Matthew Kirtley (6 February 181324 May 1873) was born at

Tanfield, Durham Tanfield is a former mining village in County Durham, England, near Stanley, and the location of Tanfield Railway, the Causey Arch and Tanfield School. History The village was first recorded in 1179 as Tamefeld, believed to be Old English ...

. He was an important early locomotive engineer.

Career

Early years

At the age of thirteen he began work on the

Stockton and Darlington Railway The Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) was a railway company that operated in north-east England from 1825 to 1863. The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, its first line connected collieries near Shildon with Darl ...

; he was fireman on the

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 ...

, and was present at its opening. Eventually he became a driver on the

London and Birmingham Railway The London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom, in operation from 1833 to 1846, when it became part of the London and North Western Railway (L&NWR). The railway line which the company opened in 1838, betw ...

(L&BR). He is believed to have driven the first L&BR train (and the first main line train) to enter London.

Midland Railway

Railway carriage built 1876 by Matthew Kirtley for metropolitan railway

In 1839 he was appointed first a locomotive foreman, and then in 1841

Locomotive Superintendent 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

Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway The Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway was a British railway company. From Birmingham it connected at Derby with the North Midland Railway and the Midland Counties Railway at what became known as the Tri Junct Station. It now forms part ...

. When that railway became one of the constituents of the

Midland Railway The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...

, he became the Midland's Locomotive Superintendent. He was there Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1844 until he died in 1873.Matthew Kirtley Building
midlandrailway-butterley, Retrieved 13 February 2017 Hundreds of locomotives to his design existed, many of which were to last into the days 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 u ...

, some fifty years later.

Family

Matthew Kirtley's brother

Thomas Kirtley Thomas Kirtley (20 February 1811 – 16 November 1847) was an English railway engineer, and was the locomotive superintendent of the North Midland Railway and later the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway. Biography He was born at Tanfield, ...

was also a locomotive engineer (on the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

(1847)) as was his nephew, William Kirtley, who served as locomotive superintendent on the

London, Chatham and Dover Railway The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR or LC&DR) was a railway company in south-eastern England created on 1 August 1859, when the East Kent Railway was given parliamentary approval to change its name. Its lines ran through London and nor ...

, 1874-1898.

Legacy

The Midland Railway Trust’s collection of locomotives, carriages and wagon is housed in what is now named the Matthew Kirtley Building.

References

External links

* http://www.steamindex.com/people/midland.htm English mechanical engineers English railway mechanical engineers Locomotive builders and designers Midland Railway people 1813 births 1873 deaths People from Tanfield, County Durham {{England-engineer-stub