Thomas Sheasby, Senior (c.1740–1799) was a British
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
contractor. His early work involved bridge construction, after which he went on to build canals, including several in South Wales. He was imprisoned for a time when there were contractual problems with the Glamorganshire Canal Company.
Early life
Although his date of birth is unknown, it is known that Thomas Sheasby was
christened on 28 October 1740 in
Tamworth,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. He was later described as a builder from Tamworth who carried out repairs to bridges for the
Warwickshire Quarter Sessions between 1775 and 1787. In 1776, he was contracted to design and build
Polesworth Bridge over the
Coventry Canal
The Coventry Canal is a navigable narrow canal in the Midlands of England.
It starts in Coventry and ends to the north at Fradley Junction, just north of Lichfield, where it joins the Trent and Mersey Canal. It also has connections with the ...
at
Polesworth
Polesworth is a large village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Warwickshire district of Warwickshire, England. Polesworth is situated close to the northern tip of Warwickshire, adjacent to the border with Staffordshire. It ...
, for which he was paid
£364. In 1780, he was also contracted to build and design
Duke's Bridge in
Coleshill, for which he was paid £306.
[Skempton (2001), pp. 602–603]
Canal Projects
In the late 1780s, Sheasby worked as a contractor on the
Birmingham and Fazeley Canal
The Birmingham and Fazeley Canal is a canal of the Birmingham Canal Navigations in the West Midlands of England. Its purpose was to provide a link between the Coventry Canal and Birmingham and thereby connect Birmingham to London via the Oxford ...
. He was also awarded the contract to connect the Coventry Canal to the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal in June 1785.
[
Sheasby joined with ]Thomas Dadford
Thomas Dadford Sr. (died 1809) was an English canal engineer as were his sons, Thomas Dadford Jr., John Dadford, and James Dadford.
Biography
Thomas Dadford probably originated from Stewponey or Stourton, Staffordshire, near Stourbridge. He st ...
and together they decided to tender for work on the Cromford Canal
The Cromford Canal ran from Cromford to the Erewash Canal in Derbyshire, England with a branch to Pinxton. Built by William Jessop with the assistance of Benjamin Outram, its alignment included four tunnels and 14 locks.
From Cromford it ran ...
in 1789. However, they left the job when they received an offer for work on the Glamorganshire Canal
The Glamorganshire Canal in South Wales, UK, was begun in 1790. It ran along the valley of the River Taff from Merthyr Tydfil to the sea at Cardiff. The final section of canal was closed in 1951.
History
Construction started in 1790; being wa ...
in 1790. On 30 June 1790, Thomas Sheasby, Thomas Dadford Sr. and his son submitted a price of £48,258 for the construction of the canal. They gave the canal company a bond of £10,000. There was no engineer for the project, which was managed instead by a committee. There were contractual difficulties between the contractors and the company, which were probably made worse by the lack of an experienced engineer. The contractors accumulated £17,000 in payments for extra work, during the course of the project. Although the canal opened in February 1794, a bank was breached soon afterwards, and the contractors were called back to repair it. The contractors refused to do any work before they received a payment in advance. The company argued that they had been overpaid by £17,000, and imprisoned Sheasby and Dadford Sr., so that they could recover the £10,000 surety. Robert Whitworth
Robert Whitworth (1734 – 30 March 1799) was an English land surveyor and engineer, who learnt his trade under John Smeaton and James Brindley, and went on to become one of the leading canal engineers of his generation.
Biography
Whitworth was ...
was asked to arbitrate, and ruled largely in favoour of Sheasby and Dadford, as they were awarded £15,500 of the extra payments. As a result of the imprisonment, Sheasby and Dadford were unable to work on their next project and the next phase of the Glamorganshire Canal was built by Patrick Copland.[
After being released, Sheasby was taken on as ]engineer
Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and contractor to complete the Neath Canal
The Neath and Tennant Canals are two independent but linked canals in South Wales that are usually regarded as a single canal. The Neath Canal was opened from Glynneath to Melincryddan, to the south of Neath, in 1795 and extended to Giant's Gra ...
to Glynneath
Glynneath ( cy, Glyn-nedd "valley of the River Neath"), also spelt ''Glyn-neath'' and ''Glyn Neath'', is a small town, community and electoral ward lying on the River Neath in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales. It was formerly in th ...
, including the aqueduct at Ynysbwllog. The work was to be completed by 1 November 1793, and he was to be paid £14,886, of which £2,500 was to be withheld for three years. Sheasby was unable to complete the canal in the timeframe, and as he was in discussions over how to complete the canal, he was arrested for the situation in Glamorganshire. The company had to complete the canal themselves.[
Despite these setbacks, Sheasby returned to work. He began by assisting Charles Roberts as an engineer on the ]Swansea Canal
The Swansea Canal (Welsh: ''Camlas Abertawe'') was a canal constructed by the Swansea Canal Navigation Company between 1794 and 1798, running for from Swansea to Hen Neuadd, Abercraf in South Wales. It was steeply graded, and 36 locks were nee ...
. Sheasby had already surveyed the canal in 1793; however, his problems meant he could not be appointed as the engineer at the time. He was appointed engineer in 1796 with his son. The canal was partially opened in 1796 and was completed in October 1798. Sheasby died a year later.[
Besides canal construction projects, he was also involved in carrying out surveys for a number of projects, including the ]Shropshire Canal
The Shropshire Canal was a tub boat canal built to supply coal, ore and limestone to the industrial region of east Shropshire, England, that adjoined the River Severn at Coalbrookdale. It ran from a junction with the Donnington Wood Canal ascend ...
in 1788, a tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...
road in the Brecon Forest and a canal from Llandeilo
Llandeilo () is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, situated at the crossing of the River Towy by the A483 on a 19th-century stone bridge. Its population was 1,795 at the 2011 Census. It is adjacent to the westernmost point of the B ...
to Llandovery
Llandovery (; cy, Llanymddyfri ) is a market town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It lies on the River Tywi and at the junction of the A40 and A483 roads, about north-east of Carmarthen, north of Swansea and west of Brecon.
Histo ...
in 1793.[
His son, Thomas Sheasby ''jnr'', also went on to become a notable civil engineer, working initially as a canal engineer and then later constructing tramroads for the Severn & Wye Railway in the ]Forest of Dean
The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...
.A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers
See also
*Canals of the United Kingdom
The canals of the United Kingdom are a major part of the network of inland waterways in the United Kingdom. They have a varied history, from use for irrigation and transport, through becoming the focus of the Industrial Revolution, to today's ro ...
*History of the British canal system
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheasby, Thomas
1740 births
1799 deaths
English civil engineers
People from Tamworth, Staffordshire