Background
Thomas Hawksley was born on the 12th of July, 1807 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom.
Thomas Hawksley was born on the 12th of July, 1807 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom.
Hawksley was, with John Frederick Bateman, the leading British water engineer of the nineteenth century and was personally responsible for upwards of 150 water-supply schemes, in the British Isles and overseas. Locally, he remains particularly associated with schemes in his home county. This scheme delivered Britain"s first high pressure "constant supply", preventing contamination entering the supply of clean water mains.
Hawksley first rose to national prominence at the time of the health of towns inquiry in 1844.
His advocacy of a constant supply of water to consumers brought him immediate acclaim. This approach led him to be appointed to many major water supply projects across England, including schemes for Liverpool, Sheffield, Leicester, Lincoln, Leeds, Derby, Darlington, Oxford, Cambridge, Sunderland, Wakefield and Northampton.
He also undertook drainage projects, including schemes for Birmingham, Worcester and Windsor. In 1852, Hawksley set up his own engineering practice in Westminster, London.
Between 1869 and 1879, Hawksley acted as consultant to the construction of Lindley Wood, Swinsty and Fewston reservoirs for the Leeds Waterworks Company.
At Tunstall Reservoir in 1876, and at Cowm Reservoir in 1877-1878, he is credited with the first two uses of pressure grouting to control water leakage under an embankment dam. Glossop comments, "This procedure of rock grouting, which is now standard practice in dam construction, was an invention of the greatest importance to engineering practice, but its adoption by civil engineers was slow."
Thomas Hawksley was a member of the Royal Society.