James Trubshaw

[1][2] His civil engineering works include the construction of the Grosvenor Bridge in Chester, Cheshire, then the longest stone span.

He also pioneered the technique of underexcavation with the straightening the leaning tower of St Chad's in Wybunbury, Cheshire.

[1][2][3] He was educated in Rugeley, but left school aged only eleven to start work in his father's business.

[2] His earliest experience included working on buildings such as Sandon Hall, Fonthill Abbey, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.

[1][3][11] At that date, the 29.3 m tower inclined to the north east by 1.6 m, due to its location on sloping sandy soil with underlying saliferous beds, and it had tilted an average of 12 mm per year since 1790.

"[3]This is the earliest documented application of the technique of underexcavation,[3] which has since been successfully used to stabilise the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mexico City (1993–98)[3][12] and the Leaning Tower of Pisa (1999–2001).

[13] Trubshaw's work accords with modern conservation principles as it was invisible, used the minimum intervention required and could be reversed or repeated if necessary.

Despite the extreme instability of the ground, the straightened tower of St Chad's stood without further intervention for over 150 years; it was restabilised using reinforced concrete foundations in 1989.