an interest, and even a part, in his business, he suffered much nervous exhaustion. In the spring of 1872 he appeared to rally, and was able to enter on his professional engagements with much of his former animation; but in August he was unexpectedly attacked with congestion of the lungs, and died on the 24th of the same month, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. Possessed of a sound and practical judgment, an enthusiastic love for his profession, an untiring zeal and perseverance, together with a uniform kindness and fatherly spirit to those under him, Nathaniel Beardmore was highly esteemed by his professional brethren and beloved by all. His strict integrity and honour threw a lustre on all his business engagements. In private life his habits were simple; he disclaimed all ceremony, and was of a reserved and retiring disposition, but was ever ready with kind advice both professionally and privately. Nor was his assistance confined to precept. No man was more genuinely or unobtrusively generous. Some noticeable traits in his character are ably described by a friend who writes, "I do not know any one who unites the same qualities that were united in him. High-minded, generous, and genial, and with all this so much practical sagacity and insight into the real and relative importance of things in this world, that one might always consult him with profit." His ready humour and originality rendered him very popular in society, and his courteous hospitality will be long remembered. He had a high appreciation for art, and a decided talent as an artist, and has left many enduring reminiscences of his travels in effective sketches, which he had a power of executing with wonderful rapidity. Mr. Beardmore was connected with the Institution of Civil Engineers for thirty-four years. In 1838 he entered as a Graduate, and soon afterwards designed a double telescope theodolite, a description of which he laid before the Institution.1 In 1846 he was elected a Member, in 1854 a Telford Medal was awarded him for his "Description of the Works executed on the River Lee," and in 1862 he became a Member of Council. He frequently attended the meetings, and took part in the discussions, and, always speaking to the point, was listened to with attention, MR. DAVID REID EDGEWORTH, the fourth son of Mr. Francis Edgeworth, was born at Edgeworthstown, Longford, on the 14th of 1 Vide Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. i., 1841, p. 96. 2 Vide Ibid., vol. xiv., p. 172. April, 1842. He was a nephew of the authoress, Maria Edgeworth, and a grandson of R. L. Edgeworth. Educated at home with his three brothers till his fourteenth year, he entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman in the summer of 1855, coming out first at the entrance examination. After a service of a year and a half, partly spent in H.M.S.'Firebrand' at the Crimea, he left the Navy, disliking the monotony of the life. He was then articled to Mr. G. W. Hemans, Vice-President Inst. C.E., and on the termination of his pupilage, in 1860, he was employed by Mr. Hemans on various lines of railway in Ireland, being successively Assistant Engineer for one year on the Longford and Sligo railway, then for two years Resident Engineer on the Streamstown and Clara railway, next, for one year in the same capacity on the Athenry and Ennis railway, and, afterwards, for a year and a half District Engineer on the Enniskillen, Bundoran, and Sligo railway. Towards the close of the year 1865 he commenced business on his own account, and latterly became interested in the reclamation and cultivation of lands on the coast of Wexford. He died on the 14th of October, 1871, from bronchial inflammation, induced by exertions during bad weather, while inspecting reclamation works, which his constitution was too delicate to resist. Mr. Edgeworth was elected a Member of the Institution on the 4th of February, 1868. He was a man of energy and ability, possessed some of the mechanical ingenuity for which his grandfather had been remarkable, and invented a machine for rapidly measuring distances. His keen intellect was incessantly on the alert, and his loss was greatly felt by all those connected with him either by business or social ties. MR. JOHN MORTIMER HEPPEL was born at Taplow, Bucks, on the 23rd of December, 1817. He was the eldest son of Mr. George Hastings Heppel, a proprietor of paper mills in that neighbourhood. His childhood was passed at the house of his grandfather, at Bayswater, where he remained until he reached the age of six. He then returned to his parents, who in the meantime had removed to London, where his father had been elected common councilman for the ward of Broad Street. When nine years old he was sent to Merchant Taylor's School, and on leaving it at sixteen he attended classes at the London University, where he gained a prize for natural philosophy. Mr. Heppel commenced his engineering education at the age of seventeen, under Mr. G. P. Bidder, Past-President Inst. C.E., at the West India Dock Quay, and subsequently entered the workshops of Messrs. Rennie as a pupil, remaining there for two years. After having been employed on the Northern and Eastern, and several other English railways, he entered into partnership with Mr. Moser, a German gentleman, in establishing an engineering factory at Aachen. Mr. Moser had been previously engaged by Mr. Robert Stephenson in connection with the station pumping machinery of the then London and Birmingham railway; and afterwards with the machinery of the Blackwall railway. In 1847 the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Heppel returned to England, taking an appointment under Mr. Bidder on the North Staffordshire railway. While here he was associated with Mr. Phipps, M. Inst. C.E., in carrying out a series of experiments on the Stone canal, at the request of Mr. Bidder, in propelling canal boats by steam or other power instead of by horse power. After this Mr. Heppel was employed by Mr. Bidder about the early designs for the Victoria Docks, including the iron gates and caissons, then a novelty. On the conclusion of this engagement he remained in London until the year 