Philip Louis Pratley (December 4, 1884 – August 1, 1958) 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 ...
-born
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
bridge designer.
He was born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
and received a
BSc
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...
and
BEng
A Bachelor of Engineering (BEng) or a Bachelor of Science in Engineering (BSE) is an academic undergraduate degree awarded to a student after three to five years of studying engineering at an accredited college or university.
In the UK, a Bache ...
from the
University of Liverpool
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
. Pratley then apprenticed with Francis Morton & Co. Ltd. in
Garston,
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
. In 1906, he came to Canada, first working for the
Locomotive and Machine Company and then for the
Dominion Bridge Company
Dominion Bridge Company Limited was a Canadian steel bridge constructor originally based in Lachine, Quebec. From the core business of steel bridge component fabrication, the company diversified into related areas such as the fabrication of holdin ...
, both based in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...
. In 1908, he earned a
MEng
Meng may refer to:
* Meng (surname) (孟), a Chinese surname
* Master of Engineering (MEng or M.Eng.), an academic or professional master's degree in the field of engineering
* , "M with hook", letter used in the International Phonetic Alphabet
* ...
from the University of Liverpool. In 1909, Pratley played an important role in the planning of the
Quebec Bridge
The Quebec Bridge (french: pont de Québec) is a road, rail, and pedestrian bridge across the lower Saint Lawrence River between Sainte-Foy (a former suburb that in 2002 became a western area of Quebec City) and Lévis, in Quebec, Canada. The p ...
over the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...
. He went on to work with the Saint Lawrence bridge company in the construction of the Quebec bridge. He was also involved in the construction of the
Boucanée River Viaduct (1913) and the
Saint John Highway Arch Bridge (1915) in
New Brunswick
New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...
.
In 1920, he conducted a review of the bridges on the
Grand Trunk Railway
The Grand Trunk Railway (; french: Grand Tronc) was a railway system that operated in the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario and in the American states of Connecticut, Maine, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont. The rail ...
on behalf of the Canadian government. The following year, Pratley formed the consulting company Monsarrat & Pratley in partnership with
Charles Monsarrat. The company was responsible for the design and supervision of construction of the
Jacques Cartier Bridge
The Jacques Cartier Bridge (french: pont Jacques-Cartier) is a steel truss cantilever bridge crossing the Saint Lawrence River from Montreal Island, Montreal, Quebec, to the south shore at Longueuil, Quebec, Canada. The bridge crosses Saint He ...
at Montreal, the
Île d'Orléans Bridge at
Quebec City
Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...
, the
Lions Gate Bridge
The Lions Gate Bridge, opened in 1938 and officially known as the First Narrows Bridge, is a suspension bridge that crosses the first narrows of Burrard Inlet and connects the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, to the North Shore municipal ...
at Vancouver, the
Angus L. Macdonald Bridge
The Angus L. Macdonald Bridge is a suspension bridge crossing Halifax Harbour in Nova Scotia, Canada; it opened on April 2, 1955.
The bridge is one of two suspension bridges linking the Halifax Peninsula to Dartmouth in the Halifax Regional Mu ...
at Halifax, Nova Scotia and the
Burlington Bay Skyway Bridge near Hamilton, Ontario.
At the time of his death, Pratley was working on the
Champlain Bridge at Montreal and the
South Channel Bridge of Three Nations Crossing at Cornwall, Ontario. His son, H. Hugh L. Pratley, was also a bridge designer, whose work included collaborating with his father on the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge, and completing the Champlain Bridge.
In 2005, Pratley was designated a Person of National Historic Significance
Persons of National Historic Significance (National Historic People) are people designated by the Canadian government as being nationally significant in the history of the country. Designations are made by the Minister of the Environment on the re ...
by the government of Canada. A commemorative plaque has been placed at the northern approach to the Jacques Cartier Bridge in Montreal.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pratley, Philip Louis
1884 births
1958 deaths
Canadian civil engineers
Engineers from Liverpool
Persons of National Historic Significance (Canada)
Alumni of the University of Liverpool
English civil engineers
British bridge engineers
British emigrants to the United States