pp. 443-444 ( icevirtuallibrary.com ).
  3. ^ Isambard Brunel: The Life of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Civil Engineer . Longmans, Green & Co., 1870, ISBN 978-1-108-02630-7 , pp. 29 ( google.com ).
  4. ^ A b Adrian Vaughan: Brunel: an engineering biography . Ian Allan, 2006, p. 90 ( google.com ).
  5. ^ Andrew Headley: 'A tunnel wide'. In: Dorset Life. November 2010, accessed July 17, 2012 .
personal data
SURNAME Lane, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British civil engineer
DATE OF BIRTH October 26, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH Shadwell
DATE OF DEATH February 27, 1868