Oxford Dictionary of
National Biography
Harrison, Thomas Elliot (1808-1888)
civil and mechanical engineer
Harrison, Thomas Elliot (1808-1888), civil and mechanical engineer, was born on 4 April 1808 in Fulham, Middlesex, the son of William Harrison, an official at Somerset House.
Shortly after his birth his father moved to Sunderland in order to establish a shipbuilding firm and promote local mineral railways.
Thus Thomas was educated in Durham, a county for which he had great affection throughout his life, at Houghton-le-Spring grammar school.
Later, during an apprenticeship to William and Edward Chapman, civil engineers of Newcastle, he gained experience in dock construction for the coal trade.
Harrison's first connection with railways came as an assistant to T. L. Gooch (1808-1882) who was surveying part of the route of the London and Birmingham Railway for Robert Stephenson (1803-1859).
In 1832 Harrison became the engineer, with the support of Stephenson as consulting engineer, of the Stanhope and Tyne Railway and, two years later, of the Durham Junction Railway.
The outstanding Victoria Bridge over the River Wear was erected to Harrison's designs on the latter line between Penshaw and Washington.
This experience laid the foundations of his career and qualified him for the role of resident engineer under Robert Stephenson in the completion of the east coast rail route in England through the construction of the Newcastle and Darlington Junction and Newcastle and Berwick railways.
According to Stephenson, Harrison carried the main responsibility for the building of not only the lines but also the high level bridge across the Tyne and the Royal Border Bridge, Berwick.
With the amalgamation in 1849 of these and other lines, Harrison received the appointment of chief engineer and general manager of the York, Newcastle, and Berwick Railway.
In 1854 the York, Newcastle, and Berwick, York and North Midland, and Leeds Northern companies were consolidated into the North Eastern Railway, for which he was made chief engineer; he held the post for the rest of his life.
In the years that followed Harrison played a significant part in creating the largest railway territorial monopoly in the country through his contributions to the negotiations and parliamentary enquiries that accompanied the North Eastern's crucial mergers with the Newcastle and Carlisle (1862) and Stockton and Darlington (1863) companies.
In addition to the absorption of existing railways, the North Eastern further strengthened its position by providing improved services to the public in the form of new lines, such as the Team Valley and York to Doncaster, via Selby.
Harrison planned these and other lines, and the designs and estimates for the station at York, the company's administrative headquarters.
Harrison's performance as a mechanical engineer was less impressive than were his achievements in the field of civil engineering.
The rope and pulley device which he produced in the 1860s to provide communication between the passengers and crew of a moving train proved a failure.
More reprehensible, he submitted a paper to the royal commission on railway accidents of 1874-7 advising that the block system of signalling should be confined to junctions, sidings, and stations.
His opinion ran counter to the unequivocal advice of the railway inspectorate.
Further, the North Eastern was among the slowest of the major railways to replace its iron rails with steel.
In contrast to this comparative failure in some areas of mechanical engineering, under Harrison's guidance the North Eastern was in the vanguard among British railways in its use of both the Smith vacuum and Westinghouse air brakes.
Moreover, he demonstrated the advantages of hydraulic power in his designs for the gates of Tyne Dock, Jarrow, and the large swing bridge over the River Ouse on the direct line between Hull and Doncaster.
Harrison also sat on the royal commission on water supply, 1867-9, and gave evidence to the royal commission on railways, 1865-7.
He was consulting engineer of the London and South Western Railway and was much in demand as an arbitrator in disputes between railway companies.
A career in politics had no interest for him and the honour he valued above all others was his election as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1873.
He married twice: first to a Miss White of Whitburn and then to Sophia Jane Collinson, daughter of the Revd Collinson, rector of West Boldon.
There were two surviving sons and five daughters.
In his methodical and cautious approach, "Honest Tom" Harrison was the embodiment of the principles that prevailed in the management of the North Eastern and, to the benefit of a company whose position insulated it from many competitive pressures, he provided valuable links with the wider railway scene.
He died at home in Whitburn, near Sunderland, on 20 March 1888 of a heart attack, his second wife surviving him.
At the time of his death, Harrison was heavily involved in the designs for the Forth Bridge.
DAVID BROOKE
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