Richard Peacock

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Richard Peacock (April 9, 1820 - March 3, 1889) was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer-Peacock.

Contents 1 Early Life and Education 2 Career 3 Politics and Religion 4 Family 5 References 6 Bibliography

[edit] Early Life and 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.

[edit] 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.

In 1853, he joined Charles Beyer to found the celebrated locomotive company Beyer-Peacock. He had met Beyer through the acquisition of locomotives from Sharp Brothers, and through both being among the founders of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847^[1].

[edit] Politics and Religion

From the 1885 general election until his death in 1889, Peacock was Liberal Party MP for Manchester Gorton. Peacock was an Unitarian, and one of his contributions to the community in Gorton was the construction of Brookfield Church; a place of worship which still stands today, and whose bells are named after his children. Emily Faithfull the Victorian printer and women's rights activist dedicated her book "Three Visits To America" to her "Friend Richard Peacock Esq of Gorton Hall" in 1882.

[edit] Family

Peacock was married twice, firstly to Hannah Crowther, and secondly to Francis Littlewood. At the time of his death his eldest son Colonel Ralph Peacock V.D (1838-1928) of the Manchester Volunteer Artillery succeeded him at Gorton Foundry. Of his daughters the eldest one, Jane Peacock, (1855-1928) married William Taylor Birchenough J.P., a silk manufacturer who was elder brother of Sir Henry Birchenough. 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 Peacocks only other surviving son Frederick William Peacock (1858-1924).

He died in Manchester and is buried in the graveyard of Brookfield Church which he built and where the remains of Ralph Peacock and an earlier deceased son Joseph Peacock also lie.

[edit] References

1. ^ Lloyd, Backtrack, 2004, 18 710

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page
• Beyer Peacock Quarterly Review July 1927

[edit] Bibliography

• Ahrons, L.E. (1927) The British Steam Railway Locomotive 1825-1925
• Obituary - The Engineer, March 8, 1889.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by (new constituency)	Member of Parliament for Manchester Gorton 1885–1889	Succeeded by Sir William Mather