Charles Atherton (civil engineer)

[4] Atherton attended Queens' College, Cambridge from the age of nineteen and undertook a four-year course fit for the engineering profession.

[7] However, in 1834, he resigned from his appointment under the Trustees of the River Clyde, to take on the management of the old-established business of Claude Girdwood and Co, iron founders and engineers, in Glasgow, where he remained until 1837.

He was responsible for several marine engines, notably for the steamer RMS Don Juan, being constructed in Liverpool for the Peninsular Steam Company.

[9] Thereafter, he relocated to North America, and was engaged for two years under the Canadian Colonial Government, conducting operations for the improvement of the navigation of the St. Lawrence River, along with deepening of the Lachine Canal,[10] to allow heavier ships to pass through, since hydraulic power was introduced to the industries located on its banks.

In the preceding decade the dockyard had found a new lease of life as a specialist yard for marine steam engineering (a relatively new technology which was being developed commercially at nearby Millwall).

Immediately prior to Atherton’s tenure, new buildings were constructed for steam manufacturing and maintenance, including a boiler shop for manufacturing boilers, foundries for brass, copper and iron work, and an erecting shop for assembling the steam engines; by 1843 all had been integrated into a single factory complex, with a single large chimney drawing on all the various forges and furnaces by way of underground flues.

[1] Records show that his recommendations in 1847 were proposed to George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland and subsequently endorsed, making way for expansion in build capacity and use of new technology at the dockyard.

The screw propeller submitted by a Mr. B Woodcroft was slightly altered on the suggestion of Atherton, in his capacity as chief engineer and inspector of steam machinery at the dockyard.

[30] His influence on improving safety of all types of ships – mercantile, passenger and Royal Navy – has been significant and will have saved multiple lives by way of a reduction in the risk of accidents, often arising from gross negligence and human error.

[31] During his lifetime, the Officers of the Board of Trade had a duty of surveying passenger steamers periodically and reporting that the "Hull & Machinery" of the vessel was safe before issuing a Certificate or License.

He was a frequent attendant at the meetings of this Institution, and used it as a platform for enforcing his views on the subject he had most at heart; the improvement of the marine steam engine.

In 1870, Atherton retired to Sandown in the Isle of Wight, where he passed the last five years of his life in seclusion, his chief recreations being the care of an orchard-house, and taking astronomical observations with a 3-inch telescope.