Charles Assheton Whately Pownall
Charles Assheton Whately Pownall (1848-1920)
1848 Born the son of Assheton Pownall, Rector of South Kilworth, and his wife Sophia
1875 Married Dora Bourne Royds
1882 Started working in Japan.
1890 Consulting Engineer to the Railway Bureau of Japan.[1]
In Japan, Pownall designed girders for railway bridges, standardizing six types of plate girders with clear spans of 20 to 70 ft in 10-ft intervals in 1885, followed by 20 to 40-ft steel standard plate girders. Later he designed wrought iron pin jointed double Warren truss bridges for the Tokaido main line from Tokyo to Kyoto, with a clear span of 200 ft to cross large rivers. Pownall drew the detailed designs and sent them to T. R. Shervington in Britain for checking, and ordered manufacture by the Patent Shaft and Axletree Co. A total of 22 were used on bridges over the Tonegawa, Ibigawa, Nagaragawa, and Kisogawa. Then, a total of 90 double Warren truss girders of the same type, but with steel instead of wrought iron members were fabricated in the UK and erected in the Hakone area, crossing the Fujigawa, Oigawa, and Tenryugawa on the Tokaido main line, the Saigawa on the Shin’etsu Line, the Tonegawa on the Joban Line, the Tonegawa on the Ryomo Line, and the Kiso, Nagara, and Ibigawa on Kansai Railways.[2]
1911 Living at 15 St Johns Park, Vanbrugh Park, Blackheath: Charles Assheton Whately Pownall (age 62 born South Kilworth, Leics.), Civil Engineer (Retired). With his wife Dora Bourne Pownall (age 59 born Wavertree, Liverpool). Married 35 years with two children. One visitor. Three servants.[3]
1920 April 30th. Died.