Thomas Evans Blackwell

Thomas Evans Blackwell (28 July 1819 – 25 June 1863) was an English civil engineer.

Life and career Born in Devizes, Wiltshire, Blackwell was the only son of John Blackwell and Frances Cooper. He was baptised at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Devizes on 1 October 1819.

Blackwell was educated in mathematics by his godfather, Thomas Evans, who was vicar in Froxfield, Wiltshire. In , at the age of 17, Blackwell was employed as an apprentice to the Kennet and Avon Canal Company, a position arranged by his father In 1846, Blackwell petitioned Parliament to extend the Great Western Main Line (from its then-terminus at ) to ; the extension was built and opened the following year. He was later involved with the Severn and Wye Railway and the Lydney Canal, the Glamorganshire Canal, the Stourbridge Canal, and the Market Weighton Canal.

On 12 January 1852, Blackwell took up the role of engineer of the Bristol Docks at a salary of £300 plus allowances. He put forward a proposal for docks at Avonmouth, and worked with James Meadows Rendel to design a railway connecting the docks to the port of Bristol. He also rebuilt Hills Bridge, an 1805 Jessop crossing of the Avon which collapsed after a coke barge collided with a bridge pier —Blackwell's ornamental wrought iron bridge had a span and was completed in a very short time. He suggested he take the role of consulting engineer, and proposed a pay cut from £500 to £200 to allow his then-assistant Thomas Howard to be employed as a local engineer. The committee subsequently employed Blackwell as a consultant, albeit without salary, and Howard as resident and superintending engineer—with a £300 salary. He retired in 1862 before returning to England.

Legacy The Blackwell neighbourhood of Sarnia, Ontario is named after Blackwell. Writing in the 1907 obituary of Blackwell's son Charles, the American Society of Civil Engineers described Thomas as "the first hydraulic engineer in England".

Blackwell preserved watercolour sketches of the Canadian Government's Red River expedition to present-day Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba by William Henry Napier. They are today in Library and Archives Canada in Napier's fonds.

Personal life Blackwell married Ann Buckland in September 1840. They had ten children, at least one of whom died in infancy: Fanny Merriman Blackwell (1841–1929; m. Gilbert Girdwood ) Charles Blackwell (1843–1906) William Blackwell (1844–1920) John Thomas Blackwell (1844–?) Edward Samuel Blackwell (1847–?) Oke Buckland Blackwell (1849–1849) Kennet William Blackwell (1850–1920) Louis Buckland Blackwell (1852–?) George Blackwell (1853–1925) Helen Canadia Mary Louisa Blackwell (1858–1939)

In the 1851 census, the family were living at 65 Great Pulteney Street in Bath, although Thomas was not listed as being present. In 1857 the family emigrated to Canada; their final child (Helen) was born there. The 1861 Canada East census lists the family as residing in a three-storey stone house in Saint-Laurent, Montreal, Canada. Between 1858 and 1862, the family resided at 51 Sherbrooke Street West in the city. Blackwell sent two of his sons—John and Edward—to Rugby School. They enrolled in 1860 and 1861 respectively.

After Blackwell retired due to ill health in 1862, A memorial plaque to Blackwell and his father is in the church at Hungerford, Berkshire, where his parents are buried. It reads:

A number of Blackwell's children—including Fanny, William, Kennet, and George—remained in Canada after their father's return to Britain. Fanny married Gilbert Girdwood at Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal on 9 April 1862.

Published works Blackwell, T.E. (1851). Results of a Series of Experiments on the Discharge of Water by Overfalls, or Weirs. London: Institution of Civil Engineers. Stephenson, R., Coddington, Murray, J., Blackwell, T.E., Hood, Hawksley, Russell, J.S., Hawkshaw, J., Moorsom, W.S., Locke, J., Radford, W., Brooks, W.S., Rendel, J.M., Rowland (1853). Results of a Series of Experiments on the Discharge of Water by Overfalls, or Weirs. London: Institution of Civil Engineers. Blackwell, T.E. (1874). Descriptive Statement of the Great Water Highways of the Dominion of Canada: Hydrology of the Basin of the Gulf and River St Lawrence. Montreal: Dawson Brothers.

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