Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/15

 TELFORD, THOMAS (1757–1834), engineer, was born on 9 Aug. 1757 at Westerkirk, a secluded hamlet of Eskdale, in Eastern Dumfriesshire. He lost his father, a shepherd, a few months after his birth, and was left to the care of his mother, who earned a scanty living by occasional farm work. When he was old enough he herded cattle and made himself generally useful to the neighbouring farmers, and grew up so cheerful a boy that he was known as ‘Laughing Tam.’ At intervals he attended the parish school of Westerkirk, where he learned nothing more than the three R's. He was about fifteen when he was apprenticed to a mason at Langholm, where a new Duke of Buccleuch was improving the houses and holdings of his tenantry, and Telford found much and varied work for his hands to do. His industry, intelligence, and love of reading attracted the notice of a Langholm lady, who made him free of her little library, and thus was fostered a love of literature which continued with him to the end of his busy life. ‘Paradise Lost’ and Burns's ‘Poems’ were among his favourite books, and from reading verse he took to writing it. His apprenticeship was over, and he was working as a journeyman mason at eighteenpence a day, when at two-and-twenty he found his rhymes admitted into Ruddiman's ‘Edinburgh Magazine’ (see, Siller Gun, ed. 1836, p. 227). A poetical address to Burns entreating him to write more verse in the spirit of the ‘Cotter's Saturday Night’ was found among Burns's papers after his death, and a portion of it was published in the first edition of Currie's ‘Burns’ (1800, App. ii. note D). The most ambitious of Telford's early metrical performances was ‘Eskdale,’ a poem descriptive of his native district, which was first published in the ‘Poetical Museum’ (Hawick, 1784), and was reprinted by Telford himself with a few additions, and for private circulation, some forty years afterwards. Southey said of it, ‘Many poems which evinced less observation, less feeling, and were in all respects of less promise, have obtained university prizes.’

Having learned in the way of his trade all that was to be learned in Eskdale, Telford removed in 1780 to Edinburgh, where the new town was in course of being built, and, skilled masons being in demand, he easily found suitable employment. He availed himself of the opportunities which his stay afforded him for studying and sketching specimens of the older architecture of Scotland. After spending two years in Edinburgh he resolved on trying his fortune in London, whither he proceeded at the age of twenty-five. His first employment was as a hewer at Somerset House, then in course of erection by Sir William Chambers. Two years later, in 1784, Telford received a commission (it is not known how procured) to superintend the erection, among other buildings, of a house for the occupation of the commissioner of Portsmouth dockyard. Here he had opportunities, which he did not neglect, for watching dockyard operations of various kinds, by a knowledge of which he profited in after life. His work in his own department gave great satisfaction. He amused his leisure by writing verses, and he improved it by studying chemistry. By the end of 1786 his task was completed, and now a new and wider career was opened to him.

One of Telford's Dumfriesshire acquaintances and patrons was a Mr. Johnstone of Westerhall, who assumed the name of Pulteney on marrying a great heiress, the niece of William Pulteney, earl of Bath [q. v.] Before Telford left London for Portsmouth Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Pulteney had consulted him respecting some repairs to be executed in the family mansion at Westerhall, and took a great liking to his young countryman. Pulteney became through his wife a large landowner in the neighbourhood of Shrewsbury, which he long represented in parliament. When Telford's employment at Portsmouth came to an end, Pulteney thought of fitting up the castle at Shrewsbury as a residence, and invited Telford to Shrewsbury to superintend the required alterations. Telford accepted the invitation, and while he was working at the alterations the office of surveyor of public works for Shropshire became vacant. The appointment was bestowed on Telford, doubtless through the influence of Pulteney. Of Telford's multifarious, important, and trying duties in this responsible and conspicuous position, it must suffice to say that he discharged them most successfully and made himself personally popular, so much so that in 1793, without solicitation on his part, he was appointed by the Shropshire county magnates sole agent, engineer, and architect of the Ellesmere canal, projected to connect the Mersey, the Dee, and the Severn. It was the greatest work of the kind then in course of being undertaken in the United Kingdom. On accepting the appointment Telford resigned the county surveyorship of Shropshire. His salary as engineer of the Ellesmere canal was only 500l. a year, and out of this he had to pay a clerk, a foreman, and his own travelling expenses.

The labours of Telford as engineer of the