William Ellis Metford

He was born on 4 October 1824, the elder son of William Metford, a physician, of Flook House, Taunton, by his wife, Mary Eliza Anderdon.

After 1850, he worked for Thomas Evans Blackwell, in connection with schemes for developing the traffic of Bristol, and subsequently acted for a short time under Peniston as engineer on the Wycombe railway, residing at Bourne End.

During this period, he designed an improved theodolite with a travelling stage and a curved arm upholding the transit axis, and also invented a very good form of level.

[3] In March 1856, Metford was elected an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and early in 1857 he obtained an important appointment on the East India Railway under (Sir) Alexander Rendel.

His ceaseless exertions largely contributed to the safety of the garrison, but they permanently impaired his health, and within a year he found himself obliged to abandon his engagement and return to England.

In 1854, Metford investigated the disturbance of the barrel by the shock of the explosion, which affects the line of flight of the bullet, a difficulty which had led to much misunderstanding.

[3] The advance in military small arms abroad, and especially the increased rapidity of loading, caused the appointment of a committee in February 1883 to deal with the question.