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Henry Booth (4 April 1788 – 28 March 1869) was a British corn merchant, businessman and engineer particularly known as one of the key people behind the construction and management of the pioneering
Liverpool and Manchester Railway The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England. It was also the first railway to rely exclusively ...
(L&M), the world's first steam railway conducting both scheduled passenger services and freight.


Biography

Henry Booth was born in Rodney Street,
Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, England, a descendant of the Booths of Twemlow. His father, Thomas, was the son of a
yeoman Yeoman is a noun originally referring either to one who owns and cultivates land or to the middle ranks of servants in an English royal or noble household. The term was first documented in mid-14th-century England. The 14th century also witn ...
farmer of Orford, Cheshire. Thomas and his brother George apprenticed to corn merchant Dobson in 1767, and 1774 began business as corn factors on the own account at 17 King Street, Liverpool. As eldest son of it was expected Henry would follow his father in that business and was sent to a Dr. Shepherd, a Presbyterian minister in the nearby village of
Gateacre Gateacre () is a suburb of Liverpool, England, about from the city centre. It is bordered by Childwall, Woolton and Belle Vale. The area is noted for its Tudor Revival architecture and contains over 100 listed buildings within a quarter-mile ...
for instruction. He showed an aptitude for reading books, poetry, practical mechanics and was noted for a good eye for proportion. Henry initially found employment in his father's business before branching out with this own corn merchant business, being noted for not being particularly successful.


1820-1830 building the railway

Booth's father Thomas had been an original member of the L&M project original provisional committee in 1822. Henry later replaced his father and quickly became noted for organisational and promotional skills and enthusiasm for the endeavour which was to an extent stalling by 1823 and least in part due to the difficulties and over-commitment of
William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...
. Appointed as committee secretary and noted as becoming second only to Joseph Saunders in commitment to the project Booth was one of the four members of a working party sent to visit other railways at
Bedlington Ironworks Bedlington Ironworks, in Blyth Dene, Northumberland, England, operated between 1736 and 1867. It is most remembered as the place where wrought iron rails were invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820, which triggered the railway age, with their firs ...
,
Killingworth Killingworth, formerly Killingworth Township, is a town in North Tyneside, England. Killingworth was built as a planned town in the 1960s, next to Killingworth Village, which existed for centuries before the Township. Other nearby towns and ...
and Hetton colliery, returning with a report recommending steam locomotive haulage for the L&M. A meeting of 20 May 1824 accepted the report but also took the steps to forming a Joint Stock Company, Booth writing the prospectus which was issued on 29 October 1824. 1825 saw Booth give up his corn merchant interests to concentrate on the L&M project. The original enabling act for the L&M was defeated in parliament in 1825, George Stephenson performing badly. Stephenson was more of a self-taught rather than formally trained civil engineer and his situation was not helped by some of his subordinate engineers who had made significant errors in the submission which were picked up on. While Booth had requested no scapegoats were made, one of the engineers committed suicide. The L&M used the Rennie brothers for a further submission to build the railway in 1826. The revised presentation focused on the use of stationary engines with mobile locomotives only to be considered if their technology improved. With focus away from locomotives and the pro-stationary engine and the Rennies involved, the enabling bill emerged from committee in late March, passed the House of Commons in early April, passed the House of Lords and received Royal assent in early May 1826. With the bill passed, Booth, Saunders and other pro-locomotive directors replaced the Rennies recalling George Stephenson to build the railway, much to the Rennies' chagrin. On 29 May 1826 following the achievement of the
enabling act An enabling act is a piece of legislation by which a legislative body grants an entity which depends on it (for authorization or legitimacy) the power to take certain actions. For example, enabling acts often establish government agencies to ca ...
for the L&M, at a meeting of subscribers Booth was appointed treasurer at a salary of £500 a year. He was to continue competently fulfilling the posts of Treasurer, Secretary and later General Manager for the life of the L&M.


Rainhill and Rocket

As the building of the railway continued toward conclusion the board was split as whether to use stationary engines or mobile locomotives particularly over the significant inclines around Rainhill. Booth was in favour of locomotive haulage; however locomotives being built were mostly orientated towards freight haulage to and from mines and not for higher speed passenger work. The single flue design used by locomotives was one of the constraints to raising steam due to the limited heating surface between the hot tubes and water in the boiler. That this was understood was indicated by the reverse flue in Hawkworth's ''Royal George'', the most powerful locomotive of the time, which reversed the main flue. Booth and the L&MR board initially gave the Stephensons £100 to experiment with a multi-tube boiler, however the result was not successful. '' Lancashire Witch'', which was initially to have had a multi-tube boiler eventually emerged with a single main flue and two subsidiary flues. On 20 April 1829 the board of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway project passed a resolution for a competition to be held to prove their railway could be reliably operated by steam locomotives, there being advice from eminent engineers of the age that stationary engines would be required. A prize of £500 was offered as an incentive to the winner, with strict conditions a locomotive would need to meet to enter the trial. Booth and the Stephensons partnered to produce a ''premium engine'' with a multi-tube boiler that was to become Stephenson's ''Rocket'' and which was to win the Rainhill Trials in October 1829. There are suggestions it was Booth who proposed the basic design of the first multi-tubular boiler as used on ''Rocket'', built in late 1829 for the L&M Railway. The first record of Booth first referring to "method of producing steam without smoke", or the multi-tube boiler, occurs in the Minutes of an L&M board meeting in the Spring of 1827.
Marc Seguin Marc Seguin (20 April 1786 – 24 February 1875) was a French engineer, inventor of the wire- cable suspension bridge and the multi-tubular steam-engine boiler. Early life Seguin was born in Annonay, Ardèche to Marc François Seguin, the fo ...
of France also claimed the invention as his.


1831-1845 Liverpool and Manchester operations

Booth was the company treasurer of the L&M for the whole 15 years of its operating life, the railway taking over from the Stockton and Darlington as the model to be followed. Especially in the early pioneering years, challenges arose and had to be overcome. Booth's contributions to the railway continued to be recognised with his salary being increased from £750 to £1,000 in 1834 and four years later to £1,500. Even though treasurer, Booth made some technical contributions to the railway including lubrication of certain parts of locomotives using grease rather than oil. Booth is also connected with the use of buffers for the coach rolling stock, even having to account to parliament on the matter in 1832 and introducing and devised an arrangement with an additional set of springs with double hanging shackles for first class coaches. Booth was a leading proponent of working all British railways to one standard time.


After the merger

On the formation of the
London & North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lon ...
(LNWR) on 16 July 1846, he became a director of the new large company, serving until 18 May 1859. He also served as the company secretary for the LNWR's Northern Division for a year, being the first person to do so.


Inventions

Booth is credited with the invention of the screw coupling, with a statue of him holding one displayed in
St George's Hall, Liverpool St George's Hall is a building on St George's Place, opposite Liverpool Lime Street railway station, Lime Street railway station in Liverpool city centre, the centre of Liverpool, England. Opened in 1854, it is a Neoclassical architecture, Neocla ...
.


Notes


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* CN 8983 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Henry 1788 births 1869 deaths English engineers Businesspeople from Liverpool 19th-century British businesspeople