John Wolfe Barry

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "John Wolfe Barry" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Sir John Wolfe Barry

Early career

Wolfe Barry was educated at

However, it was Tower Bridge that made Wolfe Barry's name. In 1878, architect Horace Jones first proposed a bascule bridge. An Act of Parliament allowing the Corporation of the City of London to build it was passed in 1885. Jones was appointed architect, and developed an initial scheme for which he was knighted in 1886. Wolfe Barry, already well-established with experience of bridges across the Thames, was introduced as the engineer for the project and with Henry Marc Brunel redesigned the mechanisms resulting in a modified plan. Within a month of construction starting Sir Horace Jones died, leaving Wolfe Barry and Brunel to oversee and complete the works. The bridge was completed in 1894.

Other projects

His other projects included:

• Cannon Street Railway Bridge
  (also known as the Alexandra Bridge) (1866)
• Blackfriars Railway Bridge (also known as St Paul's Bridge), London (1886)

In 1891, he entered into partnership with his nephew Lt. Col. Arthur John Barry^[1] and the partnership's projects included:

• Barry Docks (not a namesake) near Cardiff, south Wales
• District line of the London Underground (with Sir John Hawkshaw)
• Pumping stations on the Regent's Canal, north London
• Kew Bridge, west London (1903)
• Expansion of Greenland Dock, Surrey Docks (now Surrey Quays), south-east London (1904)
• Immingham Dock
  (1912)
• Joint Dock, Kingston upon Hull (1914), with Benjamin Baker
  .)
• No.3 Fish Dock
  , Grimsby (1934)

Wolfe Barry was a recognised industry leader (he was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1896,^[2] knighted in 1897, and served on several Royal Commissions).

He also played a prominent role in the development of industry standardisation, urging the ICE's Council to form a committee to focus on standards for iron and steel sections. Two members each from the ICE, the

Late career

He was elected a

He was chairman of Cable and Wireless from 1900 to 1917. In 1902 he joined the consulting firm of Robert White & Partners, which was renamed Wolfe Barry, Robert White & Partners (later, in 1946, renamed Sir Bruce White, Wolfe Barry and Partners).

Personal life

He had married Rosalind Grace, the daughter of Rev Evan Edward Rowsell of Hambledon, Surrey. They had four sons and three daughters. In 1922 a memorial window designed by Sir John Ninian Comper^[5] was dedicated to his memory in the nave of Westminster Abbey.^[6]

He added the name Wolfe to his forename after receiving an inheritance from his godfather, the architect John Lewis Wolfe (1798–1881).^[7]

Wolfe Barry published the results of an investigation into his family's genealogy in 1906.^[8]

Wolfe Barry died in January 1918, and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery near Woking in Surrey.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Wolfe-Barry.

• Robert C. McWilliam, Barry, Sir John Wolfe (1836–1918),
  Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  , 2004 (Subscription required)
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Barry, Sir Charles" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. This article on his father contains a paragraph describing John Wolfe Barry's career.
• Sir John Wolfe Barry, biography at the Tower Bridge Restoration website

Professional and academic associations
Preceded by Benjamin Baker	President of the Institution of Civil Engineers June 1896 – April 1898	Succeeded by William Henry Preece