author
Sir E. W. (Edward William) Watkin
1819–1901
A driven Victorian railway magnate and Member of Parliament, he spent his life backing huge transport schemes and bold engineering projects. He is often remembered for the ambitious plans that carried his name, including the unfinished Watkin's Tower at Wembley.
1 Audiobook
Canada and the States
by Sir E. W. (Edward William) Watkin
About the author
Born in Salford on 26 September 1819, he became one of the most influential railway promoters in 19th-century Britain. After early work in his father's business, he moved into railway management in the 1840s and built a reputation as an energetic organizer with grand ideas.
Over the years he served as chairman or director of several major railways, and his career was closely tied to the rapid expansion of the rail network in Britain. He also sat in Parliament and was created a baronet. His projects reflected a taste for scale and spectacle, including support for a Channel Tunnel scheme and the tower planned for Wembley Park that became known as Watkin's Tower.
He died on 13 April 1901. Today he stands out as a vivid example of the railway age at its most ambitious: practical, political, and always thinking bigger than the map in front of him.