Henry Ivatt on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Henry Alfred Ivatt (16 September 1851,
Henry Alfred Ivatt (16 September 1851, Wentworth, Cambridgeshire
Wentworth is a small village near Ely in Cambridgeshire, England. It is in the Isle of Ely, adjacent to Grunty Fen, Wentworth lies south of the A142 between Witchford and Sutton, approximately 5 miles west of Ely. The village is centred on ...
– 25 October 1923) was an English railway engineer, and was the Chief Mechanical Engineer
Chief mechanical engineer and locomotive superintendent are titles applied by British, Australian, and New Zealand railway companies to the person ultimately responsible to the board of the company for the building and maintaining of the locomotive ...
of the Great Northern Railway from 1896 to 1911.
Career
London and North Western Railway
Educated atLiverpool College
Liverpool College is a school in Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England. It was one of the thirteen founding members of the Headmasters' Conference (HMC).
History
Liverpool College was the first of many public schools founded in the Victorian E ...
., at age 17, Ivatt was apprenticed to John Ramsbottom at the Crewe
Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...
Works of the London and 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 Lo ...
(LNWR). He worked as a fireman for six months and held various positions there. He was made head of the Holyhead
Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...
Locomotive Depot in 1874, before being promoted to the head of the Chester
Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...
District.
Great Southern and Western Railway
In 1877, Ivatt moved toIreland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
, and the Great Southern and Western Railway
The Great Southern and Western Railway (GS&WR) was an Irish gauge () railway company in Ireland from 1844 until 1924. The GS&WR grew by building lines and making a series of takeovers, until in the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was the ...
at Inchicore
Inchicore () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland. Located approximately west of the city centre, Inchicore was originally a small village separate from Dublin. The village developed around Richmond Barracks (built 1810) and Inchicore railway works (b ...
. In 1882, he was appointed to the post of locomotive engineer there, where he patent
A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...
ed a design for a sprung flap for vertically-opening carriage windows that became ubiquitous.
Great Northern Railway
In 1895, Ivatt returned toEngland
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
and was appointed Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Northern Railway (GNR), succeeding Patrick Stirling, with references from Samuel Waite Johnson
Samuel Waite Johnson (14 October 1831 – 14 January 1912) was an English railway engineer, and was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Midland Railway from 1873 to 1903. He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar ...
, John Aspinall, Francis William Webb
Francis William Webb (21 May 1836 – 4 June 1906) was an English railway engineer, responsible for the design and manufacture of locomotives for the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Webb was born in Tixall Rectory, near Stafford, ...
and William Dean.
Locomotive designs
At the GNR, he became associated with theGNR Class C1 (small boiler)
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) Small Boiler Class C1 is a class of steam locomotive, the first 4-4-2 or Atlantic type in Great Britain. They were designed by Henry Ivatt in 1897. In total 22 were built between 1898 and 1903 at Doncaster W ...
and GNR Class C1 (large boiler)
The Great Northern Railway (GNR) Class C1 is a type of 4-4-2 steam locomotive. One, ex GNR 251, later LNER 2800, survives in preservation. Much like their small boiler cousins, they were capable of reaching speeds of up to 90 mph (145&nb ...
4-4-2 (Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
) type, which he introduced to Britain. Ivatt was also the first to introduce Walschaerts valve gear
The Walschaerts valve gear is a type of valve gear used to regulate the flow of steam to the pistons in steam locomotives, invented by Belgium, Belgian railway mechanical engineering, engineer Egide Walschaerts in 1844.
The gear is sometimes name ...
to Britain. Ivatt retired on 2 December 1911. He was succeeded as Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the GNR by Nigel Gresley
Sir Herbert Nigel Gresley (19 June 1876 – 5 April 1941) was a British railway engineer. He was one of Britain's most famous steam locomotive engineers, who rose to become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Rai ...
.
Family
He had six children, the first of whom, Campbell, died as a child in 1898. His sonGeorge Ivatt
Henry George Ivatt (4 May 1886 – 4 October 1972), known as George Ivatt, was the post-war Chief Mechanical Engineer of the London Midland and Scottish Railway. He was the son of the Great Northern Railway locomotive engineer Henry Ivatt. ...
was also a locomotive engineer and post-war CME of the London Midland and Scottish Railway
The London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMSIt has been argued that the initials LMSR should be used to be consistent with LNER, GWR and SR. The London, Midland and Scottish Railway's corporate image used LMS, and this is what is generally ...
. His daughter Marjorie married Oliver Bulleid
Oliver Vaughan Snell Bulleid Commander of the Order of the British Empire, CBE (19 September 1882 – 25 April 1970) was a British railway and mechanical engineer best known as the Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Southern Railway ( ...
, CME of the Southern Railway (Great Britain)
The Southern Railway (SR), sometimes shortened to 'Southern', was a British railway company established in the 1923 Grouping. It linked London with the Channel ports, South West England, South coast resorts and Kent. The railway was formed by ...
.
Death
Ivatt died in 1923 inHaywards Heath
Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...
, Sussex
Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...
.
References