Charles Cheffins

Charles Frederick Cheffins (10 September 1807 – 22 October 1861) was a British mechanical draughtsman, cartographer, consulting engineer, and surveyor. He was an assistant to John Ericsson and George Stephenson, and surveyed for many British railroad companies in the mid-19th century. He is also known for the 1850 Cheffins' Map of English & Scotch Railways and other maps.

Biography

Cheffins was born in London, where his father was the manager of the New River Waterworks Company and supervised the manufacturing of wooden pipes used to supply water to the metropolis. Young Cheffins was admitted into Christ's Hospital as a scholar in July 1815. He remained there until 1822, diligently pursuing his studies, and received several gold medals for his proficiency in mathematics.

Upon completion of his education, he was apprenticed to Messrs. Newton and Son, patent agents and mechanical draughtsmen, where he became practised in making drawings from specifications and from models of machinery. He remained as an employee with Messrs. Newton and Son for some time after completing his apprenticeship. On the completion of the parliamentary submissions for the Grand Junction Railway, between 1832 and 1833, he set up his own cartographical and drawing business, and spent over two decades working as a surveyor for numerous railroad construction projects in the United Kingdom. In 1838, he published his first Map of the Grand Junction Railway and Adjacent Country; and the next year Cheffins's Official Map of the Railway from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. In 1846, Cheffins commissioned John Cooke Bourne to write the History of the Great Western Railway. Occasionally, Cheffins also published lithographical work by others. In the year 1848, he had been elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers and continued to take interest in all their proceedings. Cheffins died suddenly from internal injuries on 22 October 1861. His death, at the age of fifty-four, was said to have greatly impacted his friends, colleagues, and assistants, who had served under him in the numerous parliamentary campaigns in which he had been engaged – and to many of whom he had shown much kindness in recommending them to posts of trust and responsibility on the Indian Railways. Cheffins gave the following testimony:

Mr. Charles Frederick Cheffins, mechanical draughtsman, saith, that on 27 July 1830, he went to the manufactory of Mr. Galloway, and saw the boiler exhibited by him in operation. There was no vessel containing a column of water attached to the said boiler, but that, on the contrary, there was a considerable quantity of smoke issuing out from the upper extremity of the upright open pipe or chimney (Y). He asked Mr. Galloway, jun., where said column of water was placed, so as to afford resistance to the passage of the heated air? That Mr. Galloway, jun. told him they did not use a column of water to this boiler, but that in order to obtain a resistance they had diminished the area of the upright open pipe or chimney, so that its area should be less than the area of the flue in the boiler (but which area, to the best of the deponent's judgment, was more than thirty square inches; that is to say, the pipe measured five Inches by eight), thereby affecting the desired object. That deponent farther observed, that the ante-chamber or magazine through which the furnace was supplied with fuel was not surrounded by water, as represented in the plaintiffs' specification and drawing. That the deponent considers that the plaintiffs have been enabled to dispense with such contrivance, from the reason that the heated air, instead of being subjected to a considerable pressure at the end of the flues, is suffered to escape freely into the atmosphere through an open pipe or chimney, whose sectional area, to the best of deponent's belief, measures five inches by eight inches. That upon asking Mr. Galloway, jun. how long said boiler had been in operation, he was answered, that it had been in constant work for seven months. That a boiler was shown to deponent constructed with a vessel to contain water, and an upright tube similar to drawing in plaintiffs' specification, but which deponent was informed had only been used for experiments, and that the said boiler was not in operation at the time deponent saw it.

The Lord Chancellor responded: ... with respect to that case of Cochrane and Braithwaite, correct me if I am wrong with respect to those affidavits handed in, which I was to look at, respecting the patent for steam-engines; I do not find that Mr. Galloway carries back the use of the boiler beyond six months... Now the patent of Mr. Braithwaite is one year and a half old, and it is dated in January, 1829; so that this boiler which Mr. Galloway is now showing was, in point of fact, not in use till one year after Mr. Braithwaite's patent was obtained. Under these circumstances, I think the parties ought to be left to try their right at law, and the injunction to be dissolved. It is quite unnecessary for me, in this stale of things, to give any opinion with respect to the patent; but this much, however, I will state, I have read the specification with attention, and the evidence, and it appears to me that the objects of the two patents are different...

Grand Junction Railway In 1831, Cheffins was introduced to railway pioneer George Stephenson by Stephenson's oldest associate and surveyor, a Mr. Padley. After the successful opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Stephenson became prominently involved in numerous other schemes.

Cheffins' first occupation under Stephenson was the preparation of the plans and sections of the projected Grand Junction Railway, which was to connect the towns of Birmingham and Liverpool; and his persevering industry was noticed by, among other eminent engineers, Joseph Locke, Frederick Swanwick, Daniel Gooch.

