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{{other people||George Turnbull (disambiguation){{!}}George Turnbull}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox engineer
|image = George Turnbull (1809-1878).jpg
|image_size =
|caption = George Turnbull
|name = George Turnbull
|birth_date = 2 September 1809
|birth_place = [[Luncarty]], [[Perth and Kinross]] (then [[Perthshire]])
|death_date = {{death date and age text|26 February 1889|2 September 1809}}
|death_place = Rosehill, [[Abbots Langley]], Hertfordshire, England
|education = [[Perth Grammar School]] from 18 September 1819<br />[[Edinburgh University]] from 3 November 1824
|spouse = {{plainlist|
* Jane Pope,
* Fanny Thomas
}}
|parents =
|children = Five by his wife Fanny Thomas .. two children died as infants in India
|discipline = Civil engineer
|institutions = [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] 1838–1889
|practice_name =
|significant_projects = [[East Indian Railway Company|East Indian railways]];

[[St Katharine Docks|St Katharine Docks, London]];

[[Cardiff Docks|West Bute dock, Cardiff]];

[[Middlesbrough Dock]];

[[Dover|Dover railway]];

[[Seacombe|Seacombe wall]];

[[Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)]]
|significant_design =
|significant_advance =
|significant_awards = In 1863 gazetted by the Indian Government as the "First Railway Engineer in India". He was also offered a British knighthood.
}}

[[File:George Turnbull 1868.jpg|thumb|George Turnbull, 1868]]
'''George Turnbull''' (2 September 1809 – 26 February 1889) was a Scottish engineer. He was responsible from 1851 to 1863 for the construction of the first Indian long-distance railway line: [[Calcutta]] to [[Benares]] up beside the [[Ganges]] river, 541 miles (871 kilometres), (601 miles including branches). The main line was later extended to [[Delhi]]. He had some 100 British civil engineers and 118,000 Indian workers. All railway lines, engines etc etc were brought from Britain in ships (before the Suez Canal existed) -- most then went in Indian ships up the Ganges river, despite monsoons.

On completion, Turnbull was gazetted by the Indian government as the "First railway engineer of India". He declined a British knighthood.<ref name="autogenerated1">Diaries of George Turnbull (Chief Engineer, [[East Indian Railway Company]]) held at the [[Centre of South Asian Studies]] at [[Cambridge University]], England</ref><ref>''George Turnbull, C.E.'' 437-page memoirs published privately 1893: copies in England's National Library; Scotland's National Library, Edinburgh; and a scanned copy in the British Library, London on compact disk.</ref>

==Early life==
George Turnbull was born in [[Luncarty]], 5 miles north of [[Perth, Scotland|Perth]], Scotland in 1809, the 11th and last child of William Turnbull and Mary Sandeman. Eight children were still living when the family moved in 1814 to nearby [[Huntingtower and Ruthvenfield|Huntingtower]] village, where his father successfully developed a linen [[bleachfield]]. His two grandfathers [[Hector Turnbull (bleachfield developer)|Hector Turnbull]] and [[William Sandeman]] had jointly developed bleachfields in Luncarty. Initially largely schooled by his older sister Mary, George in 1819 from age 10 rode a pony to [[Perth Grammar School]]. In 1824 he attended [[Edinburgh University]] learning Latin, Greek and mathematics. With one year for his father, he learned linen-manufacturing engineering and book-keeping.<ref name="George Turnbull 1893">''George Turnbull, C.E.'' 437-page memoirs (largely from his diaries) written by George himself. ''primarily he says requested by his dear wife'', printed by Cooke and Co, 147 Great Saffron Hill, London E.C.and published privately 1893 ... scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007 and with an original copy in the England National Library in 2023.</ref>

==Career in England==
In 1828 he sailed from [[Dundee]] to London to train under the famous civil engineer [[Thomas Telford]] building [[St Katharine Docks]]. In 1830 he became Telford's draughtsman and clerk, living in Telford's house in 24 [[College Green, London|Abingdon Street]]. He became an Associate of the [[Institution of Civil Engineers]] at age 19 and eventually the oldest member.<ref name="George Turnbull 1893"/>

In 1832, he helped survey the options for supplying water to London both from the north and south, gauging the north-side rivers [[River Colne, Essex|Colne]], [[River Gade|Gade]], [[River Lea|Lea]], [[Odess]] and [[River Ver|Ver]]; and on the south side the [[River Wandle]]. He was involved in 1833 with experiments for [[fast passenger canal boats]] on the [[Paddington Canal]] with [[William Cubitt|Cubitt]], Dundas and other prominent engineers.

