William Hoof (c.1788-1855) was a British civil engineer. He began his career with Daniel Pritchard and later became his son-in-law. In the 1820s, they founded Pritchard and Hoof, who specialised in building canal tunnels, including some of the most important of the era. Pritchard and Hoof were the contractor for the construction of the reservoirs of the

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from 1829-34. They were the contractors for the

Wigan Branch Railway The Wigan Branch Railway was an early British railway company operating in Lancashire. It was constructed to link the Wigan coalfield to the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&MR). Background The Wigan Branch Railway obtained an Act of Parlia ...

constructed in 1830-32. In the 1830s, Pritchard and Hoof split, and Hoof changed to building railway tunnels and cuttings, as Hoof and Sons. When his eldest son James died, this became Hoof and Hill, working with Thomas and James Hill, where work included the "notoriously difficult" London-Croydon railway. On 11 August 1855, Hoof died at home, Madeley House, Kensington, London, of

apoplexy Apoplexy () is rupture of an internal organ and the accompanying symptoms. The term formerly referred to what is now called a stroke. Nowadays, health care professionals do not use the term, but instead specify the anatomic location of the bleedi ...

. He was survived by four of his children, Egmont, Alfred, Mary Ann and Fanny Elizabeth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoof, William 1788 births 1855 deaths British civil engineers