Francis Whishaw
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Francis Whishaw (13 July 1804 – October 1856) was an English civil engineer. He was known for his role in the
Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
, and as a writer on railways. Later in life he was a promoter of telegraph companies.


Life

Francis Whishaw was born 13 July 1804, the son of John Whishaw, a solicitor. Minutes of Proceedings 1857 He was articled to James Walker, and found work as a surveyor. He made a survey for a proposed railway line in
Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, in 1831, with Richard Thomas. He worked under
George Stephenson George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was a British civil engineer and mechanical engineer. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", Stephenson was considered by the Victorians a great example of diligent application and thirst for ...
on the
Manchester and Leeds Railway The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a British railway company that built a line from Manchester to Normanton where it made a junction with the North Midland Railway, over which it relied on running powers to access Leeds. The line followed the ...
for the second survey of 1835, with
George Parker Bidder George Parker Bidder (13 June 1806 – 20 September 1878) was an English engineer and calculating prodigy.W. W. Rouse Ball (1960) ''Calculating Prodigies'', in Mathematical Recreations and Essays, Macmillan, New York, chapter 13. Early life B ...
. In the late 1830s Whishaw was promoting his version of the
hydraulic telegraph A hydraulic telegraph ( el, υδραυλικός τηλέγραφος) refers to two different semaphore systems involving the use of water-based mechanisms as a telegraph. The earliest one was developed in 4th-century BC Greece, while the other ...
. In 1839 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 ...
awarded him a silver
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 ...
for his ''History'' report on
Westminster Bridge Westminster Bridge is a road-and-foot-traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, linking Westminster on the west side and Lambeth on the east side. The bridge is painted predominantly green, the same colour as the leather seats in the ...
; it was a manuscript, of which an abstract was published in the ''Proceedings'' of the institute. Whishaw was recruited by Thomas Webster as the first professional secretary for the Society of Arts, from 1843 to 1845. A small exhibition set up in the Society's rooms in 1844 has been regarded as the starting point for the
1851 Great Exhibition The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, also known as the Great Exhibition or the Crystal Palace Exhibition (in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held), was an international exhibition which took pl ...
. Possible inspirations were local British trade fairs, the
French Industrial Exposition of 1844 The French Industrial Exposition of 1844 (french: Exposition des produits de l'industrie française en 1844), held in a temporary structure on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, was the tenth in a series of eleven French national industrial expositions ...
, and a
Zollverein The (), or German Customs Union, was a coalition of German states formed to manage tariffs and economic policies within their territories. Organized by the 1833 treaties, it formally started on 1 January 1834. However, its foundations had b ...
exhibition also in that year. Whishaw's exhibition, which was at his own expense, was planned to be an annual event, but was not, however, a great success. It did prompt W. F. Cooke to push for a national exhibition in 1845. Over some indifference from Prince Albert, president of the Society, Whishaw pulled together a committee including
Wentworth Dilke Sir Charles Wentworth Dilke, 1st Baronet (18 February 1810 – 10 May 1869), was an English art patron, horticulturalist and Whig politician. He is best remembered as one of the chief promoters of the Great Exhibition of 1851. Background an ...
, Francis Fuller, and
Robert Stephenson Robert Stephenson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS HFRSE FRSA Doctor of Civil Law, DCL (16 October 1803 – 12 October 1859) was an English civil engineer and designer of locomotives. The only son of George Stephenson, the "Father of Railway ...
. A second exhibition of 1845 with an enlarged committee was also largely disregarded by manufacturers and the public. In 1847 a more substantial exhibition was held. Whishaw's March 1845 demonstration of
gutta percha Gutta-percha is a tree of the genus '' Palaquium'' in the family Sapotaceae. The name also refers to the rigid, naturally biologically inert, resilient, electrically nonconductive, thermoplastic latex derived from the tree, particularly from ...
to the
Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...
is credited with stimulating
William Siemens Sir Carl Wilhelm Siemens (4 April 1823 – 19 November 1883), anglicised to Charles William Siemens, was a German-British electrical engineer and businessman. Biography Siemens was born in the village of Lenthe, today part of Gehrden, near Han ...
to use it for the insulation of cables, based on suggestions of
Michael Faraday Michael Faraday (; 22 September 1791 – 25 August 1867) was an English scientist who contributed to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry. His main discoveries include the principles underlying electromagnetic inducti ...
. His own inventions included the velocentimeter, a watch for timing railway trains, and a gutta percha speaking trumpet, the "telakouphanon", proposed to the
British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chie ...
. Whishaw gave an account of the
electric telegraph Electrical telegraphs were point-to-point text messaging systems, primarily used from the 1840s until the late 20th century. It was the first electrical telecommunications system and the most widely used of a number of early messaging systems ...
in the ''London Artisan'' in 1849. He was one of those exhibiting gutta percha products at the Great Exhibition in 1851, with a dozen other inventions. In the years before his death Whishaw had suffered from reduced health, and had complained of pains in the head, and experience occasional brief memory loss. In October 1856 Francis Whishaw was found late evening by a policeman in a partially conscious state, sometime after leaving his residence to attend church in
Kentish Town Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town. Less than four miles north of central London, Kentish Town has good transport connections and is situated close to the ope ...
. He was taken to a doctor, and then to the a workhouse infirmary, where he died. The post mortem gave a verdict of natural
apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...
.


Works

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Notes and references


Notes


References


Sources

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External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whishaw, Francis 1804 births 1856 deaths English civil engineers English writers