Joseph Nutt (c. 1700 – 16 October 1775) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

of highways, born in

Hinckley Hinckley is a market town in south-west Leicestershire, England. It is administered by Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council. Hinckley is the third largest settlement in the administrative county of Leicestershire, after Leicester and Loughbor ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

. After studying medicine in

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 returned to Hinckley to practice as a doctor. He became popular in his local community for his frequent practice of treating poor people free of charge. When later he was elected surveyor of highways for the parish, Nutt came up with a method of flooding the highways in order to produce more solid ground. In spite of initial resistance, the new method met with success.

John Dyer John Dyer (1699 – 15 December 1757) was a painter and Welsh poet who became a priest in the Church of England.Shaw, Thomas B. ''A Complete Manual of English Literature''. Ed. William Smith. New York: Sheldon & Co., 1872. 372. Print. He was m ...

, Nutt's friend, wrote about him in the poem ''The Fleece''. In 1774, Nutt married Susannah Goode (1714–1799). He died at Hinckley the next year.

References

*Charlotte Fell-Smith, rev. Ralph Harrington, "Nutt, Joseph", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', (Oxford, 2004) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nutt, Joseph 1700 births 1775 deaths People from Hinckley English surveyors