Ainuial Report of tJic Council. 257 



went thither armed only with useful introductions and a 

 readiness to engage in any kind of work in connection with 

 his special proclivities. An interview with Mr. (afterwards 

 Sir) Daniel Gooch, chief engineer under Mr. Brunei on the 

 Great Western Railway, resulted in an engagement on that 

 line. " Young Peacock's duties," says the writer of the 

 obituary notice in the MancJicster Guardian^ " were as varied 

 as they were laborious. Sometimes he superintended a 

 gang of navvies ; occasionally he took charge of an 

 engine used by the great engineer for running up and 

 down the line, and in this way established with him a 

 friendly relation which was interrupted only by Mr. 

 Brunei's death." At the age of 21 (in 1841) Peacock 

 obtained the appointment of locomotive superintendent on 

 the Manchester and Sheffield Railway. His connection with 

 Manchester dates from this event. He witnessed the 

 arrival of the first engine for the line, and continued in the 

 company's service for a period of fourteen years. " He chose 

 Gorton," adds the writer already quoted, " for the site of the 

 locomotive depot, which was afterwards erected from his 

 designs. This led to the rapid development of Gorton and 

 of the adjoining township of Openshaw, and of the great 

 engineering establishment with which his name will always 

 be identified. It was at his suggestion that Mr. Ashbury 

 built his extensive carriage and waggon works at Open- 

 shaw, of which Mr. Peacock laid the foundation stone. He 

 also recommended the late Sir Joseph Whitworth to transfer 

 to the same neighbourhood his manufactory of guns and 

 mechanical tools, and he purchased the land for the Midland 

 Railway on which that company placed its locomotive 

 sheds. Not inappropriately has he been designated as the 

 founder of the trade and prosperity of these two townships." 

 In 1854 Mr, Peacock entered into partnership with Mr. 

 Charles Beyer, previously manager of the extensive works 

 of Messrs. Sharp Bros, (and who, it may be mentioned, 



