Basic Biographical Details Name: | Joseph Mitchell | Designation: | | Born: | 3 November 1803 | Died: | 26 November 1883 | Bio Notes: | Joseph Mitchell was born in Forres on 3 November 1803 (christened 11 November), the son of John Mitchell, a stonemason who was appointed Thomas Telford's Chief Inspector and Superintendent of Highland Roads and Bridges, and Margaret Philip. He gained practical experience as a mason working on the Fort Augustus Locks of Telford's Caledonian Canal, and was then invited by Telford to become his clerk and study engineering. When his father died in 1824, he succeeded to the post of Chief Inspector at the age of only 21. In 1828 he was appointed engineer to the Scottish Board of Fisheries, under the auspices of which he was responsible for the construction of 16 harbours under their harbour building and improvement scheme across Scotland. He had a particular interest in railway construction, and from the late 1830s was involved in surveying the route of new lines and promoting their execution. He engineered the routes of a number of the lines that later formed the Highland Railway, and his line over the Grampians from Dunkeld to Forres is widely considered to be his greatest achievement.
He worked from Inverness and it was there that he married Christian Dunsmure on 27 January 1841. He was a member of the Institution of Structural Engineers and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In 1862 Joseph Mitchell suffered a stroke and in the same year took his assistants, William and Murdoch Paterson, into partnership, the firm being re-named Joseph Mitchell and Company. Mitchell eventually recovered but retired in 1867. The subsequent history of the firm is still unclear but it continued until at least November 1874 when Murdoch Paterson was appointed chief engineer of the Highland Railway.
Joseph Mittchell died on 26 November 1883 in London, leaving estate of £99,524 2s 6d. | Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Inverness, Inverness-shire, Scotland | Business | | | |
Employment and TrainingEmployersThe following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | Joseph Mitchell & Company | 1862 | 1867 | Partner | Mitchell retired 1867 |
Employees or Pupils
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Bell, S P | 1975 | A Biographical Index of British Engineers in the 19th Century | | New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc. | | | DNB | | Dictionary of National Biography | | | | | Mitchell, J | 1883 | Reminiscences of my life in the Highlands | | | | | Pride, Glen L | 1999 | The Kingdom of Fife | 2nd Edition | The Rutland Press | p149 |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Engineering | 1883 | v36 | | pp523-4 - obituary | | Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers | 1884 | LXXVI | | pp362-8 - obituary |
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