Edward Betts

Edward Ladd Betts (5 June 1815 – 21 January 1872) was an English civil engineering contractor who was mainly involved in the building of railways.

Early life Edward Betts was born at Buckland, near Dover, son of William Betts (1790–1867), a successful contractor's agent and railway contractor.

He was apprenticed to a builder at Lincoln. However, becoming more interested in engineering, he then worked as agent for Hugh McIntosh building the Black Rock lighthouse at Beaumaris, Anglesey.

Railway contractor Edward Betts's first railway undertaking was to supervise the building of the Dutton Viaduct on the Grand Junction Railway for Hugh McIntosh under George Stephenson as engineer. After the death of McIntosh in 1840, William Betts & Sons—the family firm now named for Edward and his father—gained contracts on the South Eastern Railway for stretches that included the Marsden-Ashford line, Maidstone Branch, and the Saltwood tunnel. They also obtained large contracts on behalf of David McIntosh for the Midlands County Railway, whereby the Betts family relocated to Leicester, and for the Manchester-Birmingham Railway. After that, Betts continued to gain contracts, especially in the Chester area.

Domestic and civil In 1843, Betts married Ann Peto (19 September 1820 – 23 January 1908 ), the sister of Samuel Morton Peto. Both are interred in the family vault in the churchyard of St Peter and St Paul's Parish Church, Aylesford. Their children were: Edward Peto Betts (born 1845) sometimes referred to as Edward Ladd Betts. Elizabeth Peto Betts (22 October 1846 — 1 March 1940 ) was ordained as a Church of England minister and officiated at the weddings of his siblings Morton and Ann. Percy Campbell Betts (b. 7 January 1856 – 14 October 1878 Interred in the family vault at Aylesford. Herbert Peto Betts (born 1857) was ordained as a Church of England minister and officiated at his sister Ann's wedding. Ann Gertrude Betts (born 1858)

Around 1850 Betts bought a 'palatial residence', Preston Hall near Aylesford in Kent, and had it rebuilt in a Jacobean style, where he employed a staff of 18. Also in the 1850s, he acquired a London home at 29 Tavistock Square where he employed a further 8 servants and by 1860 he had moved to Great George Street, Westminster. In 1858, already a magistrate and a Deputy Lieutenant, he became High Sheriff of Kent. In the general election of 1865, he contested the Maidstone seat as a Conservative but was unsuccessful. and therefore the shares they had been paid in became worthless. They were unable to pay their creditors and became insolvent in the following year.

Only minor works were to follow for Betts; small alterations to the Metropolitan Railway and an abortive attempt to improve the navigation of the River Danube.

Later life After his bankruptcy, Betts was forced to sell Preston Hall (to his friend, Thomas Brassey) and moved to The Holmwood, Bickley Park, near Bromley, Kent "... where he could still maintain a carriage." For the sake of his health he was sent by his doctors to Egypt in 1871 but he died the following year in Aswan. His estate was valued at less than £16,000.