Obituary. Charles Greaves, 1816-1883

CHARLESGREAVES. 355 OBITUL4RYNOTICES. CHARLES GREAVES was born at Amwell, in Hertfordshire, on the 19th of October, 1816. He wasthe eldest son of Charles Greaves,formerly of St.Paul’s Churchyard, London, and Char- lotteMylne, daughter of RobertMylne theeminent architect, who designed old Blackfriars Bridge, and for nearly fifty years held the post of architect and surveyor to St. Paul’s Cathedral, aswell as being Resident Engineer to the NewRiver Water- works for the same period. Nr. Greaves’s early years were spent on Dartmoor, thence he went to the school of the well-known Dr. Mapat Cheam, in 1824.Remaining there for about two years, he returned to his family, who had removed to Devonport, andthere he entered the Classical andMathematical School, that llad recently come under the rule of his father’s cousin, the Rev. Henry Addington Greaves. Ilis career at school was not markedby any specialbrilliancy, butrather by steady perse- verance and unflagging industry. When only thirteen years of age, young Greaves’s father died very suddenly, and the boy, the eldest of a family of six children, at once grasped the idea that hisfirst duty was to be a stay andcomfort to his widowed mother, andfor upwards of thirty years,notwithstanding the cares and anxieties of a busy, active life, he was unremitting in hisattention and considerationfor her. He wasarticled to Mr. J. M. Rendel, Past-President Inst. C.E., at Plymouth, on the 2nd of September, 1831. Thelate Mr. Nathaniel Beardmore, M. Inst. C.E., and Sir John Coode, M. Inst. C.E., who had been schoolfellows with Greaves,were also fellow-pupils with him. He was fond of carpentering, and had a room at home fitted up as a carpenter’s workshop, will1 lathe,&C., and here the trio spent many an hour makingmodels of railways and bridges, and studying astronomy. Mr. Rendclhad an extensive practice, and whilst servinghis articles Greavesgained considerable experience in various parts of the country, especially with reference to floating bridges, those employed to cross the River Tamar Laving been designed by Mr. Rendel at this time. He was also engaged in making surveys of the River Severn at Newnharn for the Severn Ferries. At the expiration of his pupilage, in 1837, Mr. Greaves wasfor a shorttime employed inthe officeof hisuncle, Mr. William Chadwell Mylne, 31. Inst. C.E., at the New River Head, 7 242 Downloaded by [] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 356 CHARLES GREAVES. rMemoiw. but within a year he returned to his old master, and remained withhim superintending various engineering projects in Stam- ford, Sunderland, and Foole, and malring surveys of thc Severn, near Newnham, for theSevern Ferries. In 1830-41 he was principally engaged inthe construction of floating-bridgesfor Portsmouth and India. The removal of the bridges from Bristol was worka of difficulty anddanger. Those constructedfor Portsmouth met with a terrific gale whilst being towed round to Portsmouth,and mere ingreat peril. In 1841 Xr. Greaves was enlployed at the works of Messrs. Acramen and Norgan, Bristol, on the construction of floating-bridges for theRiver Hooghly, and in January 1842 he left England for Calcutta to superintend their erection ; butthis cnter1)rise wasnot carried outowing to certain questions that arose respecting pruperty. He remained in India for up-arch of five years,mostly engagedin malring observations andpreparing schemes, andwas for some time engineering superintendent of the Stealil-Tug Company, for whom hebuilt a factory at Garden Reach, wherehe resided until 1846. He was then employed in making a survey for the Great WesternRailway of Bengal,which was successfully concluded, andsubsequently adol>ted bythe present East India Railway Company. Mr. Greaves, however, left India in 1547, and returned to England, and for a short period held the post of Engineer to the Metropolitan Sewage-Manure Company, andwas employed by Nr. Mylne in making a survey of the New River. In 1861, upon the retirement of Mr, Wicksteed, M. Inst. C.E., from the post of Engineer to the East London Waterworks, then a conz- paratively small undertaking, Mr. Greaves was appointed as his successor. He forthwith threw his whole energy into his work, and found that his duties were exceptionally heavy ; but this only nerved him to cope with them in the effective manner which was habitual to him, whatenx thework that came to his hand. About this time the East London Chnpany’s principal pumping-station was situated atOld Ford, Bow, and consisted mostly of two single- acting engines called the “Twins,” and the open reservoirs and basins on both sides of the River Lee. The enormous growth of population and houses in the East London district demanded an increased supply of water,and Mr. Greaves at once proceeded to erect additional engine-pomer. The Cornish engine at the Old Ford Works was, it is believed, one of the first pumping-engines fittedwith the double-beatvalve. The Cornish and Wicksteed enginesbeing unable to cope withthe increaseddemands for water for the district, reserve power had to be considered, resulting Downloaded by [] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. Memoirs.] CHARLES GREAVES. 