Magnus Volk was a pioneer British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 electrical engineer. He is most notable for having built Volk's Electric Railway

Volk's Electric Railway

Volk's Electric Railway is the oldest operating electric railway in the world. It is a narrow gauge railway that runs along a length of the seafront of the English seaside resort of Brighton...

, the world's oldest extant electric railway. He also built the unique, but short lived, Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway

Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway

The Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway was a unique coastline railway in Brighton, England that ran through the shallow waters of the English Channel between 1896 and 1901.-Background and Construction:...

, together with its unusual Daddy Long Legs vehicle. In 1888, he built an electric car

Electric car

An electric car is an automobile which is propelled by electric motor, using electrical energy stored in batteries or another energy storage device. Electric cars were popular in the late-19th century and early 20th century, until advances in internal combustion engine technology and mass...

.

Magnus Volk was the son of a German clockmaker and was born on 19 October 1851 in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

. He lived at 38 Dyke Road in Brighton. On 8 April 1879, he married Anna Banfield in Burgess Hill

Burgess Hill

Burgess Hill is a civil parish and a town primarily located in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex, England, close to the border with East Sussex, on the edge of the South Downs National Park...

. George Herbert Volk

George Herbert Volk

George Herbert Volk , known as "Bert", was an automobile and general engineer noted as a pioneer builder of seaplanes...

, his second son, is noted as a pioneer builder of seaplane

Seaplane

A seaplane is a fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. Seaplanes that can also take off and land on airfields are a subclass called amphibian aircraft...

s, whilst another son, Conrad Volk, wrote a biography of his father. His Great Grandson is the musician Joe Volk

Joe Volk

-Solo:Volk is signed to Invada Records as a solo artist and released his debut album 'Derwent Waters Saint' in 2006. The album was recorded, engineered and produced by Adrian Utley, guitarist with the band Portishead...

.

Magnus Volk died in Brighton on 20 May 1937, and is buried at St Wulfran's

St Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean

St Wulfran's Church, dedicated to Wulfram of Sens, a 7th-century French archbishop, is an Anglican church in Ovingdean, a rural village now within the English city of Brighton and Hove...

 churchyard in Ovingdean

Ovingdean

Ovingdean is a small formerly agricultural village which was absorbed into the borough of Brighton, East Sussex, UK, in 1928, and now forms part of the city of Brighton and Hove. It has expanded through the growth of residential streets on its eastern and southern sides, and now has a population of...

near Brighton.

External links

• Magnus Volk in My Brighton and Hove site
• Volks Pioneer Animation Animation of 'Daddy Longlegs' seashore electric railway