Frederick Walter Simms (24 December 1803 – 27 February 1865) 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 ...

. Born in London, Simms suffered from ill-health in his younger years (as his obituary put it, he was "of delicate constitution", and some difficulty was encountered in finding him suitable employment until via the influence of his brother he was despatched to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

as an assistant to the

Ordnance Survey Ordnance Survey (OS) is the national mapping agency for Great Britain. The agency's name indicates its original military purpose (see ordnance and surveying), which was to map Scotland in the wake of the Jacobite rising of 1745. There was a ...

. After leaving Ireland Simms became an astronomical assistant at the Royal Observatory,

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, under

John Pond John Pond FRS (1767 – 7 September 1836) was a renowned English astronomer who became the sixth Astronomer Royal, serving from 1811 to 1835. Biography Pond was born in London and, although the year of his birth is known, the records indica ...

. He resigned his post on 31 October 1835, apparently having hoped to be awarded the post of First Assistant, for which he was "quite incompetent" in the words of

Sir George Biddell Airy Sir George Biddell Airy (; 27 July 18012 January 1892) was an English mathematician and astronomer, and the seventh Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881. His many achievements include work on planetary orbits, measuring the mean density of th ...

. He returned to his former occupation 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 ...

and civil engineer, visiting France with Richard Tappin Claridge,Obituary of Frederick Walter Simms, p.121 who in the 1830s patented the use of Seyssel asphalt in the UK, and later working with Claridge on the introduction of

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

to Britain. The formation in 1838 of Claridge's Patent Asphalte Company (which ceased operating in 1917 ) "gave an enormous impetus to the development of a British asphalt industry". Simms' own efforts included writing a pamphlet promoting the use of Seyssel asphalt, based on an 1836 paper by geologist M. Rozet. In 1836 Simms joined the South Eastern Railway Company as a resident engineer and undertook a considerable number of works, including the construction of the

Bletchingley Bletchingley (historically "Blechingley") is a village in Surrey, England. It is on the A25 road to the east of Redhill and to the west of Godstone, has a conservation area with medieval buildings and is mostly on a wide escarpment of the Gr ...

and Saltwood tunnels. In 1846 the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...

, having decided to construct railways in their territories, proposed to Simms that he become their consulting engineer in India. His health suffered from the climate and he spend some time in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

before returning to duty where, among other work, he supervised a complete survey and mapping of the city of

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, commer ...

which was principally carried out by local assistants. Having completed his engagement with the East India Company Simms returned to England in 1851, his health very much affected by India's climate and thereafter lived in retirement.

Bibliography

* * (cited in Forbes 1958, p. 21). * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simms, Frederick Walter 1803 births 1865 deaths British civil engineers