The structure was being erected at the time of the publication. The building was designed by Philip Hardwick, an architect of St. Katherine's Docks, Goldsmith's Hall, the City Clubhouse, and other buildings. The facade of the railway station would occupy about 300 feet towards Drummond Street, opposite a wide opening into Euston Square. The principal elevation consisted of a Grecian Doric portico, with two antae, and two lodges, one on each side, the latter to house the offices of the company; the spaces between the columns and antae of the portico, and also of the lodges, were enclosed by iron gates. 1837 – Illustrations for the book Scenery in the north of Devon. George Rowe; Charles F. Cheffins; Paul Gauci; George Hawkins; Henry Strong; G. Wilkins. Published by J. Banfield, Ilfracombe. 1844 – Illustrations for Quarterly papers on architecture. : Forty-one engravings, many of which are coloured. by Richard Hamilton Essex; John Richard Jobbins; John Henry Le Keux; Charles F. Cheffins; R Gould; Published by London: Iohan Weale. 1848 – Illustration "Perspective view of machinery in Fulton's Clermont" for Henry Bernoulli Barlow 1848 – Illustrations for A sketch of the origin and progress of steam navigation from authentic documents by Bennet Woodcroft. 1852 – Lithographed illustrations of The Garden Companion and Florists' Guide by Thomas Moore. 1852 – Lithographed London map designed by Benjamin Rees Davies. 1854 – Drawing and publication of the famous map by John Snow that shows the clusters of cholera cases in the London epidemic of 1854.

Railroad surveys On the completion of the parliamentary submissions for the Grand Junction Railway, Cheffins terminated his engagement with Stephenson. Foreseeing that railway schemes were only then in their infancy and that much work might be anticipated, Cheffins devoted himself exclusively to the surveying department of the profession and established himself in London, working independently, while retaining the patronage of those with whom he had been previously associated and adding other names to his list of friends. Robert Stephenson, the son of George, was among the latter, and under his direction and superintendence, Cheffins prepared many of the designs for the construction of the bridges on the London and Birmingham Railway. Cheffins was also engaged by Stephenson on other matters. Their friendship lasted until Stephenson's death, and Cheffins continued to hold him in high regard as someone crucial to his own success. and prepared plans for the proposed line between Sittingbourne and Maidstone. He retired to Kent in 1880, served as a County Councillor there and co-founded the Gillingham Portland Cement Company, of which he became Managing Director. He married a sister of the politician Joseph Craven, and their eleven children included the suffragette Georgina Fanny Cheffins.

George Alexander Cheffins (1835–1863), C. F. Cheffins's second son, married in July 1863 a daughter of Joseph James Forrester, surveyor and cartographer of the Douro valley, but died less than two months later, aged 27.

Selected publications Cheffins published dozens of maps, most of railways. A selection: Charles F. Cheffins. London & Birmingham railway: a plan of the line and adjacent country. London: C. F. Cheffins, 1835. Charles F. Cheffins. London and Birmingham railway: Map of the Railway from London to Box-Moor, and the adjacent Country. London: Charles F. Cheffins, 1 August 1837; 1838 edition with Thomas W. Streeter. Charles F. Cheffins; Thomas W. Streeter. Map of the Grand Junction Railway and adjacent country. 1838 Charles Frederick Cheffins. Cheffins's Official Map of the Railway from London to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool. Wrightson & Webb. 1839 Charles F. Cheffins; North Woolwich Railway. Plan and section of the North Woolwich Railway, in the counties of Essex and Kent. 1844 Charles Frederick Cheffins. Cheffins's map of the railways in Great Britain: from the ordnance surveys. 1845 Charles F. Cheffins. Map of the North Staffordshire lines: deposited with the Clerks of the Peace, Novr. 1845 Charles F. Cheffins. Plans and Sections of the Norwich and Dereham Railway 1845 Charles F. Cheffins. Furness Railway. London: C.F. Cheffins, lithographer, 1846. Charles Frederick Cheffins. Cheffins's Map of English & Scotch Railways: accurately delineating all the lines at present opened; and those which are in progress. Corrected to the present time, the map also shows the main roads throughout the kingdom, with the distances between the towns, forming a complete guide for the traveller and tourist. 1847, 1850 Charles F. Cheffins. Proposed railway from Cairo to the Sea of Suez. London: C.F. Cheffins, 184ff. Charles F. Cheffins. Cheffins's station map of the railways in Great Britain, from authentic sources. London: Charles F. Cheffins and Sons, 1859

Other maps, a selection: Charles Frederick Cheffins. Chart of the Gulf of Mexico, off St. Joseph's Island. R. Hastings, 1841 Charles Frederick Cheffins. A map of the Republic of Texas and the adjacent territories, indicating the grants of land conceded under the Empresario System of Mexico. London: R. Hastings, 1841. Charles Frederick Cheffins; Monroe. Aranzas Bay, as surveyed by Captn. Monroe of the 'Amos Wright{'}. London: R. Hastings, 1841 Benjamin Rees Davies; Charles F. Cheffins; Orr & Compy.; Letts, Son & Co.; J. Cross & Son. London and its environs. London: Charles F. Cheffins. 1854 Charles Frederick Cheffins. Plan of the Manor of Newington Barrow, Otherwise Highbury, in Islington. C.F. Cheffins, Lithr. 1856