Francis Roubiliac Conder
Francis Roubiliac Conder (1815-1889)
1842 Patent. '...letters patent, granted to Francis Roubiliac Conder, of Highgate, in the county of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the term of fourteen years, for "improvements in the cutting and shaping of wood, and in the machinery for that purpose;"'[1]
1890 Obituary [2]
FRANCIS ROUBILIAC CONDER, the eldest son of Josiah Conder, well known during his lifetime as a philanthropist and an author, was born a freeman of the City of London, in St. Paul’s Churchyard, on 26th November, 1815, and was educated at Mill Hill School.
He was articled as an engineer to Sir Charles Fox, in the early days of railway-making in England, and has left some account of his first experiences, and of his personal impressions of men like Robert Stephenson and Brunel, in a volume entitled 'Personal Recollections of an Engineer.'
One of his earliest professional engagements in 1836 was on the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway under Robert Stephenson. Like other members of his profession, he was induced, by the rapid profits of such work, to become a contractor, and was employed by Fox, Henderson and Co, on responsible duties at Birmingham, Pembroke Docks, and Liverpool.
In 1848 he took one of the contracts of the South Wales Railway, under Mr. Brunel, the work continuing at intervals down to 1855.
In 1850-51, under Fox Henderson, Mr. Conder was employed on the Cork and Bandon Line. These enterprizes brought substantial sums, and enabled him to work independently.
In 1854 Mr. Conder was engaged, as a member of the firm of Conder, Goode and Co, in laying the permanent way of the Bordeaux and Bayonne Railway in France, of which work he contributed an account to the Institution.
Shortly after he visited Portugal, with a view to railway work, but the negotiations led to no agreement.
In 1855 Mr. Conder undertook a contract for the Brindisi Railway, . . . [more]