357 in the erection of the “Ajax” 72-inch cylinder, and the “Hercules” 85-inch, makingaltogether, with the old works, atotal of six pumping-engines at Old Ford station. The population and growth of the East of London still progressing at arapid rate caused Mr. Greaves to turn his attention to the supply of new filtering works, which should be further removed from the polluting and contaminating influences of populated districtsfurther up the valley of the Lee, and on land that would admit of greater exten- sion of steam-power whenrequired. Filter-beds had been constructed at Lee Bridge, and a large Cornish engine of 100-inch cylinder, called the “ Victoria,” witha campanile andstand- pipe, had been erected, and a 42-inch main had been laid between Lee Bridge filter-beds and the Old Ford filtered-water basins ; but these were not sufficient to cope with the increased supply demanded by the Company. The sometimes foul state of the River Lee, caused by flood-water, caused considerable anxietyto the directors atthe time. Ultimately the Walthamstow reservoirs wereconstructed witha canal across theintervening marsh to Lee Eridge, and afterwards the Chingford culvert and the large “ 3Iaynarcl” reservoirswere added to the system. The ultimate addition of the race-coursereservoir perfected the fine series of impounding reservoirs in the valley of the Lee, which, with their well-kept islands, present a picturesqueappearance, and form a most important addition to the storage requirements of the Com- pany. Fiuding it expedient that the ‘&Victoria ” Cornish engine at Lee Bridge should have further augmentation,Mr. Greaves re- commended additional engine-power, and he subsequently erectcd the “Prince” and “Princess”engines, having cylindersof 85 inches diameter, together with additionalfilter-beds and the engino-house, which forms a bold object on the side of the Lee Bridge Road. In consequence of the small volume of water and state of the Lee during dry summers, Mr. Greaves advised the Company to seek powers in Parliament to obtain a supply of water from the River Thames, which were granted in 1867. Thepumping-station at Hanworth,Niddlesex, with its threc Cornishengines, engine- house, and campanile, was then constructed, in conjunction with a set of filter-beds, anda %-inch main some 18 miles long, bringing the water to a service-reservoir at Finsbury Park ; and, atthe same timc, thc Company erected atSunbury a A paper on the “ Victoria ” engine by Mr. Grenws was rend before the Institu- tion of Meellanical Engineers, see Proceedings, for 1SG2, “ On the Relations of Power and Effect iu Cornish Pumping-Engines over lmg periods of working.” Downloaded by [] on [12/09/16]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved. 358 C.EARLE8 GREAVES. [Memoirs. pair of Bull ” enginesfor raising the water from the Thames intake to the filtering and pumping-station at Hanworth. Within five years of his appointment as Engineer Mr. Greaves received the special thanks of the Directors of the East London Waterworks Company, and ahandsome gratuity for theable manner in which he had superintended the outlay of upwards of ~300,000in new works, &c. ;” and in10ctober 1873 a gratuity of S1,OOO was presented to him “in recognition of his valuable ser- vices, he having during a period of twenty-one years, devised and carried out works at an expenditure of upwards of S1,000,000 ; the works having been well designed, and executed in a substantial and permanent manner, and with ananxious regard to economy.” In addition to his dutiesas Engineer Mr. Greaves was frequently employed as an arbitrator on water-questions. He was exanlined as a witness before the “Select Committee on the 3Eetropolitan Fire Brigade” in 1877, and gave evidence in reference to the East London Waterworks Company and their distributory works, this evidence showing the Company’s ability to meet the question of fires in their district. Mr. Greaves always advocated strongly the introduction of constant water-supply, and to him the EastLondon Waterworks Company are, in a great measure, indebted for the energetic manner in which this system was carried out in their district. He largely contributed to the present advanced state to which the constant-supply system has been brought. He was a very hard worker; his whole mind was for many years continuously directedto thc interests of his Company. It is the opinion of those who knew him intimately that there are few engineers in this country who so thoroughly understood pumping-engines and everyappliance connected withwater-supply. He let no detail of the works or management escape him, but always carefully regulated and directed every department himself.

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