John Bernard Hartley (1814–1869) was a British civil engineer, son of

Jesse Hartley Jesse Hartley (21 December 1780 – 24 August 1860) was Civil Engineer and Superintendent of the Concerns of the Dock Estate in Liverpool, England between 1824 and 1860. Hartley's career Despite having no experience of dock building, Hartley was ...

the Liverpool docks engineer. He was engineer on the Hull

Railway Dock The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Seaborne trade at the port can be traced to at least the 13th century, originally cond ...

, and Victoria Dock, and other works, and was instrumental in promoting the

Birkenhead Docks Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liverp ...

on the Mersey. He retired in 1861 due to ill health and died in 1869.

Biography

John Bernard Hartley was born on 3 September in

Dungarvan Dungarvan () is a coastal town and harbour in County Waterford, on the south-east coast of Ireland. Prior to the merger of Waterford County Council with Waterford City Council in 2014, Dungarvan was the county town and administrative centre of ...

, Waterford, son of

, engineer of the Liverpool docks. He was brought up in

Pontefract Pontefract is a historic market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England, east of Wakefield and south of Castleford. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is one of the towns in the City of Wake ...

Yorkshire and educated at

Giggleswick school Giggleswick School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school) in Giggleswick, near Settle, North Yorkshire, England. Early school In 1499, Giggleswick School was founded on half an acre of land leased by the Prior an ...

, after which he began training under his father on the Liverpool dock estate, and in 1835 placed under James Walker. In 1840 he began working independently, and in 1842 was appointed engineer of the

Hull Dock Company The Port of Hull is a port at the confluence of the River Hull and the Humber Estuary in Kingston upon Hull, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Seaborne trade at the port can be traced to at least the 13th century, originally cond ...

. There he was engineer during the construction of the

and Victoria Dock. He left the employment of the Dock company in 1858. He also worked on lighthouses on the

river Lune The River Lune (archaically sometimes Loyne) is a river in length in Cumbria and Lancashire, England. Etymology Several elucidations for the origin of the name ''Lune'' exist. Firstly, it may be that the name is Brittonic in genesis and deriv ...

, at the mouth near

Morecambe bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

, on the

Hull and Barnsley Railway Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in a ...

, The Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway, and on docks at Purton Pill, Silloth Bay, a graving dock at

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town and the administrative centre of North East Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire, England. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes directly to the south-east forming a conurbation. Grimsby is north-east of Linco ...

and scheme for docks at

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, and on the drainage of Port Madoc. He was also worked on the docks at Liverpool and Birkenhead, in association with his father. He was involved in prolonged attempts to obtain a bill enabling the construction of deep water docks at

Birkenhead Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the River Mersey, opposite Liver ...

to the design of James Meadows Rendel, and later, in 1858, became engineer of the

. His health failed in 1860, and he had left for the warmer climate of the Mediterranean when he received news of his father's death. He was appointed to his father position on the Liverpool Docks estate, but retired due to poor health, being retained as a consulting engineer. He then lived at Letrualt House near

Rhu Rhu (; gd, An Rubha ) is a village and historic parish on the east shore of the Gare Loch in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. The traditional spelling of its name was ''Row'', but it was changed in the 1920s so that outsiders would pronounce it cor ...

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, also travelling to Spas in Switzerland – He died on 14 December 1869.

References

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External links

1814 births 1869 deaths Harbour engineers English civil engineers {{UK-engineer-stub