John Matthews (1807-1871)
John Matthews (1807-1871), Engineer and Borough Surveyor of Penzance
He carried out many public works. He was the constructor of the harbour, main drainage and water supply, and he designed the new Penzance town hall, which was acknowledged to be one of the most imposing buildings of the kind in the county.[1]
1844 Birth of son William Matthews
1849 Birth of son Thomas Matthews, both eminent engineers in their own right.
1871 November. Died. 'Mr John Matthews, late borough surveyor died Tuesday morning after a long illness. Below the soil, on the soil and above the soil is the handiwork of Mr John Matthews. The sound sense of the earlier sanitarians convinced some influential local legislators in Mr Matthews they found the man of the time. To them and to him were literally committed issues of life and death. They changed a town of foul cess-pits into a well-sewered borough. They gave Penzance four wells, suspected of communication with fever-haunted deposits of drainage full and constant supply of water from a wholesome high-lying watershed. They built the Northern Arm, and so converted a piece of water sheltered only from the south into a safe capacious harbour. Mr Matthews pursued his busy career - first under one set of advisers, then of others - he straightened streets, strengthened esplanades, planned new roads, suggested three or four separate methods to secure floating docks, designed new market-houses, and finally depicted in a way which stood the test of Sir Sydney Smirke’s criticism and realised in enduring granite the present Public Buildings. John Matthews was born in 1807, July 23rd, at Morvah churchtown and son of Mr Matthews, a farmer, and Mrs Elizabeth Matthews. He was elected borough surveyor in 1844, the first plans he drew for the town being by competition and for his Prince’s-street market. For these he received a premium of £30. Step by step he gained public confidence and esteem until works of great magnitude were entrusted to him and he laid out at least £80,000 for the town of Penzance. “From early morn till dewy eve he was at work. Blessed with good sterling sense and steel this plodding persevering man could not but be an excellent public servant and a master of every detail of the borough work...'[2]