KATER. 75 



the first great public dock establishment employed Mr. Jessop to 

 conduct their works, and he had the honour of completing the great 

 project of the West India Docks, with their numerous accompany- 

 ing details, in a manner which alone entitles him to rank among 

 our most eminent engineers. 



On the completion of these docks his professional services were 

 engaged by the citizens of Bristol, to effect a great and compre- 

 hensive measure of harbour improvement, designed to place the 

 port of Bristol at once in the foremost position with respect to 

 commercial advantages. This was the conversion of part of the 

 river Avon into an immense floating dock, capable of accommo- 

 dating 1400 vessels. Mr. Jessop was also at this time occupied in 

 constructing the Surrey iron railways, which consisted of a double 

 tramroad, from the Thames at Wandsworth to the town of Croydon, 

 with an extension from Croydon to Godstone and Merstham ; they 

 are principally remarkable as being the first public railroads con- 

 structed in the south of England. The whole of these tramroads 

 were afterwards bought and taken up by the Brighton Eailway 

 Company. Mr. Jessop was likewise connected with the Caledonian 

 Canal, which he was specially called upon to survey before its com- 

 mencement, and of which he continued to be the consulting engineer 

 for many years. 



In concluding this brief notice of Mr. Jessop's life, it remains 

 only to be said that with him exclusively originated the idea of 

 taking advantage of the immense floods to which certain districts 

 are subject, by storing these waters up for the gradual and regular 

 supply of his canals. In addition to this he shares with Mr. Telford 

 the honour of first using iron in the construction of the troughs of 

 aqueducts, and for the heads, heel-posts and ribs of lock-gates, as 

 adopted on the Caledonian and Ellesmere canals. Memoir of 

 William Jessop, by Samuel Hughes, C.E. 



CAPTAIN HENKY KATER, F.E.S., &c. 



Born April 16, 1777. Died April 26, 1835. 



Captain Henry Kater, distinguished by his mathematical and 

 physical researches during the space of nearly half a century, was 

 born at Bristol ; his father was of a German family, and his mother 

 was the daughter of an eminent architect ; both were distinguished 

 for their scientific attainments, and united in imbuing their son 

 with a similar taste. Henry was, however, destined by his father 

 for the law. and had with great reluctance to give up for a time his 



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