Thomas Meik

Thomas Meik ( – ) was a 19th-century Scottish engineer.

He is particularly associated with ports and railways in Scotland and northern England, Meik fathered two prominent engineering sons: Patrick Meik and Charles Meik. The firm they founded remains active, today part of the Jacobs Engineering Group.

Early career He was born at Easter Duddingston on 20 January 1812, the son of Patrick Meik and his wife, Barbara Scott.

Educated at the High School and University of Edinburgh, Thomas Meik worked for two years with a firm of millwrights named Moodie and was then apprenticed to John Steedman, an engineer and contractor who was working in Glasgow on the Hutcheson Bridge (designed by Robert Stevenson, grandfather of author Robert Louis Stevenson).

He retired in 1888 and died at his home in Newbattle Terrace in Edinburgh in 1896 aged 84, leaving his business in the hands of his sons, Patrick and Charles. He was buried in Duddingston Kirkyard. The grave lies in the south-west corner.

The firm they founded remains active. It was later known as Halcrow Group Limited, taking its name from Sir William Halcrow, who joined the company in the early years of the 20th century; Halcrow was acquired by US firm CH2M Hill in 2011, and in 2017 CH2M was acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group.

Family

He was married to Julia Hunter (1825–1911), daughter of Walter Hunter of Bow in Middlesex.

Their children included Thomas Carsie Meik (1847–1894), Julia (died in infancy), Patrick Walter Meik MICE (1851–1910), Edward (died in childhood), Charles Scott Meik (1853–1923) and Henry Hunter Meik WS (d.1923).