David Lennox 1788-1873 b Ayrshire d NSW

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Dennis
Posts: 828
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 6:58 pm

David Lennox 1788-1873 b Ayrshire d NSW

Post by Dennis » Sun Jan 30, 2011 9:33 pm

Hi,

I can find his death in NSW on FamilySearch but cannot find any record of his birth in Ayrshire in 1788. Cannot find his marriage to Jane or names of children.

34 NEW CIVIL ENGINEER 20.01.11 I http://www.nce.co.uk
ICE NEWS
CHRIMESWATCH
Will the new rail academy produce another Lennox?
By Mike Chrimes
On 1 December, one of those strange coincidences found me listening to Pete Waterman promoting the National Railway Skills Academy at the National Railway Heritage Awards just after I had read Peter Alsop's account of the early life of David Lennox (1788-1873). The government agreed to support the Academy on 16 November.
Waterman has devoted great personal effort to inspire a renaissance of training in the rail industry, the kind of training culture that would have been taken for granted a generation ago.
Lennox's career bears witness to the value of the transferable skills that training in the early days of civil engineering provided.
Lennox, born in Ayrshire in 1788, was trained as a stonemason, and for most of his early career worked on bridge projects associated with Thomas Telford, working under a number of contractors variously as a mason, stonecutter, and foreman mason. These included Menai, and the Over Bridge, Gloucester with its distinctive cornes de vaches arches modelled on the work of Perronet, the great French bridge engineer. At Over Bridge under Cargill Lennox had a position of responsibility, however, at the age of nearly 40 disaster struck in his personal life - his wife Jane died leaving him with sole responsibility for his children.
Lennox moved to London, probably initially to work at St Katharine Docks, but the general consensus was there was little prospect of advancement for a man in his early 40s at a time when civil engineering had yet to feel the impact of the demand of railways for skilled workers.
Armed with references from Telford and Cargill, Lennox emigrated to New South Wales, Australia, where there was a dearth of skilled workers with his experience.
Within a short space of time he was appointed Superintendent of Bridges for New South Wales at a salary of £120 per annum.
For the remainder of his career, in New South Wales and then Victoria, he was responsible for creating an infrastructure that was the equal of that of his British mentors. Much of this survives to this day.
Most striking was the Lansdowne Bridge (see above), which copied Telford's features from Gloucester.

regards dennis
Names of interest: Lennox McKenna Airth Skirving Veitch Laird Drysdale Bennett Colledge Baird Blades Barker Dow Mitchell Perkins Rielly Stewart Tulloch Wright Ure, Ritch Richardson, Whyte
Places of Interest: Dunbarney, Forfar, East London (S.Africa)

SarahND
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Re: David Lennox 1788-1873 b Ayrshire d NSW

Post by SarahND » Sun Jan 30, 2011 10:30 pm

Hello Dennis,

On familysearch.org there is this record:

Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950
name: David Lennox
gender: Male
baptism/christening date: 16 Feb 1788
baptism/christening place: OCHILTREE, AYR, SCOTLAND
father's name: Andrew Lennox
indexing project (batch) number: C11609-2
system origin: Scotland-VR
source film number: 1041401

All the best,
Sarah

Dennis
Posts: 828
Joined: Fri Mar 25, 2005 6:58 pm

Re: David Lennox 1788-1873 b Ayrshire d NSW

Post by Dennis » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:17 am

Hello Sarah,

How do I access Scotland Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950? does it require registering?

Okay, I see where you found it on FamilySearch https://www.familysearch.org/s/recordDe ... u8TUc%253D
Guess that I did have to register after all:)

BTW; thank you for the data :) dennis

I see he is here too:) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Lennox
Names of interest: Lennox McKenna Airth Skirving Veitch Laird Drysdale Bennett Colledge Baird Blades Barker Dow Mitchell Perkins Rielly Stewart Tulloch Wright Ure, Ritch Richardson, Whyte
Places of Interest: Dunbarney, Forfar, East London (S.Africa)

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