Sir Alexander Richardson Binnie (26 March 1839 – 18 May 1917) was a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

responsible for several major engineering projects, including several associated with crossings of the River

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was born in London to a Scottish father, Alexander Binnie, and Hannah Carr from

Castle Sowerby Castle Sowerby is a civil parish in the Eden District of Cumbria, England. In 2001 it had a population of 337, increasing to 344 at the 2011 Census, and includes the hamlets of How Hill, Millhouse, Newlands, Sour Nook, Southernby and Sowerby Row. ...

, Cumberland. He was baptised at the

Swallow Street Swallow Street is a small street in the West End of London, running north from Piccadilly. It is about long. History The street was previously much longer and stretched as far north as Oxford Street. The first section of the street was built ...

Scotch Church, where his grandfather

Alexander Birnie Alexander Binnie (bapt. 19 October 1763 – 15 February 1835) was a Scottish merchant and shipowner. Life and career He was one of five sons born to James Birnie and Elizabeth Shepherd Birnie of Aberdeen, Scotland.''Scotland, Select Births and B ...

was an elder. He trained as an engineer by being articled in 1858 to Terence Flannagan and afterwards to Frederic la Trobe Bateman. He then worked on railways in mid-Wales before moving in 1868 to India to engineer the

Nagpur Nagpur (pronunciation: Help:IPA/Marathi, aːɡpuːɾ is the third largest city and the winter capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the 13th largest city in India by population and according to an Oxford's Economics report, Nag ...

water supply system. He received the

Telford Medal The Telford Medal is a prize awarded by the British Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) for a paper or series of papers. It was introduced in 1835 following a bequest made by Thomas Telford, the ICE's first president. It can be awarded in gold ...

of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

in 1875 for his paper on the Nagpur waterworks. In 1875, he returned to England as Chief Engineer for Waterworks for the City of

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

, West Yorkshire where he was concerned with the repair and construction of reservoirs and large water supply projects, such as

Upper Barden Reservoir Upper Barden Reservoir is an upland fresh water reservoir, one of two reservoirs that collect water from Barden Moor, and dam Barden Beck, a tributary of the River Wharfe in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England. The reservoir was opene ...

. He was then offered the post of Chief Engineer for

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

in 1890, a post he held until 1902. Vauxhall bridge 3

As chief engineer for London County Council, his design feats included the first

Blackwall Tunnel The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, England, linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south ...

(1897) and

Greenwich foot tunnel The Greenwich Foot Tunnel crosses beneath the River Thames in East London, linking Greenwich (Royal Borough of Greenwich) on the south bank with Millwall (London Borough of Tower Hamlets) on the north. Approximately 4,000 people use the tunne ...

(1902) (both in

Greenwich, London Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Gree ...

) and, further upstream,

Vauxhall Bridge Vauxhall Bridge is a Grade II* listed steel and granite deck arch bridge in central London. It crosses the River Thames in a southeast–northwest direction between Vauxhall on the south bank and Pimlico on the north bank. Opened in 1906, it ...

(1906). He was knighted in 1897 by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

for services to engineering and elected President of the

in 1905. He also designed, with Sir Benjamin Baker, major parts of London's drainage system, including east London

sewage treatment works Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding en ...

Crossness Crossness is a location in the London Borough of Bexley, close to the southern bank of the River Thames, to the east of Thamesmead, west of Belvedere and north-west of Erith. The place takes its name from Cross Ness, a specific promontory on the ...

and

Barking Barking may refer to: Places * Barking, London, a town in East London, England ** London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, a local government district covering the town of Barking ** Municipal Borough of Barking, a historical local government dist ...

on the south and north sides of the Thames respectively (these were sited at the ends of the sewer outfalls created by Sir

Joseph Bazalgette Sir Joseph William Bazalgette CB (; 28 March 181915 March 1891) was a 19th-century English civil engineer. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation (in response to the Great Stink of 1 ...

during the late 19th century).

Legacy

Like several other notable engineers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g. Sir

William Halcrow Sir William Halcrow (4 July 1883Application for election to AMICE 9 October 1908 – 31 October 1958) was one of the most notable English civil engineers of the 20th century, particularly renowned for his expertise in the design of tunnels and ...

, Sir

Alexander Gibb Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

), Binnie founded a firm under his name, which his son

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

took over on his father's retirement. In 1909, Sir Alexander Binnie and Son merged with another engineering consultancy to become Sir Alexander Binnie, Son &

Deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...

; later it became

Binnie & Partners Binnie is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: __NOTOC__ Surname * Alex Binnie (footballer), Scottish footballer of the 1920s * Alex Binnie (tattoo artist) (born 1959), English tattooist and printmaker * Alexander ...

, and from the 1990s it was part of the multi-national

Black & Veatch Black & Veatch (BV) is the largest engineering firm in the Kansas City metropolitan area. Founded in 1915 in Kansas City, Missouri it is now headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas It is a global engineering, procurement, construction ( EPC) and c ...

consultancy. In January 2021 the Europe and Asian water businesses of Black & Veatch were acquired by

RSK Group RSK Group is a privately held UK-based environmental, engineering and technical services group, comprising over 175 companies employing some 10,000 people and with turnover of £796m in 2022. History RSK Group was established in 1989 in Aberdeen ...

and renamed Binnies.

Personal life

Binnie married, in 1865, Mary Frances Eames, the daughter of Dr. William J. Eames, of Londonderry. Lady Binnie died in London 21 September 1901.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Binnie, Alexander 1839 births 1917 deaths English civil engineers Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers Presidents of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers Knights Bachelor Engineers from London