Richard Peacock was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer-Peacock.
Education
Born in Swaledale, Richard Peacock was educated at Leeds Grammar School but at 14 left to be apprenticed at Fenton, Murray and Jackson in Leeds. In this role he was responsible for founding the Gorton locomotive works for this railway, although he had left the firm shortly before they were completed in 1848.
Career
At 18 Peacock was a precocious locomotive superintendent on the Leeds and Selby Railway. When the line was acquired by the York and North Midland Railway in 1840 he worked under Daniel Gooch at Swindon, but reputedly fled to escape Gooch"s wrath. In 1841, he became the Locomotive Superintendent of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway, subsequently the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway from 1847.
In 1847 Peacock was present with Charles Beyer at a meeting at Lickey Incline which it is generally acknowledged gave birth to the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
George Stephenson was elected as first president and Charles Beyer as a vice president In 1853, he joined Charles Beyer to found the celebrated locomotive company Beyer-Peacock.
Peacock had originally met Beyer through the acquisition of locomotives from Sharp Brothers, and as mentioned earlier through both being among the founders of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847. From the 1885 general election until his death in 1889, Peacock was Liberal Party Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Gorton division of Lancashire.
During his period in parliament Peacock was in favour of Home Rule, of the reform of the House of Lords, the disestablishment and disendowment of the church and the establishment of local self-government.
Peacock was the son of Ralph Peacock, a mines supervisor from Swaledale, Yorkshire and Dorothy Robinson. Peacocks grandson Richard Peacock Birchenough married Dorothy Grace Godsal, daughter of Philip Thomas Godsal, the inventor of the Godsal anti tank rifle. Peacocks youngest daughter, Eugenie, married George P. Dawson, who succeeded Colonel Peacock as Managing Director on the formation of the new Beyer, Peacock and Company Limited in 1902.
Colonel Ralph Peacock died without issue as did Richard Peacock"s only other surviving son Frederick William Peacock (1858–1924).
He died in Manchester and is buried in the Peacock Mausoleum in the graveyard of Brookfield Unitarian Church, Hyde Road, Gorton which he built. The graveyard also holds the remains of Ralph Peacock and an earlier deceased son Joseph Peacock also lie.
Membership
23rd United Kingdom Parliament. 24th United Kingdom Parliament]
Peacock became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849.