James Szlumper
Encyclopedia
Sir James Weeks Szlumper JP DL PJGD (1834-27 October 1926), was an English
civil engineer
, who was Chief Engineer on a number of key railway engineering projects in the Victorian era
.
, his brother Alfred Weeks Szlumper (1858–1934), was also a railway engineer. James began his career with a London
firm of engineers, and in 1853 was appointed surveyor to the county of Cardiganshire
, a position in which he held for 25 years. In this position, he was often in correspondence and conflict with the local land owners, particularly John Waddingham the then owner of the Hafod Estate
Already a Justice of the Peace
, in 1898 Szlumper became High Sheriff of Cardiganshire
.
He started his railway career engineering parts of the London Underground
in employment in London. When he took the job of Surveyor to the county of Cardiganshire, he also held the role of deputy engineer of the Manchester and Milford Railway, which never reached either of the locations in its title, being restricted to a line between Strata Florida and Pencader, Carmarthenshire
. However, he became good friends with the lines manager James Cholmeley Russell
, and resultantly later became civil engineer to the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways
and in 1906 became a director. Russell and Szlumper were two of the proposers of the Vale of Rheidol Light Railway
from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge (originally proposed by the Manchester & Milford Railway), although Russell resigned from the VofR project in its infancy in 1899.
Szlumper later worked on project in the Montgomeryshire
; the South Wales Valleys including the Barry Railway, the Pethick and Vale of Glamorgan Railway
and the Pontypridd Caerphilly and Newport Railway; and Devon
including the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
.
David Davies
. The W&TVR was closely aligned to the Pembroke and Tenby Railway (P&TR), having a virtually common set of investors and board of directors. The P&TR also had close links to the Manchester & Milford Railway (M&MR), which ran over the Szlumper engineered metals of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
(C&CR) to connect to Carmarthen station
The W&TVR was driven by John Owen, the proprietor of some slate
quarries near Glogue, and Szlumper agreed to see the construction of the railway for £50 per mile and £15 per mile for out of pocket expenses, and to deal with the preparation of all plans and sections for the necessary Parliamentary Bill. By 1868, Szlumper was engineer to the C&CR, M&MR, P&TR and the W&TVR.
After an accident with a through LNWR train to Tenby, Szlumper rebuilt the stations at Tenby and Pembroke, and extended the P&TR further into Pembroke Dock, to allow larger trains to access the line from 3 August 1870. The M&MR promoted the benefits of the P&TR to access Pembroke Dock to its customers in the Midlands, but the relationship only prospered for three years after the P&TR ceased working east of Whitland station
over the Great Western metals, from 31 July 1872.
The board of the P&TR realised they needed to gain economies of scale, and so appointed the largest M&MR shareholder J.J.Barrow to their board on the 31 August 1871. Barrow needed the stable income and docks of the P&TR as his own M&MR was suffering financially through lack of traffic from the Midlands to Wales. Barrow appointed A.C.Sheriff to the board of the P&TR in May 1872, the former Traffic Manager of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
. Further developments had to wait until the formation of the P&TR and M&MR Joint Committee in 1879; but by this point the M&MR was totally insolvent and the GWR had developed its strength in West Wales.
On 24 March 1873 the W&TR opened to Glogue, and by October 1874 to Crymmych Arms. During the period 1859 to 1876, the P&TR had seen three different chairmen, two secretaries and three engineers. Due to the insolvency of the M&MR, in June 1879 the board joint board of company to investigate the costs of the railway. Szlumper was paid a salary of £150 per annum by the M&MR, and £80 for the P&TR. The board felt Szlumper had not fulfilled his duties properly, particularly after incorrectly engineering the M&MR junction at Pencader
which was investigated by the Railway Inspectorate, and he was replaced by Lionel R. Woods formerly of the North Eastern Railway
in December 1879
The W&TVR extension to Cardigan
was completed on 31 August 1886, after the GWR had taken over the joint companies in 1881
twice.
