Joseph Thomas (1838-1901) was a Cornish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

and

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

who lived the majority of his life in

Looe Looe (; kw, Logh, ) is a coastal town and civil parish in south-east Cornwall, England, with a population of 5,280 at the 2011 census. Looe is west of Plymouth and south of Liskeard, divided in two by the River Looe, East Looe ( kw, links= ...

. He made a number of significant contributions to the development of the town in the late 19th century, including the design of the Banjo Pier and the creation of the Hannafore estate.Cornwall Industrial Settlements Initiative — Looe
www.historic-cornwall.org.uk. Retrieved on 13 November 2016

Life and work

Thomas was born in

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, near

St Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell wa ...

, on 10 March 1838.Grace's Guide to British Industrial History - Joseph Thomas
www.gracesguide.co.uk Retrieved on 8 November 2018 As a boy, he helped his father work on the construction of the bridge over the Looe River and the new roads to

Polperro Polperro ( kw, Porthpyra, meaning ''Pyra's cove'') is a large village, civil parish, and fishing harbour within the Polperro Heritage Coastline in south Cornwall, England. Its population is around 1,554. Polperro, through which runs the River P ...

and St Martins.Endless Tales — Joseph Thomas
tidan-likida.livejournal.com. Retrieved on 13 November 2016 Later, he worked on a number of civil engineering projects in England and abroad, including the construction of naval forts in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

, the Royal Albert Dock in London, the

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, and the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

docks. He became an associate member of 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 ...

in 1886 and a full member in 1889. In 1893, Thomas purchased land at Hannafore for development. The scheme included widening of West Looe quay, building a ramp up to the West Looe side of the bridge, and construction of the present-day high-level access road to Hannafore along the western side of the

Looe Estuary The Looe Estuary () is an estuary in the southeastern part of Cornwall in south-west England, which leads to the mouth of the River Looe in Looe Bay. The town of Looe sits on the west and east side of the estuary. The estuary is a ria A ria ...

. In 1896, Thomas looked at the problem of silting up of the entrance to the harbour at Looe. His solution was to shorten the existing pier at the mouth of the river and instead build a larger round structure at the end, giving it the overall shape of a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

. There was considerable scepticism about the scheme, so Thomas offered to pay for the work himself if it did not solve the problem. However, it proved successful, so the Looe Harbour Commissioners paid up. The Banjo Pier, as it thus became known, was the prototype for other similar structures built elsewhere.South-West Coast Path — Looe, Talland and Polperro
www.southwestcoastpath.org.uk. Retrieved on 13 November 2016Engineering Timelines — Banjo Pier
www.engineering-timelines.com. Retrieved on 13 November 2016 Thomas also engineered the railway link between Coombe Junction and

Liskeard station Liskeard railway station serves the town of Liskeard in Cornwall, England. The station is approximately west of Plymouth on the Cornish Main Line and from via . It is the junction for the Looe Valley Line. The railway station is situated app ...

, linking the

Looe Valley Line The Looe Valley Line is an community railway from Liskeard to Looe in Cornwall, United Kingdom, that follows the valley of the East Looe River for much of its course. It is operated by Great Western Railway. History The Looe Valley Line was o ...

(formerly the

Liskeard and Looe Railway The Liskeard and Looe Railway was a railway originally built between Moorswater, in the valley west of Liskeard, and Looe, in Cornwall, England, UK, and later extended to Liskeard station on the Cornish Main Line railway. The first section w ...

) to the

Cornish Main Line The Cornish Main Line ( kw, Penn-hyns-horn Kernow) is a railway line in Cornwall and Devon in the United Kingdom. It runs from Penzance to Plymouth, crossing from Cornwall into Devon over the famous Royal Albert Bridge at Saltash. It directly ...

. Thomas lived at The Old Vicarage in East Looe.

Death and legacy

Thomas died at East Looe on 14 August 1901.England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995 His legacy to the town of Looe is considerable. He has been described "the man who helped prepare a town for the 20th Century". Another accolade is the following:

''The contribution of Joseph Thomas to the current character and appearance of Looe cannot be overemphasised. Not only was he responsible for creating the Hannafore estate, but also the scenic Hannafore Road, the present line and extent of the quayside in West Looe (as far south as St Nicholas' church), the present form of the Banjo Pier and other prominent aspects of the character of the town are directly attributable to him.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Joseph 1838 births 1901 deaths People from Looe Engineers from Cornwall