Charles Reboul Sacré (4 September 1831 – 3 August 1889) 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 ...

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 limit ...

, Engineer and Superintendent of the Locomotive and Stores Department of the

Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway The Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway (MS&LR) was formed in 1847 when the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway joined with authorised but unbuilt railway companies, forming a proposed network from Manchester to Grimsb ...

Samuel Waite Johnson Samuel Waite Johnson (14 October 1831 – 14 January 1912) was an English railway engineer, and was Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Midland Railway from 1873 to 1903. He was born in Bramley, Yorkshire and educated at Leeds Grammar ...

was his assistant between 1859 and 1864. Sacre retired in 1886 and committed suicide by shooting himself, reputedly due to the

Penistone rail crash Over the latter years of the 19th and early years of the 20th centuries, Penistone in Yorkshire gained a name as an accident black-spot on Britain's railway network; indeed, it could be said to hold the title of the worst accident black-spot ...

of 1884.

Early life

Charles Sacre was one of thirteen children born to John Joseph Berlot de Sacre. The family was of

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

origin. He was articled to Archibald Sturrock at the Great Northern Railway works at

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, Lincolnshire in 1846, and upon the completion of the

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

, he was appointed Assistant Locomotive Superintendent at

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. (This was an out-station of the new central workshop at

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, which opened in 1853.)

Career at the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

In 1858, he was appointed Chief Engineer and Locomotive Engineer of the

, commencing work at their

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hig ...

works on 1 April 1859. His employees found him a friendly and approachable man, and he became popular with the work force. He was responsible for an outstanding series of double framed 0-6-0 goods engines, the largest of which were a class of sixty built in 1880-5. For the fast expresses that were being introduced on the Cheshire Lines Railway, he designed a massive outside cylinder 2-2-2 with 7 ft. 6ins. (2.286 metre) driving wheels. Another successful design was an inside cylinder 4-4-0 with double frames. Several of the 0-6-0 and 4-4-0 locomotives lasted in service until the 1920s. In the realm of civil engineering, he suggested extending the then main line by a tunnel under the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between t ...

to Hull, but this brought him into conflict with

Edward Watkin Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil his b ...

, the Company Chairman.

The Penistone Accident

Sacre was deeply affected by the

, which happened on 16 July 1884. This was caused by the breaking of the crank-axle of No. 434, a 4-4-0 locomotive, and resulted in nineteen deaths (including

Massey Bromley Massey Bromley was the English Chief Mechanical Engineer of the Great Eastern Railway in 1878–81. During that brief period he established the Stratford Works in East London as the place where most of the Great Eastern's locomotives were bui ...

, the Locomotive Superintendent of the Great Eastern Railway and a close friend of Sacre). Although no blame could possibly be attached to Sacre, he felt responsible, partly because he had given in to pressure from Watkin to adopt the Smith non-automatic brake. In 1885 he decided to retire at the early age of 53, though he agreed to continue to act as a consultant to the railway. However, he gradually lost the will to live. On 3 August 1889, he shot himself with a revolver.

Professional life

He became a Member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 1859, and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1867.

External links

bio of Sacre

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sacre, Charles 1831 births 1889 deaths English engineers British mechanical engineers Locomotive builders and designers Suicides by firearm in England Great Central Railway people 1880s suicides Burials at Southern Cemetery, Manchester

Early life

Career at the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway

The Penistone Accident

Professional life

Further reading

External links