Louis Harper

Louis Harper (23 April 1868[1] – 26 January 1940) was a civil engineer from the north-east of Scotland who designed a number of suspension footbridges towards the end of the 19th century.[2]

For the Quebec politician, see Louis George Harper. For the American football coach, see Louis J. Harper.

1895 bridge over the River Wye at Sellack Boat, near Ross-on-Wye
Name plate on Sellack Boat bridge

Harper was born in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire,[3] to John Harper and Margaret Ross.[4] His father came from Turriff in Aberdeenshire, and worked as a fencer in Edinburgh and Glasgow before starting the family firm in Aberdeen in 1856, which became Harpers Ltd in 1885. John Harper patented a mechanism for straining wire, used both to make fences and later also for the cables of bridges. His son John took charge of the business until 1887, while his second son Louis served an apprenticeship with Jenkins & Mar, Civil Engineers.[2]

Louis set up his own firm in 1889, later collaborating with the contractors James Abernethy & Co. In addition to his bridge projects, he assisted Aberdeen Council in surveying their town water scheme. He became an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1893, resigning in 1921.[5]

The firm's early bridges included suspension bridges at Aboyne, spanning 300 feet (91 m), and at Shocklach in Cheshire, both built in 1871. Neither bridge exists today. The early bridges had wooden towers, although these were replaced in later bridges by structural steel or cast iron members.[2]

He died in Aberdeen in 1940.[6]

Later bridges

A number of other bridges are proposed as having been designed by Louis Harper at the Harper Bridges website, although in the absence of clear documentary evidence, they are not listed above.

gollark: It seems like the problem here might be lack of systems to track and respond to demand, since I think lots of people probably would be willing to pay some money for a ventilator to be available if they need it during this pandemic.
gollark: Ones higher than LEO will stick around for a while. They won't *work* for a hundred years though.
gollark: I imagine you can probably pick out lots of bad things in any generation's time-spent-growing-up.
gollark: Cool how .money is a top level domain.
gollark: Just put all the ideologies in an arena and see who comes out alive.

References
  1. UK, Civil Engineer Records, 1820-1930
  2. Harper, D.R., Day, T.M. (1 May 2010). "The 19th-Century Suspension Footbridges of Harpers of Aberdeen". Industrial Archaeology Review. 32 (1): 21–34. doi:10.1179/174581910X12680800821413.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. 1901 Scotland Census
  4. Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
  5. Archives of the Institution of Civil Engineers, including Louis Harper's application for membership as A.M.I.C.E.
  6. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
  • River, Railway and Ravine; foot suspension bridges for Empire. Douglas Harper 2015, The History Press ISBN 978 0 75096213 1 164pp.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.