Thomas Bradbury Winter
Thomas Bradbury Winter (1826-1902)
1859 Thomas Bradbury Winter, 28 Moorgate Street, London.[1]
1903 Obituary [2]
THOMAS BRADBURY WINTER, born on the 25th April, 1826, at Rumsey in Hampshire, was the eldest son of Thomas Bradbury Winter, a medical man in practice there.
After being educated at private schools and in the Applied Sciences Department of King's College, London, he was apprenticed to Messrs. G. and J. Rennie, Marine Engineers.
On the expiration of his pupilage he was appointed Manager of the Shipbuilding and Engineering Works of Messrs. Hoby at Renfrew.
In 1854 Mr. Winter came to London and took an office in Moorgate Street, where he practised for many years as a Consulting Marine Engineer.
Three years later he was placed on a Commission, in company with Major Crawford (Indian Engineers) and Commander Balfour (Indian Navy), appointed by the East India Company to visit the rivers Danube and Rhone with a view to obtaining a conclusive opinion as to the description of boat best adapted for the rivers of India. The chief difficulty to overcome in India was the shallowness of the rivers and their swift current in parts.
After the report of the Cornmission issued by the East India Company in 1858, Mr. Winter was appointed to design a suitable boat for the Indus. She was considered of very ingenious design and was a great success, the peculiarity over earlier river-boats being her great length and shallow draught.
For several years Mr. Winter was employed very fully in the construction of large boats, but failing health, due to malaria contracted while on the Continent, prevented his continuing that occupation.
In 1862 he designed a building for new steam- saw and planing mills for Messrs. Bayly and Fox at Plymouth.
Mr. Winter retired from business in 1880. He had lived partly at Brighton and partly at Denmark Hill till 1864, when he removed to Caterham, Surrey. There he spent his leisure mostly in his garden. He undertook various posts in the parish, being overseer for many years, and a member of the School Board from its commencement for twenty-four years, part of which time he served as Chairman. He died on the 15th October, 1902. Mr. Winter was at all times ready to render assistance to members of the profession in need of aid, and to give advice and help wherever possible.
He married in 1852 the only daughter of the Rev. James Hoby of Birmingham.
He was elected a Member of the Institution on the 1st February, 1859.