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Basic Biographic Details

(Sir) John Benjamin MacNeill
Engineer
OR (2 Years Selected)
1792
1793
Exact Date
03/02/1880
Sir John Benjamin MacNeill was born in 1792 or 1793 in County Louth, Ireland. He began his career as a surveyor but on meeting Thomas Telford during a visit to England in 1820, he was inspired to become a civil engineer. He worked as Telford's chief assistant for ten years, and established his own consultancy following Telford's death in 1834, practising in London and Glasgow. He became an eminent engineer in his own right, principally involved in railway work. In the late 1830s and early 1840s he focused on work in his native Ireland, and he became a noted teacher, being appointed first Professor of the Practice of Engineering at Trinity College Dublin. At the end of his life he returned to London, dying blind and impoverished at his son's house in Cromwell Road, south-west London on 2 March 1880.

Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this person:

Private Addresses

Private Addresses2 classic

AddressClassDate From CharDate From TypeDate To CharDate To TypeNotes
London EnglandPrivate

Business Addresses

Business Addresses2 classic

AddressClassDate From Date From TypeDate ToDate To TypeNotes
London EnglandBusiness
Glasgow ScotlandBusiness
EireBusiness

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this person (click on an item to view details):

Employees or Pupils2 classic

NameName LinkDate FromDate ToPositionNotes
Duncan MacFarlane202560Before 1868Before 1868Apprentice

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this person:

Bib ref classic

AuthorTitleDatePublisherPartNotes
Fleming, DiarmaidMacneill: remembering engineering's forgotton hero2001'New Civil Engineer' magazine, London, 19 July 2001, pp24-5