A Master Free Mason
of the Jubilee Masters Lodge, No. 2712, his long term friends included Mary of Teck
, the Queen Consort
of George V
.
Szlumper died on 27 October 1926 and is buried in Richmond Cemetery (Section O, grave number 2414)
As Szlumper helped plan various lines running from or attaching to/joining with the South Wales Railway
, he left in his collection of papers complete Ordnance Survey
maps from 1896, in continuous length, showing the proposed routes of the railways from London to Swansea and its connections, and the proposed railway from London to Cardiff and its connections
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
, who was Chief Engineer on a number of key railway engineering projects in the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
.
Biography
The son of Albert Szlumper of LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, his brother Alfred Weeks Szlumper (1858–1934), was also a railway engineer. James began his career with a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
firm of engineers, and in 1853 was appointed surveyor to the county of Cardiganshire
Ceredigion
Ceredigion is a county and former kingdom in mid-west Wales. As Cardiganshire , it was created in 1282, and was reconstituted as a county under that name in 1996, reverting to Ceredigion a day later...
, a position in which he held for 25 years. In this position, he was often in correspondence and conflict with the local land owners, particularly John Waddingham the then owner of the Hafod Estate
Already a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, in 1898 Szlumper became High Sheriff of Cardiganshire
High Sheriff of Cardiganshire
The office of High Sheriff of Cardiganshire was established in 1541 since when a High Sheriff was appointed annually until 1974 when the office was transformed into that of High Sheriff of Dyfed as part of the creation of Dyfed from the amalgamation of Cardiganshire, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire...
.
Railway engineer
Szlumper had a dual career as a railway engineer, laying out some of key lines linking the major routes to the wider countryside of Wales and the West.He started his railway career engineering parts of the London Underground
London Underground
The London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
in employment in London. When he took the job of Surveyor to the county of Cardiganshire, he also held the role of deputy engineer of the Manchester and Milford Railway, which never reached either of the locations in its title, being restricted to a line between Strata Florida and Pencader, Carmarthenshire
Pencader, Carmarthenshire
Pencader is a small village in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire, and is part of the Community and Parish of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth. It is located around 5 km south-east of Llandysul and 10 km south-west of Llanybydder....
. However, he became good friends with the lines manager James Cholmeley Russell
James Cholmeley Russell
James Cholmeley Russell was a barrister, financier, property developer and Welsh railway entrepreneur. He was a key shareholder and the receiver of the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company from which the Welsh Highland Railway Company ultimately emerged. He was a business associate of the...
, and resultantly later became civil engineer to the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways
North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways
The North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways was a gauge railway running from Dinas to Bryngwyn, Wales, which was authorised by Act of Parliament 1872. The same act authorised a branch from Tryfan Junction to South Snowdon...
and in 1906 became a director. Russell and Szlumper were two of the proposers of the Vale of Rheidol Light Railway
Vale of Rheidol Railway
The Vale of Rheidol Railway is a narrow-gauge gauge heritage railway that runs for between Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge in the county of Ceredigion, Wales...
from Aberystwyth to Devil's Bridge (originally proposed by the Manchester & Milford Railway), although Russell resigned from the VofR project in its infancy in 1899.
Szlumper later worked on project in the Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire, also known as Maldwyn is one of thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. Montgomeryshire is still used as a vice-county for wildlife recording...
; the South Wales Valleys including the Barry Railway, the Pethick and Vale of Glamorgan Railway
Vale of Glamorgan Line
The Vale of Glamorgan Line is a commuter railway line in South Wales from Cardiff to Bridgend via Barry, Rhoose and Llantwit Major. There are also branch lines to Penarth and Barry Island. As its names suggests, the line runs through the Vale of Glamorgan....
and the Pontypridd Caerphilly and Newport Railway; and Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
including the Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
Lynton and Barnstaple Railway
The Lynton & Barnstaple Railway opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track narrow gauge railway slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the 1896 Light Railways Act came into force,...
.
