264 
The  late  C.  E.  Amos,  C.E. 
early  biography.  It  is,  however,  unnecessary  to  go  into  any 
minute  details,  as  these  have  already  been  given  in  a pamphlet 
that  has  recently  appeared.  It  will  therefore  be  sufficient  here 
to  state  that  he  was  born  at  March,  in  the  Isle  of  Ely,  in  1805, 
being  the  son  of  Mr.  Jonas  Amos,  by  Sarah,  daughter  of  Mr. 
Edward  Sharpe,  millwright,  of  that  town.  He  was  the  eldest 
of  a family  of  eight  children.  Shortly  after  his  birth  his  family 
removed  to  Wildmore-Fen,  Lincolnshire,  where  his  father 
became  farm-manager  to  a Mr.  Clements ; but  the  subject  of 
this  Memoir  remained  with  his  grandfather,  by  whom  he  was 
sent  to  school ; and  although  this  portion  of  his  education  was 
not  comprehensive,  his  innate  love  of  figures  soon  began  to 
show  itself.  Lie  was  prevented,  however,  by  the  bad  state  of 
the  roads  and  of  the  river  YValthan  in  those  days  from  con- 
tinuing regular  attendance  at  school,  and  thus  in  his  boyhood 
spent  many  hours  in  his  grandfather’s  factory,  where  he  im- 
bibed that  predilection  for  practical  mechanics  which  dis- 
tinguished him  in  after-life.  He  became  for  a time  engaged 
in  farming  operations,  and  when  about  twelve  years  old  lived 
on  the  farm  of  his  father’s  uncle,  Mr.  Edwards,  from  whom 
he  acquired  some  useful  knowledge  of  agricultural  affairs. 
His  father  shortly  after  accepted  the  post  of  farm-manager 
to  Mr.  Wm.  Bacon,  at  Upwell.  Here  the  future  agricultural 
consulting  engineer  went  through  all  the  practical  operations  of 
the  farm,  became  thoroughly  acquainted  with  agricultural  imple- 
ments, and  obtained  a knowledge  which  proved  so  valuable,  not 
only  to  himself,  but  to  agriculture  generally  in  later  years.  For 
two  years  he  was  engaged  on  the  farm  of  Admiral  (then 
Captain)  Morris,  of  Elm. 
At  the  age  of  about  eighteen  he  apprenticed  himself  to  Mr. 
John  Wilkinson,  millwright  and  machine-maker  at  Elm.  In 
this  position,  which  he  held  for  about  four  years,  he  became 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  construction  of  windmills  and 
sluice-work,  threshing-machines,  and  other  mechanism  incidental 
to  a country  business  and  an  agricultural  district. 
At  twenty-two  he  entered  a factory  at  Ramsey.  This  business 
was  almost  exclusively  confined  to  fen-work,  the  draining  of 
fens  being  mainly  done  by  the  use  of  windmills.  Finding  this 
class  of  machinery  too  limited,  and  the  work  too  monotonous, 
for  his  aspirations,  he  decided  to  increase  his  study  of  mechanics, 
and  entered  the  works  of  Mr.  John  Clark,  of  Houghton,  Hunts, 
where  he  gained  additional  experience  in  the  construction  of 
corn-mills,  water-wheels,  windmills,  and  tannery  and  brewing 
implements.  He  was  subsequently  engaged  to  superintend  the 
construction  of  steam-engines  and  other  machinery  for  paper- 
making, and  had  to  execute  not  only  various  novelties  and 
