William Laxton (1802–1854) was a British surveyor and author, one of the authors of the 19th century ''
Builder's Price Book''.
[ ]
Biography
Laxton, son of William Robert Laxton, surveyor, and his wife Phœbe, was born in London on 30 March 1802, and was educated at
Christ's Hospital. He was a citizen of London, a liveryman of the
Haberdashers' Company
The Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies, is an ancient merchant guild of London, England associated with the silk and velvet trades.
History and functions
The Haberdashers' Company follows the M ...
in 1823, and an active member of the
City Philosophical Society
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
.
Brought up as a
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 ...
, he evinced a great love for his profession, and made himself master of every department. He surveyed and laid down several lines of railway, and was connected with the
Hull and Selby,
London and Richmond,
Surrey Grand Junction,
Hull, Lincoln, and Nottingham,
Gravesend and Brighton, and
Lynn, Wisbech, and Ely railways.
Hydraulic engineering was his favourite pursuit, but a work on this subject, which he had designed and for which he had prepared extensive materials, he did not live to write. He constructed water works at
Falmouth and
Stonehouse, in which he introduced many improvements, and with
Robert Stephenson was joint engineer of the
Watford Water Company
Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne.
Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...
for supplying London with water from the chalk formation.
In October 1837 he projected and established ''The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal'', a monthly periodical, which he himself edited. He soon after purchased a weekly publication, called ''The Architect and Building Gazette'', and after conducting it for some time united it to the ''Journal''. A work which originated with his father, and was then conducted for thirty years by Laxton and his brother, Henry Laxton, was the ''Builder's Price Book'', which was a standard work in the profession and in the courts of law, and circulated all over the kingdom. Laxton was the surveyor to
Baron de Goldsmid
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or k ...
's estate at
Brighton
Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London.
Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...
, where he laid out a large part of the new town in the parish of
Hove, and designed and built many of the houses. From the period of its formation in 1840 he was surveyor to the
Farmers' and General Fire and Life Insurance Company. He died in London on 31 May 1854, and was interred in the family vault in
St. Andrew's burying-ground,
Gray's Inn Road.
His only son, William Frederick Laxton, was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
at the
Middle Temple on 26 January 1854, and died in 1891. Henry Laxton succeeded to his brother's surveying business.
Laxton was the author of ''The Improved Builder's Price Book'', containing upwards of seven thousand prices, also ''The Workman's Prices for Labour only'', 3rd edit. 1878; the previous editions were by Robert Laxton. This work was afterwards continued annually as the ''Builder's Price Book''.
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Laxon, William
1802 births
1854 deaths
People educated at Christ's Hospital
British surveyors