In 1834 [[Thomas Telford#Telford's death|Telford died]]: Turnbull (Telford's young clerk) made arrangements for his house and correspondence and was involved with his burial in [[Westminster Abbey]].

[[File: GeorgeTurnbull Cardiff 1835.jpg|thumb|George Turnbull, 1835, Bute Docks, Cardiff, Wales]]
Turnbull was promoted to be resident engineer building the [[Bute Ship Canal]] and Bute Dock (now [[Cardiff Docks|West Bute dock]]) in [[Cardiff]], reporting to [[William Cubitt]] and meeting [[John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute|Lord Bute]] regularly.

In August 1836 George went to Bristol to see the 1{{frac|1|2}}-inch bar drawn between the River Avon's precipices for the future [[Clifton Suspension Bridge]]. [[Isambard Kingdom Brunel]] visited him at his Cardiff works in 1839.

Amongst other journeys, Turnbull's January 1837 diary records travel from Cardiff to his parents' [[Perthshire]] home: the mail coach to Bristol (with no then [[Severn Bridge]] or [[Severn Tunnel]]); all the next day Bristol to London ''"on Cooper's coach, sitting on the box seat outside with the coachman"'' (there was snow 10-feet deep near [[Marlborough, Wiltshire|Marlborough]]); the steamer ''Perth'' for the 41-hour journey to Dundee; and then overland to [[Huntingtower and Ruthvenfield|Huntingtower]], near Perth.<ref>''George Turnbull, C.E.'' page 27 of the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893, scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007</ref>

From 1840 to 1842 Turnbull built [[Middlesbrough]] Dock which was later bought by the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]]. In 1841 he travelled through deep snow to [[Stirling]] to agree a contract to supply [[Railroad tie|sleepers]] for the railway. In 1843 he was resident engineer for William Cubitt for the railway line from the [[Shakespeare Tunnel]] along the shore to [[List of railway stations in Dover|Dover station]] (he entertained the [[Duke of Wellington]], ''"pale, old and shaky on his legs"'', who visited the works) and built a pier and landing stages at [[Folkestone]].

In 1845 he was the engineer in [[Birkenhead]] for the complex [[Seacombe]] Wall sea defence that helped drain the marshes behind the town of Seacombe.

In 1846-9 he was the resident engineer for the [[Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)|Great Northern Railway]] making cuttings and the [[South Mimms tunnel|South Mimms]], [[Copenhagen tunnel|Copenhagen]] and three other tunnels for the first 20 miles out of London, and making the first plans for [[London King's Cross railway station#History|King's Cross station]].

==East Indian Railway==
[[File:EastIndianRailways1850s.jpg|thumb|East Indian Railway built by George Turnbull]]
[[File:First Train of East Indian Railway-1854.jpg|thumb|First train of the East Indian Railway, 1854]]

In 1850 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the [[East Indian Railway]], building 1851–1862 India's first main-line railway 541 miles (871kms) from [[Calcutta]] to [[Benares]], (on the route to [[Delhi]]); 601 miles (967kms) including branches. He designed Calcutta's [[Howrah station|terminus at Howrah]] which now has 23 platforms and the highest passenger and freight train-handling capacity of any station in India. The monsoon-ravaged Ganges tributaries, such as the wide [[Sone River]] were particularly challenging to bridge. Major constraints for Turnbull were the lack of both quality clay and local brick-building skills resulting in the change to importing nearly all ironwork from England (before the Suez canal) for the many bridges, rails, engines, etc as no Indian steel works existed. Another constraint was the difficulty of moving enormous volumes of materials from Calcutta up the Ganges on its primitive "country boats", particularly during the period of the [[Indian Mutiny]] when many boats were sunk and materials stolen. [[Cholera]] and other diseases killed hundreds of Indians and many of the over 100 English civil engineers.<ref name="George Turnbull 1893"/>

==Offered a knighthood==
Turnbull was offered a British knighthood for his railway building in India, but declined it as he felt that he did not have sufficient money to live to the standard he felt was needed (he later regretted declining the knighthood, if only because it reduced his later earning power).<ref name="George Turnbull 1893"/>

