William Etheridge

William Etheridge (baptised 3 January 1708[1] – 3 October 1776) was an English civil engineer and architect, best known for his work on several wooden bridges of mathematical design.

Biography

William Etheridge was born around 1708 in a small village of Fressingfield, Suffolk, England.[2][3] His parents were Charles Etheridge and Elizabeth Brett.[3] He came from a long line of carpenters from Fressingfield and Stradbroke.[4]

From 1744–1749, he worked on the supporting wooden structures during the construction of the Westminster Bridge, first as a foreman and then as the master carpenter.[5]

Around 1748, he designed Old Walton Bridge.[2]

Sometime before 1750, he designed the Old Bridge at Coleraine, Northern Ireland.[6]

In 1752, George Semple consulted Etheridge on the rebuilding of Essex Bridge in Dublin.[7]

Etheridge died on the 3 October 1776 in Westminster.[2][3][8]

Westminster Bridge
Further information: Westminster Bridge § History

Old Walton Bridge
Main article: Old Walton Bridge

In 1747, businessman and plantation owner Samuel Dicker moved from Jamaica to a newly acquired estate in Mount Felix near Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England. In order to facilitate easier access to his new home, he lobbied for an Act of Parliament granting him rights to build a bridge and collect tolls on the spot.[2][9]

The resulting latticework wooden bridge, known as Old Walton Bridge was designed by William Etheridge and built by Mr White of Weybridge between 1748 and 1750. When it opened, its central span of 130 feet was the longest in Britain (succeeded in 1756 by William Edwards's 140 feet long single-arch Pontypridd Bridge).[8] At the time, it was widely admired for its "strength, contrivance and remarkable great arch" and was even dubbed "the most beautiful wooden arch in the world" by one observer.[2]

The bridge was depicted by contemporary painters, most famously in two pictures by Canaletto.[2]

Despite Dicker's initial projections of 200 years lifetime, a 1778 survey found the bridge to be severely decayed.[2][8] It was soon demolished and replaced by a brick-and-stone version built in 1783–1786.[2][8]

Mathematical Bridge
Main article: Mathematical Bridge

Old Coleraine Bridge

Sometime before 1750, Etheridge designed the Old Bridge over River Bann at Coleraine, Northern Ireland.[6] It was a timber construction on masonry piers, replacing an earlier bridge damaged in 1732.[6]

Notes
  1. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975
  2. "Mount Felix". Archived from the original on 23 December 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  3. "William Etheridge". Ancestry.com. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  4. "The Bridge in Winter". Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  5. Cross-Rudkin 2002b, p. 217
  6. "Co. Derry, Coleraine, Bridge over River Bann". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Irish Architectural Archive. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  7. "Etheridge, William". Dictionary of Irish Architects. Irish Architectural Archive. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  8. Cross-Rudkin 2002b, p. 218
  9. Walton-Shepperton Bridge (Building and Tolls) Act 1746, see List of Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, 1740–59; the Act is commonly cited as "20 Geo. 2 c. 22", which means "22nd Act passed during the session that started in the 20th year of the reign of George II"
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References
  • Peter Cross-Rudkin (2002a). "Essex, James". In Alec Skempton (ed.). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830. London: Thomas Telford Publishing. pp. 216–217. ISBN 9780727729392.
  • Peter Cross-Rudkin (2002b). "Etheridge, William". In Alec Skempton (ed.). A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland: 1500-1830. London: Thomas Telford Publishing. pp. 217–218. ISBN 9780727729392.
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