Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/405

 ERRINGTON, JOHN EDWARD (1806–1862), civil engineer, eldest son of John Errington, was born at Hull 29 Dec. 1806. At an early age he was placed with an engineer officer then conducting extensive public works in Ireland. After a time he became assistant to Mr. Padley in the surveys which he made in the early stages of railways in England. This employment brought him into connection with Mr. Rastick, C.E., by whom he was engaged to help in the preparation of the plans for the Birmingham end of the Grand Junction railway. At this period he first met Joseph Locke [q. v.] When the Grand Junction railway came under the sole direction of Locke, he gave Errington an appointment as resident engineer, and entrusted to him the superintendence of the construction of a portion of the line. After the completion of that railway in 1837, he took charge of the line from Glasgow by Paisley to Greenock, and in 1841 laid out and constructed the harbour works of the latter seaport. In 1843, in conjunction with Locke, he made the plans for the Lancaster and Carlisle railway, the works on which were carried out under his sole charge. He also constructed the Caledonian railway, 1848, the Clydesdale Junction railway, the Scottish Central, the Scottish Midland Junction, and the Aberdeen railway; and he either brought forward or was consulted about the entire system of railways from Lancaster to Inverness. After the commencement of the larger works in Scotland he removed to London, and devoted his attention to the various additions and branches made to the railways constructed under his own and Locke's superintendence. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as an associate in 1831, and became a member 22 Jan. 1839; he was a member of the council in 1850, and a vice-president 1861–2, and bequeathed 1,000l. to the institution. During his career he was engaged in various parliamentary contests, when the conscientious and clear manner in which he gave his evidence had always great weight with the committees. He endeavoured to make railways commercially successful, and at the same time to combine elegance with strength and economy of design. His bridges on the Lancaster and Carlisle and the Caledonian railways, and those across the Thames at Richmond, Kew, and Kingston, show his success. Latterly he was appointed engineer to the London and South-Western Railway Company, and his plan for the line from Yeovil to Exeter was accepted in 1856. The works were immediately commenced, and after great difficulties, owing to the heavy tunnels at Crewkerne and Honiton, the line was opened in 1860. Several branches of this line were also constructed under his direction. After the completion of this work his health failed, and he died at his residence, 6 Pall Mall East, London, 4 July 1862, aged 55, and was buried in Kensal Green cemetery, in close proximity to his friend and associate, Locke.

[Minutes of Proceedings of Institute of Civil Engineers, xxii. 626–9 (1863); Times, 7 July 1862, p. 6.]  ERRINGTON, WILLIAM (1716–1768), catholic divine, born 17 July 1716, was son of Mark Errington, gentleman, of Wiltshire, and his wife Martha (Baker). He was sent to the English college, Douay, in or about 1737, and after his ordination remained in the college for some time as a professor. He then came on the English mission and resided for many years in London with Bishop Challoner [q. v.] At the bishop's request he attempted about 1760 to establish a middle-class boys' school, first in Buckinghamshire and then in Wales, but no record of either of these academies has been preserved. In January 1762 he removed for another trial to Betley, near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Of this school no particulars are known except that he appointed the Rev. John Hurst as the master. Soon afterwards Errington secured a more suitable place for the establishment, and in March 1763 the scholars, twelve in number, were removed to Sedgley Park in the same county. This was the humble beginning of an academy which flourished on the same spot for more than a century, and which became the place of education for many of the catholic clergy, for thousands of catholics in the middle ranks, and for not a few in the higher grades of the laity. The house, usually called in the neighbourhood the Park Hall, was the residence of John, lord Ward, who removed from it soon after he was created Viscount Dudley and Ward in 1763. Lord Ward was assailed in parliament because he had let his house for a ‘popish school,’ but he ably vindicated his conduct. Errington appears to have been chiefly engaged in the general arrangements of the house, and soon after the appointment of the Rev. Hugh Kendall as first president of the school in May 1763, he returned to the mission in London, where he became archdeacon of the chapter and also its treasurer. After his death, which occurred in London on 28 Sept. 1768, his legal representatives being unwilling to take charge of the establishment at Sedgley Park, of which he was the founder and proprietor, solicited Bishop Hornyold, vicar-apostolic of the midland district, to undertake its management. That prelate complied with their request, and