Richard Herbert Lapage
Richard Herbert Lapage (1849-1930)
1849 Born in Leeds the son of John Lapage, a County Court Clerk, and his wife Anna Dorothy
1876 May 11th. Married in Buenos Aires to Marion Swaine. 'On the 11th May, at Buenos Ayres, by the Rev. Dr. Smith, Richard Herbert Lapage, of Caimpana, Argentine Republic, to Marion, only daughter of the late John Swaine, Req., Headingley Hill, Leeds.'[1]
1895 Listed as a director of the Hampton Goldfields, Western Australia. Also 'Director of the Western Australian Goldfields, Limited, and the Hampton Lands and Railway Syndicate, Limited'.[2]
1911 Living at Sheen House, Dover Road, Upper Walmer, Kent: Richard Herbert Lapage (age 62 born leeds) retired Civil Engineer. With his wife Marion Lapage (age 60 born Gomersal) and their four daughters; Katherine Helen Lapage (age 33 born Argentina); Dorothy Marion Lapage (age 31 born Argentina); Edith Winnifred Lapage (age 21 born Surbiton); and Olive Swaine Lapage (age 19 born Surbiton). RHL married for 34 years with seven children of whom six are living. Also his cousin Blanche Hatt Cook (age 23 born Cheshire). Also a visitor. Five servants.[3]
1930 Obituary [4]
RICHARD HERBERT LAPAGE was the Author of a Paper on "Compound Locomotives" read before the Institution in 1889 and was actively engaged on railway work for many years.
He was apprenticed at the Sun Foundry, Leeds, of the late Messrs. Carrett, Marshall and Company who were constructors of locomotives and compound engines; he was locomotive superintendent of the Argentine Government Railways when revolution broke out in 1874, and he designed and built there an armoured train. He was later locomotive superintendent and permanent-way engineer for the Buenos Ayres and Campana Railway and engineer in London for the Argentine Government Railways, the Provincial Government Railways of Buenos Ayres (Buenos Ayres Western), and the Entre Rios Government Railways.
He visited Australia several times in connexion with the railway from Perth to Adelaide, and in conjunction with his firm, Messrs. Worsdell, von Borries, and Lapage, he was the patentee of improvements in compound locomotives.
In 1886 he designed the first compound goods locomotive built in Great Britain which was tried on the Caledonian Railway. Finally he practised for seven years as a consulting engineer until his retirement.
Mr. Lapage was born at Leeds in 1849 and died on 3rd November 1930.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1879, and he was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Manchester Times - Saturday 17 June 1876
- ↑ Dundee Courier - Tuesday 02 April 1895
- ↑ 1911 Census
- ↑ 1930 Institution of Mechanical Engineers: Obituaries