Charles Horsley
Charles Horsley (1829-1905)
1905 Obituary [1]
CHARLES HORSLEY was born on 30th May 1829 at Pye Bridge, Derbyshire, and was educated at Derby Grammar School.
Upon leaving there he went as a pupil to Messrs. Graham and Co., Milton Iron Works, and thence to Messrs. Sylvestres.
Shortly after this he assisted in the erection of the tubular bridge over the Menai Straits.
He then joined Mr. Alfred Penny, whom he ultimately succeeded, as London agent and consulting engineer to Messrs. James Oakes and Co. of Alfreton, Derbyshire, which position he held until the day of his death.
He invented a gas exhauster and also a syphon which have been extensively used in the gas world. He was one of the members of the Joint Committee of the Staines Reservoirs Works from 1898 to 1903.
For many years he was an active member of the Magisterial Bench for Middlesex, and in 1887 was one of the sixty chosen to carry on the work during the time the Cities of London and Westminster were being amalgamated under the title of County of London.
He, in conjunction with Mr. Torrance, was returned unopposed as one of the representatives of East Islington for the first London Council; he was chairman of several and director of many gas and water companies. His death took place at his residence in Highbury, London, on 4th January 1905, in his seventy-sixth year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1873; he was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and President of the Society of Engineers in 1881.
1905 Obituary [2]
CHARLES HORSLEY died at his residence, 174 Highbury New Park, on the 4th January, 1905, aged 75.
Born on the 30th May, 1829, at Pye Bridge, Derbyshire he was educated at Derby Grammar School, and served a pupilage of 3 years to Graham and Co at the Milton Ironworks, Barnsley.
Subsequently he was engaged on the erection of buildings and machinery at Nottingham for Manlove and Alliott, and in 1854 he joined the late Alfred Penny, whom he ultimately succeeded as Consulting Engineer and Adviser to James Oakes and Co, of the Alfreton Ironworks, Derbyshire, having charge of all their contracts and engineering work, a position which he retained in addition to his private practice up to the date of his death.
During this period he designed and erected gasworks and machinery at Staines and Egham, Leighton Buzzard, Dartford and other places, and also carried out waterworks at St. Albans. He was the inventor of a gas exhauster and a patent siphon for gas-mains.
Mr. Horsley was a Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex. He also represented East Islington on the first London County Council, and for many years acted as Chairman of the local Conservative Association. In later years he served on the Boards of several gas- and water-companies. In 1881 Mr. Horsley was elected to the office of President of the Society of Engineers.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 28th May, 1878, and was transferred to the class of full Members on the 30th January, 1883.
1905 Obituary [3]