Charles Heard Wild
Charles Heard Wild (c1819-1857)
'Robert Stephenson's right-hand man'[1]
c.1819 Born[2]
1847 of 13A Cannon Row, Westminster
Worked on the Chester and Holyhead Railway
c.1850 Conducted large scale experiments to confirm the mathematical design calculations on the strength of the Torksey Bridge over the Trent, an early example of a tubular girder bridge.[3]
1851 Prepared the working drawings of Sir Joseph Paxton’s design of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition[4], and later worked on its move to Sydenham.
1857 Died. 'Charles Heard Wild. C.E.. aged 38 after a long and painful illness.'[5]
1858 'action for the infringement of a patent taken out in March, 1853, by Charles Heard Wild for improvements in "fisues" and fish joints for connecting the rails in railways. '[6]