West Wales railways
On 31 December 1868, Szlumper was appointed Chief Engineer of the Whitland & Taf Vale Railway (W&TVR), having been recommended by business partner and Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
David Davies
David Davies
-Politics:*David Davies , also known as David Davies Llandinam, MP for Cardigan, 1874–1885, and Cardiganshire, 1885–1886*David Sanders Davies , Liberal politician, MP for Denbigh 1918–1922...
. The W&TVR was closely aligned to the Pembroke and Tenby Railway (P&TR), having a virtually common set of investors and board of directors. The P&TR also had close links to the Manchester & Milford Railway (M&MR), which ran over the Szlumper engineered metals of the Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway
The Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a broad gauge railway from Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, to Newcastle Emlyn, Wales. Part of the route is now used by the Teifi Valley Railway and the Gwili Railway.Despite the name, the line never reached Cardigan...
(C&CR) to connect to Carmarthen station
Carmarthen railway station
Carmarthen railway station is situated south of the River Towy on the edge of the town of Carmarthen. It is located on the West Wales Line and is managed by Arriva Trains Wales, who operate most of the passenger trains serving it...
The W&TVR was driven by John Owen, the proprietor of some slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...
quarries near Glogue, and Szlumper agreed to see the construction of the railway for £50 per mile and £15 per mile for out of pocket expenses, and to deal with the preparation of all plans and sections for the necessary Parliamentary Bill. By 1868, Szlumper was engineer to the C&CR, M&MR, P&TR and the W&TVR.
After an accident with a through LNWR train to Tenby, Szlumper rebuilt the stations at Tenby and Pembroke, and extended the P&TR further into Pembroke Dock, to allow larger trains to access the line from 3 August 1870. The M&MR promoted the benefits of the P&TR to access Pembroke Dock to its customers in the Midlands, but the relationship only prospered for three years after the P&TR ceased working east of Whitland station
Whitland railway station
Whitland railway station serves the town of Whitland in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is located on the main route of the West Wales Line from Swansea. To the west of the station, the lines diverge, with one branch serving Pembroke and the other Milford Haven or Fishguard...
over the Great Western metals, from 31 July 1872.
The board of the P&TR realised they needed to gain economies of scale, and so appointed the largest M&MR shareholder J.J.Barrow to their board on the 31 August 1871. Barrow needed the stable income and docks of the P&TR as his own M&MR was suffering financially through lack of traffic from the Midlands to Wales. Barrow appointed A.C.Sheriff to the board of the P&TR in May 1872, the former Traffic Manager of the Oxford Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway
Cotswold Line
The Cotswold Line is an railway line between and in England.-Route:The line comprises all or part of the following Network Rail routes:*GW 200 from Oxford*GW 310 from Wolvercot Junction*GW 300 from Norton Junction*GW 340 from Worcester Shrub Hill...
. Further developments had to wait until the formation of the P&TR and M&MR Joint Committee in 1879; but by this point the M&MR was totally insolvent and the GWR had developed its strength in West Wales.
On 24 March 1873 the W&TR opened to Glogue, and by October 1874 to Crymmych Arms. During the period 1859 to 1876, the P&TR had seen three different chairmen, two secretaries and three engineers. Due to the insolvency of the M&MR, in June 1879 the board joint board of company to investigate the costs of the railway. Szlumper was paid a salary of £150 per annum by the M&MR, and £80 for the P&TR. The board felt Szlumper had not fulfilled his duties properly, particularly after incorrectly engineering the M&MR junction at Pencader
Pencader, Carmarthenshire
Pencader is a small village in the Welsh county of Carmarthenshire, and is part of the Community and Parish of Llanfihangel-ar-Arth. It is located around 5 km south-east of Llandysul and 10 km south-west of Llanybydder....
which was investigated by the Railway Inspectorate, and he was replaced by Lionel R. Woods formerly of the North Eastern Railway
North Eastern Railway (UK)
The North Eastern Railway , was an English railway company. It was incorporated in 1854, when four existing companies were combined, and was absorbed into the London and North Eastern Railway at the Grouping in 1923...
