Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt, Civil Engineer (1839–1907)

Abstract

Leveson Francis Vernon-Harcourt was a distinguished civil engineer, who specialized in harbour, dock, river and canal engineering. After gaining a first in Mathematics in 1861 and a first in Natural Sciences in 1862 at Balliol College Oxford, he served his pupilage with Sir John Hawkshaw, who appointed him resident engineer for the new South Dock in East & West India Docks in London in 1866. He was subsequently Superintendent of Works at Braye Harbour and constructed the first pier at Rosslare in Ireland. He moved to a consulting engineering role from 1874 working initially on projects for Sir John Hawkshaw. He developed an extensive independent client list, including the Newport Harbour Commissioners and the Manchester Ship Canal company. He was appointed Professor of Civil Engineering at University College London in 1882, a part-time role he held till 1905. He wrote numerous papers for the Institution of Civil Engineers and five books on his specialist subjects. He played a leading role in organizing and speaking at national and international conferences. He was a pioneer in the use of scale models to assess the impact of training walls in tidal estuaries. He was a British representative on the Suez Canal Works International Consultative Commission.

Keywords:

• East & West India Docks
• Alderney
• University College London
• Newport (Gwent) Harbour
• Southport
• Ouse Navigation
• River Duddon
• Sligo Harbour
• River Hooghly
• Dundrum Bay (Northern Ireland)
• River Orwell
• Poole Harbour

I would like to thank Michael Chrimes and Carol Morgan for their help and assistance in finding relevant papers in the ICE library and archives.