Edward Easton
Edward Easton (1832-1909) of Easton and Amos
son of James Easton
1858 of Grove Works, Southwark.[1] - Easton and Amos
1896 of Delahay Street, Westminster, S.W.
1909 Obituary [2]
EDWARD EASTON was born in London on 5th October 1832, being the third son of the late Mr. James Easton, founder of the firm of Easton and Amos, afterwards Easton and Anderson, of Southwark and Erith.
After being educated at King's College School, he served his apprenticeship with his father from 1849 to 1853. During this time he was chiefly at the Grove Works, Southwark; but in 1851-52, he was for about six months engaged in carrying out the waterworks for Shaftesbury, Wiltshire, to the order of the Marquess of Wellesley.
In 1852 he was for several months at Osborne, superintending the erection of workshops for the Prince Consort, and later he was engaged at the Ryde Waterworks. After his apprenticeship was completed, his work lay chiefly in connection with the construction of waterworks in different parts of the country, among which may be mentioned those of Brighton, Hastings, Lewes, Ramsgate, Margate, Herts. and Essex, etc., etc. For Wisbech he acted as consulting engineer to the time of his death.
In 1858 he was admitted as a partner in his father's firm, from which he retired in 1879, and confined himself to the civil branch of engineering. He acted as consulting engineer for the waterworks at Pirmasens and Beyrouth, and was also engaged in several large irrigation schemes in Egypt, which, owing to a great extent to the disturbed state of the country, were not all successful. Some of these have, however, been since carried out on his lines, but under different conditions.
In 1872 he read a Paper before the British Association at Brighton one "The Brighton Waterworks," and in 1878, as President of the Mechanical Section of the British Association at the Dublin Meeting, he delivered an Address on "The Conservancy of Rivers and Streams."
He was also engaged on many Parliamentary and other enquiries. Recently he presented to the library of this Institution thirty-five volumes relating to the private Acts, prior to 1879, giving powers to supply water, and he was connected with a large number of the water- undertakings of the latter portion of the period covered by the books.
Altogether, he was professionally engaged on about twenty-five water-undertakings in this country, and several abroad, notably those of Vienna and Odessa, and in the erection of sugar factories in Egypt and South America, in addition to which he was consulted on many private water installations.
He also made some valuable investigations of water running to waste from the chalk on the foreshore between Dover and St. Margaret's Bay; and, in conjunction with the late Sir Frederick Bramwell, he made investigations and reported to the late Metropolitan Board of Works on fire hydrants and appliances for use in the Metropolis.
In 1876 he contributed a Paper to this Institution on "Water-Supply from the Chalk."
His death took place in Westminster on 24th March 1909, in his seventy-seventh year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1858, and served on the Council from 1875 to 1881. He was also a Member of several of the learned societies.