Literator - Journal of Literary Criticism, Comparative Linguistics and Literary Studies L L ISSN: (Online) 2219-8237, (Print) 0258-2279 L Page 1 of 16 Original Research LLL i t e r a t o r James Henry Greathead and the London Underground Author: This article investigates the origins and early history of the device known as the ‘Greathead 1 Laurence Wright Shield’, an important innovation in Victorian engineering crucial to constructing the London Affiliation: Underground. The aim is to explore the basis on which, many years later, a South African 1Unit for Languages and engineer, James Henry Greathead, was accorded prominent public acknowledgment, in the Literature in the South form of a statue, for ‘inventing’ the Shield. From a cultural studies perspective, how is the African Context, North-West meaning of ‘invention’ to be understood, given that several other brilliant engineers were University, South Africa involved? The question is adjudicated using the notion of cultural ‘extelligence’, seen in Corresponding author: relation to several contemporary and historical accounts, including Greathead’s own record of Laurence Wright, his achievements in the proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers and presented in The
[email protected] City and South London Railway (1896), edited by James Forrest. The paper was first delivered at Dates: the conference on ‘Novelty and Innovation in the Nineteenth Century’ held at the North-West Received: 20 July 2016 University in May 2016. Accepted: 05 Apr. 2017 Published: 24 July 2017 How to cite this article: James Henry Greathead en die Londense Moltrein. Die artikel ondersoek die oorsprong en Wright, L., 2017, ‘James vroeë geskiedenis van die toestel genaamd die ‘Greathead Skild’, ‘n belangrike nuwigheid in Henry Greathead and the Viktoriaanse ingenieurwetenskap, wat van deurslaggewende belang was in die konstruksie London Underground’, van die Londense Moltrein.