Richard James Ward
Richard James Ward (1817-1881)
. . . In 1836 he was articled for four years to the late Mr. I. K. Brunel, V.P. Inst. C.E., during which period he was employed on the works of the Great Western Railway at Paddington, and had charge of the construction of the bridges over the Thames at Basildon and at Moulsford, and of the erection of the locomotive engine shed at Swindon.
At the expiration of his pupilage he was appointed resident engineer on the Oxford branch of the Great Western railway; and subsequently he occupied a similar position on the Wilts, Somerset, and Weymouth railway and its extensions, in all about 122 miles in length, from their commencement in 1844-45 to their completion in 1857. He was afterwards resident engineer on the East Somerset railway to Wells, and the Wells extension, 12 miles in length; and on the Berks and Hants Extension railway, Hungerford to Devises, 24.5 miles in length, till the death of Mr. Brunel in 1859, when he became chief engineer for these latter railways, which were completed in 1863. . . .