[1] William Lloyd started his engineering career while serving five years pupilage to Mr Joseph Gibbs.

He was given this position by Gibbs to make a survey of ironworks at Marquise in France and to lay out a railway line to the port of Ambleteuse.

In 1853 he was employed by the Swedish Government Railways to undertake surveys and was elected a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers on 7 March 1854 In 1863, on the recommendation of Mr Robert Stephenson, Lloyd was appointed engineer to the government of Chile to carry out construction of railways in Chile and Peru, including the Santiago to Valparaiso line.

An account of this construction was presented to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1864 and he was awarded a Telford medal and premium for this.

Lloyd went on to complete projects in Argentina and Guatemala as well as undertaking an extensive exploration and survey for the Brazilian Government.