Sir Benjamin Baker: Victorian-Era Civil Engineer (1840-1907)

Sir Benjamin Baker was an English civil engineer who helped develop London's underground railways, worked on the Forth Bridge, and helped design and build the first Aswan dam. He was called as an expert witness after the Tay Rail Bridge disaster in 1880.

Education & Contributions

Baker's engineering education began at age 16 with an apprenticeship at the ironworks Price & Fox in South Wales. His first major project was directing the construction of the London underground from 1862-1898. He worked on Victoria railway station and parts of the London underground network.

Baker worked on the Forth Bridge in Scotland with Sir John Fowler. At the time it was the bridge with the largest span in the world. The Forth Bridge was a cantilever bridge built of 55,000 tons of steel. Hollow steel tubes created the cantilever. About 4,600 workers were employed in the construction of the bridge which opened in 1890. Baker was knighted following the bridge's opening.

The British began construction of the first dam across the Nile River in Egypt in 1898. Baker was involved in the project. The Old Aswan dam had several gates that could be opened each year to allow a flood of water and sediments to pass through. The gates were in the buttress sections of the gravity-buttress dam. At the time it was the largest masonry dam in the world.

Tay Rail Bridge

In 1880, Baker testified against the theory that the Tay Rail Bridge was blown over by the wind. The Tay Rail Bridge is a 2.25-mile-long railway bridge spanning the Firth of Tay in Scotland. It was built in 1871 and replaced a train ferry. Its central spans collapsed in 1879 and a train carrying 75 passengers was lost. In preparation for his testimony Baker surveyed the structures and determined the wind speeds had not been excessive.

Resources:

Structurae - Sir Benjamin Baker

Westminster Abbey - Sir Benjamin Baker

Wikipedia - Aswan Low Dam

Wikipedia - Benjamin Baker (engineer)

Wikipedia - Tay Rail Bridge

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