xliii 



engineer, at Manchester, in 1833. Here he had the good fortune to 

 make the acquaintance of the eminent engineer, Mr. Fairbairn (after- 

 wards Sir William Fairbairn, Bart., F.R.S.), who quickly saw the 

 young man's merits, and formed a warm friendship with him, which 

 resulted some years later in the marriage of Mr. Bateman with Mr. 

 Fairbairn's daughter Anne. 



In 1835 Mr. Fairbairn was applied to by the millowners on the 

 River Bann, in County Down, Ireland, to examine the locality, and to 

 report on the best means of improving the water power, which was 

 in a very unsatisfactory state. Knowing that his young protege had 

 paid attention to water questions, he thought this would be a good 

 means of bringing him forward, and he accordingly undertook the 

 commission, associating Mr. Bateman with him in the work. In 

 January, 1836, a report was published, signed by Mr. Fairbairn 

 and Mr. Bateman jointly, giving full scientific calculations as to 

 the hydraulic elements of the case, and recommending the construc- 

 tion of large reservoirs, and other works. An Act of Parliament was 

 at once obtained, and in the course of the three following years the 

 works were carried into execution, the designing and construction 

 of the whole being entrusted, at Mr. Fairbairn's request, entirely to 

 Mr. Bateman. 



This work established Mr. Bateman's reputation as a hydraulic 

 engineer, and led a few years later to his employment on a much 

 larger and more important work, namely, the provision of an 

 entirely new water supply, on the largest scale, for the city of Man- 

 chester. The town had previously been supplied by a private Company 

 from sources near the town, but about 1844, when public attention 

 became prominently directed to the sanitary condition of large towns, 

 the supply was found so defective, that it was evident some extensive 

 improvements must be made, and in that year Mr. Bateman was 

 requested to advise the Company generally on the matter. 



In the course of his work on the Bann Reservoirs, and in some 

 subsequent practice in the Lancashire district, he . had paid great 

 attention to the mode of supply by impounding the rainfall in hilly 

 districts, and to the data necessary for determining the capabilities of 

 the system. He had become acquainted with the country surrounding 

 Manchester, and had formed a strong opinion that the best source of 

 supply would be by an application of the system to the hilly district 

 lying to the east of the town, and in June, 1 846, he made a report 

 strongly recommending this scheme. He said : — " Within ten or twelve 

 miles of Manchester, and six or seven miles from the present Gorton 

 Reservoir (then supplying the town), there is a tract of mountain 

 land abounding with springs of the purest quality. The physical 

 and geological features offer such peculiar facilities for the collection, 

 storage, and supply of water for the use of the towns in the plains 



