The late Mr. T. Tredgold. 395 



An ordinary education at his native village, Brandon, near Dur- 

 ham, and an apprenticeship of six years in that city, occupied his time 

 until his twentieth year. Subsequently he was employed five years 

 as a working carpenter in Scotland, and ten years in an architect's 

 office in London. During both periods the regular hours of labour 

 or of business were sufficiently fatiguing ; and the leisure and pecu- 

 niary means which they afforded him would appear very limited for 

 other studies than those which the nature of his employment did not 

 render imperative. Yet, under these disadvantages, he acquired an 

 extensive knowledge of Geometry, Chemistry, Geology, &c, and be- 

 came a very excellent mathematician. But his great merit is in the 

 skill with which he has applied his scientific attainments to the prac- 

 tical advancement of his profession, for to him we are indebted for the 

 best Treatises upon Carpentry, and the Strength of Cast Iron ; the 

 extensive use of which latter material forms so decided a characteristic 

 of the safety and durability of our various structures. He also supplied 

 the article Joinkry for the Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 

 and several valuable contributions to the Philosophical Magazine and 

 Thomson's A nnals of Philosophtj. During the five followingyears, while 

 he was practising as an engineer, he investigated and exemplified " the 

 Principles of Stone-Masonry ;" " of the Construction of Rail-Roads 

 and Steam-Carriages ;" " of Warming and Ventilating Buildings ;" 

 added Notes to the Hydraulic Tracts of Venturi, Smeaton, and Dr. 

 Young; and in 1827 completed the last of his works, — an "Essay 

 on the Steam-Engine." 



The number and importance of these subjects, all of which his la- 

 bours have enriched, and the practical utility of the numerous tables 

 and rules which he has deduced from careful experiments, are sufficient 

 proofs of his extraordinary talents, and of the benefits he has conferred 

 upon his country ; while the original manner in which he has treated 

 those subjects, and his frank acknowledgement of authors from whom 

 he derived information, show a liberality of feeling, combined with 

 extensive variety of general knowledge. 



With the qualifications which distinguished him as a writer, he was 

 no less admirable as a man: — exemplary in the performance of all the 

 duties of Son, Brother, Husband, Father, and Friend ; possessing 

 strong benevolent feelings for his fellow-creatures ; an anxiety tor 

 the improvement of all around him, for their happiness and their good ; 

 with a readiness to communicate information, equalled only by his 

 eagerness to acquire it. 



During the prosecution of his researches in the limited time which 

 his occupation allowed, he laboured under the effects of painful and 

 increasing illness, the consequence of those sacrifices which an un- 

 quenchable thirst for knowledge had required of him. Aware of its 

 tendency, he had made many, but unavailing, efforts at relaxation — 

 lor the dominion of Genius over its votaries is absolute and uncon- 

 troulablc, and to its irresistible influence he fell a victim, at a time 

 when his loss was of the greatest consequence to his family. The de- 

 clining health and spirits of his widow did not long survive his loss ; 

 and the recent death of his eldest daughter has diminished the number 

 of those whose future fate pressed heavily on his last hours, and lor 

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