1852, and during this time was occupied, among other works, in the investigation of the subject of the embankment and rectification of the River Tyne, for the late Mr. J. M. Rendel, Past-President Inst. C.E., resulting in an able report, equally characterised by sound theoretical reasoning and by practical recommendations, and which offers a good example of his ability in the application of mathematical principles to engineering questions. In 1852 Mr. Heppel accepted an appointment with Mr. Phipps, on the Western railway of Switzerland, a line in the Canton de Vaud, from Morges to Lausanne, and thence to Yverdun. Prior to its completion this work fell into litigation, and he then took charge of the Eastern railway of Switzerland for Mr. Hemans, Vice-President Inst. C.E., during which time he lived at Coire. Returning to England in the spring of 1856, he was engaged in reporting on lines of railway in Algiers and at Riga. About this time Mr. Heppel was consulted by Mr. Edwin Clark, M. Inst. C.E., on the practical working of the scheme for docking vessels for repairs in the Victoria (London) Docks by the hydraulic lift.1 In designing these works it became an important matter so to arrange the assemblages of hydraulic presses as to include within them the variable position of the general centre of gravity occasioned by having to deal with vessels of different dimensions. This was accomplished by Mr. Heppel by the division of the presses into 1 Vide Minutes of Proceedings Iust. C.E., vol. xxvi., p. 292. three separate groups, each of which lifted from its own centre of pressure, and acted similarly to lifting by three cords or chains, so that as long as the centre of gravity of the mass to be lifted lay within the triangle of which these formed the angles, perfect stability was ensured. In the month of May, 1857, on the resignation of Mr. G. B. Bruce, M. Inst. C.E., Mr. Heppel was appointed Chief Engineer on the Madras Railway, and left London for Madras in July. He held this appointment for four years, and on his departure from Madras an order in council was passed commending his services. After his return to England these services were honourably mentioned by the late General Sim, in a report stating that the work designed and completed under his superintendence was not only cheap but excellent, and completed within the estimates. This was his last permanent engagement abroad, though he was continually occupied in reporting on engineering works both in the United Kingdom and on the Continent; an avocation for which his general knowledge as an engineer, his powers as a linguist, his capability of roughing it with small care for ease and comfort, and, it may be added, his gentlemanly and independent bearing, eminently fitted him. In 1864 Mr. Heppel was appointed Consulting Engineer to the International Contract Company, and, in 1865, Engineer to the Peruvian railway. In 1866 he became Consulting Engineer to the Oude and Rohilkund railway, in which post his services, particularly in the improvement of the permanent way, were of an important character, and acknowledged as such by the company. He retained this appointment until his death, and some large bridges from his designs were then in course of construction. Mr. Heppel joined the Institution as an Associate on the 20th of April, 1835, was elected a Graduate on January the 9th, 1838, and was transferred to the class of Member on the 11th of February, 1851. He contributed to the Proceedings Papers on the following subjects: "On the Relation between the Velocity and the Resistance encountered by Bodies moving through Fluids," for which he received a Telford Premium of Books; "On the relative proportions of the Top, Bottom, and Middle Webs of Iron Girders and Tubes," "2 for which he was awarded a Telford Medal; "On a Method of Computing the Strains and Deflections of Continuous 1 Vide Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. v., p. 266. 2 Vide Ibid., vol. xv., p. 155. Beams under various conditions of Load;"1 "On the Expansive Action of Steam ;" and "On the Closing of Reclamation Banks,”* for which he received a Telford Premium of Books. In 1869 he wrote a Paper "On the Theory of Continuous Beams," which was read before the Royal Society; and on this and other scientific subjects corresponded with the élite of the philosophical world, abroad as well as at home, by whom the originality and ability of his views were fully acknowledged. Mr. Heppel invented several pieces of mechanism, the last being a water-meter, which was much commended. He took great interest in the plan of locomotion known as Fell's, and made some important suggestions for the improvement of the engines on the Mont Cenis railway. His opinion was sought by Mr. Bouch on the scheme for the railway bridge over the Forth, which he supported by able evidence before the Parliamentary Committee. Mr. Heppel married, on the 21st of August, 1843, Elizabeth Mary, second daughter of the late Mr. Gosset, a surgeon of repute in Old Broad Street, by whom he has left a family of seven sons and three daughters. He was highly esteemed, both in private and professional life, by a large circle of friends, for his integrity and high principles. It may fairly be said that he combined within himself an unusually large amount of practical and theoretical information. Few men were more accessible; he always took great interest in scientific subjects, and was ever ready to afford the aid of his high mathematical powers to his less gifted friends. Finally, he was most averse to empiricism, all of his conclusions being founded upon the well-accepted and recognised truths of philosophy. Early in 1871 Mr. Heppel was attacked by a severe cold, and soon afterwards showed symptoms of consumption. In January, 1872, he attended for the last time, and spoke at, a meeting of The Institution of Civil Engineers. He died on the 21st of March, 1872, in the 55th year of his age, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. MR. DURAND KERSHAW was born on the 6th November, 1821. 1 Vide Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xix., p. 625. 2 Vide Ibid., vol. vi., p. 316 3 Vide Ibid., vol. xxiii., p. 168. |