Thomas A. Walker

He worked on major infrastructure projects in the latter half of the 19th century, including the Severn Tunnel, the Manchester Ship canal, and the London District Railway.

In 1852 he and his younger brother Charles sailed to Canada with their father where the three had been offered work by Thomas Brassey on the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway.

In 1865 he was offered, and accepted, the management of the construction of the Metropolitan District Railway in London on behalf of the three firms of contractors jointly responsible for that work.

When he began work on the project he had already accumulated considerable experience in railway survey and construction throughout Canada, Russia, Egypt and England.

Delays in the granting of Parliamentary approval for increased borrowing powers meant that construction work was halted in July 1888.

In January 1886 the company`s board approved significant variations to the scope of the works under the dock contract, which added some 150,000 pounds to the projected cost and a delay in the prescribed completion date.

[2] Construction was completed in 1897, the work having been continued after Walker`s death by his executors under powers obtained through a series of three private Acts of the British parliament.

Walker was engaged as the sole contractor in charge of the construction in 1887, with the cutting of the first sod ceremony conducted on 11 November 1887.

Walker died of Bright's disease at Mount Ballan House in Caerwent, Monmouthshire, on 25 November 1889, the home he had bought while undertaking work on the Severn Tunnel.

His nephew, and son-in-law Charles Hay Walker, of Falkland Park, South Norwood was also a civil engineer and public works contractor.

[10] Charles Hay Walker did not maintain Thomas' reputation for good treatment of the workforce and a later project to expand the Royal Naval Dockyard in Bermuda was racked with strikes over conditions and broken promises.