John Wilkes Bower (1837-1904)
1858 of Manchester Works, Smethwick.[1]
1904 Obituary [2]
JOHN WILKES BOWER was born at Small Heath, near Birmingham, on 3rd March 1837.
He served his apprenticeship at Messrs. Sharp, Stewart and Co.'s Atlas Works, Manchester, and on its termination in 1862 he entered the office of Mr. Sturgess Meek, chief engineer to the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. During this period he became resident engineer during the construction of several branch lines, notably the Oldham and Rochdale and Royton branches, the Meltham branch, the Clayton West branch, also the widening of the main line from Victoria Station, Manchester, to Salford, the new line from Bacup to Rochdale, and many other lines and branches.
His death took place at Leamington Spa, after a long and painful illness, on 15th October 1904, in his sixty-eighth year.
He because a Member of this Institution in 1858.