Thomas Brassey

British railroad and construction contractor

• Born: November 7, 1805
• Birthplace: Buerton, Cheshire, England
• Died: December 8, 1870
• Place of death: Hastings, Sussex, England

Brassey’s wealth came from his large contracting business, which built railroads, docks, bridges, and ports. He took advantage of the rapid development of railroads in the mid-nineteenth century, bringing to their construction a high degree of business integrity and engineering skill.

Sources of wealth: Construction business; railroads

Bequeathal of wealth: Children

Early Life

Thomas Brassey (BRAS-see) was the son of John Brassey, a long-established Cheshire farmer, living just south of Chester. Home-schooled at first, Thomas was then sent to a school in the city of Chester for four years. His father then apprenticed him to William Lawton, a land surveyor who was primarily employed by a Welsh landowner, Francis Price.

Brassey did so well that Lawton took him into partnership and in 1826 placed him in charge of a new business in Birkenhead, Cheshire. This little community was involved in the development of Liverpool as Great Britain’s major port and was soon thriving. Brassey helped develop nearby brickworks and quarries. When Lawton died, Brassey took over the business and also became Price’s land agent. In December, 1831, he married Maria Harrison, who encouraged him to move into railroad contracting.

First Ventures

Brassey’s first venture into contracting was the building of a four-mile stretch of road leading to Birkenhead. Through this project, in 1834 he met George Stephenson, a leading railroad engineer, who persuaded Brassey to bid for the construction of the Dutton Viaduct on the Grand Junction Railway, one of the first long-distance railroads in Britain. Although unsuccessful in this bid, Brassey was awarded the contract for the Penkridge Viaduct on the same line in 1835.

After completing this project, he was asked to bid on additional contracts for the railway. He moved his family to Stafford and then to London in 1836 to facilitate these contracts. He worked with Stephenson and then with Stephenson’s engineering pupil, Joseph Locke. Brassey also made successful bids for stretches of other early railroad lines in Cheshire, Yorkshire, and Scotland.

Mature Wealth

Meanwhile, other European countries were moving into railroad construction. Locke was appointed engineer on the new Rouen-Paris line, and in 1841 he invited Brassey to bid for it. Brassey worked with another British contractor, Sir William Mackenzie, on this rail line, thereby setting a precedent of being willing to work with other contractors. Between 1841 and 1844, Brassey and Mackenzie built 437 miles of French railways. In 1846, one of Brassey’s viaducts at Barentin collapsed. Brassey rebuilt the viaduct at his own expense. The 1848 revolution in France forced Brassey to look elsewhere for work.

Great Britain was now in the midst of a railway mania, and work was readily available back home. By the time the mania subsided in the early 1850’s, it was estimated that Brassey had been involved in the construction of more than one-third of all the railroads built during the decade, his largest undertaking being the Great Northern Railway, for which Brassey employed between five and six thousand laborers, or “navvies.”

Between 1850 and 1870, Brassey took on multiple contracts throughout Europe, Canada, Argentina, India, and Australia. He later diversified into the construction of docks, sewerage systems, and ships. For these projects he set up his own building works just outside Birkenhead.

In 1867, failure of a railroad over Mont Cenis caused him much stress and a breakdown. Although he insisted on resuming his labors, his health could not withstand the pace, and he suffered a stroke in 1868. He died from a brain hemorrhage two years later, leaving some $20 million in assets and funds.

Legacy

Thomas Brassey’s outstanding legacy was the huge network of railroads he established all over the world. All of these railways were built to the highest standard. He had gained a reputation for total integrity, which extended to the welfare of his workers. He had superb business acumen, as well as an eye for selecting deserving men to whom he could delegate work. Many of his subordinates were able to earn their own fortunes.

However, none of his three sons followed him into the business, choosing instead to enter politics, in which they all became members of Parliament. His oldest son was made a baron and wrote a book on his father’s business theory. In his biography of Brassey, Sir Arthur Helps praises Brassey for being the best type of self-made man that industrial Britain had produced.

Bibliography

Haynes, Douglas. “The Life and Work of Thomas Brassey.” Cheshire History 45 (2006): 57-66.

Helps, Sir Arthur. The Life and Works of Mr Brassey. 1872. Reprint. Stroud, England: Nonsuch Press, 2006.

Stacey, Tom. Thomas Brassey: The Greatest Railway Builder in the World. London: Stacey International, 2005.

Walker, Charles. Thomas Brassey: Railway Builder. London: Frederick Muller, 1969.