in December 1879
The W&TVR extension to Cardigan
Cardigan, Ceredigion
Cardigan is a town in the county of Ceredigion in Mid Wales. It lies on the estuary of the River Teifi at the point where Ceredigion meets Pembrokeshire. It was the county town of the pre-1974 county of Cardiganshire. It is the second largest town in Ceredigion. The town's population was 4,203...
was completed on 31 August 1886, after the GWR had taken over the joint companies in 1881
Personal life
Szlumper married Mary Culliford in 1867 and had one son and two daughters. The family lived at Sandmarsh, Aberystwyth. After Szlumper's retirement from the role of surveyor of Cardiganshire, the family moved to Holmesdale Road in Richmond, Surrey, where he became MayorMayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
twice.
A Master Free Mason
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
of the Jubilee Masters Lodge, No. 2712, his long term friends included Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck
Mary of Teck was the queen consort of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Empress of India, as the wife of King-Emperor George V....
, the Queen Consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
.
Szlumper died on 27 October 1926 and is buried in Richmond Cemetery (Section O, grave number 2414)
Projects engineered
- Barry Railway, 1884–1885
- Carmarthen and Cardigan RailwayCarmarthen and Cardigan RailwayThe Carmarthen and Cardigan Railway was a broad gauge railway from Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, to Newcastle Emlyn, Wales. Part of the route is now used by the Teifi Valley Railway and the Gwili Railway.Despite the name, the line never reached Cardigan...
- London UndergroundLondon UndergroundThe London Underground is a rapid transit system serving a large part of Greater London and some parts of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex in England...
- Lynmouth and Minehead Light Railway, 1896–1898
- Lynton and Barnstaple RailwayLynton and Barnstaple RailwayThe Lynton & Barnstaple Railway opened as an independent railway in May 1898. It was a single track narrow gauge railway slightly over long running through the rugged and picturesque area bordering Exmoor in North Devon, England. Although opened after the 1896 Light Railways Act came into force,...
- Manchester and Milford Railway
- Pembroke and Tenby Railway
- Pethick and Vale of Glamorgan RailwayVale of Glamorgan LineThe Vale of Glamorgan Line is a commuter railway line in South Wales from Cardiff to Bridgend via Barry, Rhoose and Llantwit Major. There are also branch lines to Penarth and Barry Island. As its names suggests, the line runs through the Vale of Glamorgan....
, 1889–1901 - Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction RailwayPlymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction RailwayThe Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway in England was built by an independent company but operated by the London and South Western Railway as part of its main line to give it independent access to Plymouth. It ran from to Devonport Junction, just west of Plymouth North Road...
- Pontypridd Caerphilly and Newport Railway
- North Wales Narrow Gauge RailwaysNorth Wales Narrow Gauge RailwaysThe North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways was a gauge railway running from Dinas to Bryngwyn, Wales, which was authorised by Act of Parliament 1872. The same act authorised a branch from Tryfan Junction to South Snowdon...
- Vale of Glamorgan RailwayVale of Glamorgan RailwayThe Barry Tourist Railway is a railway developed to attract visitors to Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales...
, 1894 - Vale of Rheidol Light RailwayVale of Rheidol RailwayThe Vale of Rheidol Railway is a narrow-gauge gauge heritage railway that runs for between Aberystwyth and Devil's Bridge in the county of Ceredigion, Wales...
- Whitland & Taf Vale Railway
As Szlumper helped plan various lines running from or attaching to/joining with the South Wales Railway
South Wales Railway
The South Wales Railway was a broad gauge railway that linked the Gloucester and Dean Forest Railway with Neyland in Wales.-History:The need for the railway was created by the need to ship coal from the South Wales Valleys to London, and secondly to complete Brunel's vision of linking London with...
, he left in his collection of papers complete Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
maps from 1896, in continuous length, showing the proposed routes of the railways from London to Swansea and its connections, and the proposed railway from London to Cardiff and its connections