==Calcutta drainage and sewerage==
In 1856 the Bengal Government appointed Turnbull to be the Commissioner of Drainage and Sewerage.<ref>''George Turnbull, C.E.'' page 155 of the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893, scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007</ref>

==Calcutta University Syndicate==
In 1861 Turnbull was appointed a member of the Syndicate of the Calcutta University.<ref name="George Turnbull page 178">''George Turnbull, C.E.'' page 178 of the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893, scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007</ref>

==Sulkea Dock==
In Calcutta in 1861 the [[P&O (company)|Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company]] employed Turnbull to redesign the [[Sulkea Dock|Sulkea Graving Dock]], at [[Salkia|Sulkea]], and widen its entrance.<ref name="George Turnbull page 178"/>

==Great Indian Peninsular Railway==
In February 1868, Turnbull was offered £2000 to settle the claim by contractors who had built part of the [[Great Indian Peninsular Railway]]. He travelled via [[Marseille]], [[Alexandria]], train to [[Suez]], and on to [[Bombay]]. He and others had a private train for four days ''"getting down and inspecting every bridge and large culvert"'' and making copious notes for the {{convert|242|mi|km|abbr=on|order=flip}} between [[Bhusawal]] and [[Nagpore]].<ref name="autogenerated1"/><ref>''George Turnbull, C.E.'' pages 230–235 437-page memoirs published privately 1893, scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007</ref>

==Personal life==
In 1845 he married Jane Pope in [[St. Margaret's, Westminster]]. She died of fever on 23 August 1850 in Calcutta, only four months after arriving there. In 1855, after leave in England and on his way again to India, he married Fanny Thomas, the engineer [[William Cubitt]]'s niece (in [[Neuchâtel]], Switzerland because of concern that UK marriage to his deceased wife's half-sister might not be [[Deceased Wife's Sister's Marriage Act 1907|legal]] in England). Their first child [Ellen] Nelly was born on 14 July 1856 in Calcutta 9 months after their wedding. They had six children: their infants Jane and later Rose were born in Calcutta and successively buried in the same grave in Circular Road. Born in Calcutta on 17 March 1860 was their son George. Born in London were their son Alexander Duncan Turnbull on 10 March 1863 and daughter Katie on 4 June 1864.<ref>''George Turnbull, C.E.'' pages 157, 165, 168, 210, and 222 of the 437-page memoirs published privately 1893, scanned copy held in the British Library, London on compact disk since 2007</ref>

The family retired to Cornwall Gardens in London and then in 1875 to Rosehill, [[Abbots Langley]], Hertfordshire, England. The house Rosehill was built in the 1820s and demolished circa 1952. The house stood on Gallows Hill where the Gade View flats are today.<ref>Rosehill: {{Coord|51.698586|N|0.432844|W|scale:10000|display=inline}}</ref><ref>{{cite book
|last= Hastie
|first= Scott
|title= Abbots Langley—A Hertfordshire Village.
|year= 1993
|publisher= Abbots Langley Parish Council
|location= Abbots Langley
|isbn= 0-9520929-0-5
|quote=''Between 1875 and 1887, the house was home to George Turnbull whose wife survived him and lived on there until 1899.''
}}</ref> He was the Vice-Chairman of the [[Assam Tea Company]] – his younger son (Alexander) Duncan Turnbull worked for the company in London and then [[Assam]], where Duncan's daughter Doris was born in 1898. George Turnbull's wife Fanny died in 1903.

==Abbots Langley==
Applying his engineering skills, Turnbull wrote the prospectus for the Abbots Langley Water Company and was much involved with the village's drainage and sewerage scheme in 1885. In March 1877, he also took a lease on 24 Collingham Place in London.

The village church includes a stained-glass memorial window<ref>''Luncarty's Engineer: A short biography'' by John Andrews of Luncarty, West Stormont Historical Society, 2018, page 50 of 51 pages.</ref> with the inscription ''To the Glory of God in memory of George Turnbull C.E. born 1809 died 1889''. It was donated by his widow Fanny.

==References==
{{commons category|George Turnbull (civil engineer)}}
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turnbull, George}}
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1889 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Perth Grammar School]]
[[Category:British canal engineers]]
[[Category:British bridge engineers]]
[[Category:British railway civil engineers]]
[[Category:People of the Industrial Revolution]]
[[Category:People from Perth and Kinross]]
[[Category:Railway officers in British India]]
[[Category:Scottish civil engineers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]

George Turnbull (engineer) - Revision history

Jefferykip: added new data.