Edward James Reed

"Naval Construction". Caricature by Ape published in Vanity Fair in 1875 Sir Edward James Reed, KCB, FRS (20 September 1830 – 30 November 1906) was an English naval architect, author, politician, and railroad magnate. He was the Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy from 1863 until 1870. He was a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1906.

Early life Edward Reed was born in Sheerness, Kent and was the son of John and Elizabeth Reed. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1876. He was also a Knight Commander of the Imperial Russian Order of St Stanislus, a Knight of the Austrian Order of Franz Joseph, and of the Turkish Order of the Medjidie.

Founder's share of the Channel Tubular Railway Preliminary Company, issued 19. May 1892, signed by Edward James Reed At Reed's suggestion, the Channel Tubular Railway Preliminary Company was founded in London in 1892, a company with a capital of £40,000, whose capital was to be raised through the issue of 250,000 Parts de Fondateurs. The company, led by Reed, planned the construction of a railway tunnel through the English Channel, which would allow travelers to reach their destination faster than would be possible with a boat crossing. The project failed due to political considerations.

Parliamentary career At the 1874 general election Reed was elected as Liberal member of parliament for Pembroke.

Reed visited Japan in 1879 at the invitation of the Imperial Government. Ostensibly Reed was there to oversee the delivery of three new British built iron-clad warships, Fusō, Kongō, and Hiei for the Imperial Japanese Navy. Given the ostentatious entertainment provided by his Japanese hosts over a period of three months, there were also inevitable political considerations; Japan was actively seeking revision of unequal trade agreements and was eager to develop influence with prominent Liberal members of the House of Commons. On his return to London, Reed wrote a sympathetic history of the country published to some success the following year.

At the next General Election in 1880 he was elected as member for Cardiff. In 1886, he was appointed Lord of the Treasury in Gladstone's third ministry.

In 1882, Reed acquired the Jacksonville, Pensacola and Mobile Railroad (JP&M), which ran from Quincy east through Tallahassee to Lake City, and its subsidiary, the Florida Central Railroad, which ran east from Lake City to Jacksonville. Reed reorganized both the JP&M and the Florida Central as the Florida Central and Western Railroad. His son Edward Tennyson Reed became the political caricaturist of Punch magazine.

Works Notable works include Shipbuilding in Iron and Steel (1868) Our Ironclad Ships, their Qualities, Performance and Cost (1869) Japan: its History, Traditions, and Religions, with the Narrative of a Visit in 1879 Two volumes. London, J. Murray (1880) Treatise on the stability of ships (1884) Modern ships of war (1888) at Project Gutenberg