Thomas Tredgold
British engineer
Thomas Tredgold (22 August 1788 – 28 January 1829) was an English engineer and author, known for his early work on railroad construction. His definition of civil engineering formed the basis of the charter of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Biography
He was born at Brandon, County Durham, on 22 August 1788. After some elementary education at the village school, he was apprenticed at 14 to a cabinet-maker in Durham. He remained with him six years, studying also mathematics, architecture, and perspective. In 1808, after his apprenticeship had expired, he went to Scotland, where he worked for five years as a joiner and journeyman carpenter.
Later Tredgold went to London, where he entered the office of his uncle William Atkinson the architect, with whom he lived for six years, and whom he served for longer. He read on architecture and engineering; and taught himself French.
In 1823, the demands of his writing led Tredgold to resign his position in Atkinson's office. He died on 28 January 1829, and was buried in St.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 16, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q2427736. VIAF identifies the subject as 2587986. The Library of Congress control number is n82010710. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1788, 1829, 1808 and 1823.
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This entry incorporates text from “Thomas Tredgold” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.