William Chadwell Mylne
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
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engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
.
He was descended from a Scottish family of masons and architects, and was the second son of Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne
Robert Mylne was a Scottish architect and civil engineer, particularly remembered for his design for Blackfriars Bridge in London. Born and raised in Edinburgh, he travelled to Europe as a young man, studying architecture in Rome under Piranesi...
(1733–1811), surveyor to the New River Company
New River (England)
The New River is an artificial waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from the River Lea and from Amwell Springs , and other springs and wells along its course....
, and builder of the first Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge
Blackfriars Bridge is a road and foot traffic bridge over the River Thames in London, between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge, carrying the A201 road. The north end is near the Inns of Court and Temple Church, along with Blackfriars station...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Initially, William's elder brother Robert was intended to take over his father's business, but when Robert opted for a military career, William began to assist his father, surveying land for the Eau Brink Cut, on the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
, in 1797. He also undertook work on the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal
Gloucester and Sharpness Canal
The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal or Gloucester and Berkeley Canal is a canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness; for much of its length it runs close to the tidal River Severn, but cuts off a significant loop in the river, at a once-dangerous bend near Arlingham...
. In 1804 he was employed by the New River Company as assistant to his father, and upon his father's retirement in November 1810, he became chief engineer of the Company, a post he held until 1861.
From 1819 Mylne was engaged in laying out residential streets on the New River Company's property at Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell is an area of central London in the London Borough of Islington. From 1900 to 1965 it was part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury. The well after which it was named was rediscovered in 1924. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance...
, including Myddelton Square, Amwell Street, Inglebert Street, and River Street. Mylne later designed the gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
St Mark's Church in Myddelton Square (1826–1828), and Clerkenwell Parochial Charity Schools (1828).
Mylne designed several bridges, including the iron Garret Hostel Bridge in Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
(1835–1837, demolished 1960), and repairs to the Caversham Bridge
Caversham Bridge
Caversham Bridge is a bridge across the River Thames between Caversham and the town centre of Reading. The bridge is situated on the reach above Caversham Lock, carrying the A4155 road across the river and also providing pedestrian access to the adjacent mid-river Pipers Island.The first bridge on...
in Reading
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
(1815). He also entered the 1827 competition to design Clifton Bridge
Clifton Suspension Bridge
Brunel died in 1859, without seeing the completion of the bridge. Brunel's colleagues in the Institution of Civil Engineers felt that completion of the Bridge would be a fitting memorial, and started to raise new funds...
in Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. Other architectural works include a card room at Stationers' Hall, London, Harpole
Harpole
Harpole Northamptonshire, England, is a village west of Northampton, in the district council area of South Northamptonshire where it is part of Harpole and Grange ward, together with the parishes of Milton Malsor, Kislingbury, Rothersthorpe and Gayton. It is within the area of Northamptonshire...
Rectory in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
(1826), and his own home, Flint House, Great Amwell (1842–1844).
Mylne was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
in 1826. He was a member of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers
Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers
The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers was founded in 1771, and was originally known as the Society of Civil Engineers, being renamed following its founder's death...
from 1811, serving as treasurer from 1822 until his death, and as president in 1842 and 1859. He joined the Institute of British Architects
Riba
Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...
on its foundation in 1834, and the Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Civil Engineers
Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...
in 1842.
He gave evidence to Edwin Chadwick
Edwin Chadwick
Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB was an English social reformer, noted for his work to reform the Poor Laws and improve sanitary conditions and public health...
's Health of Towns reports of 1844-1845.
He died in Great Amwell. He had married Mary Smith, the daughter of George Coxhead and had three sons and three daughters. One son, Robert William Mylne
Robert William Mylne
Robert William Mylne, FRS was a British architect, civil engineer and geologist.He was born in Great Amwell, Hertfordshire, the son of William Chadwell Mylne and grandson of Robert Mylne , both of whom were chief engineers of the New River Company.Robert William himself also practiced as an...
, FRS (1817–1890) also became an architect and geologist.