George Watson Buck (1789-1854) was Engineer of the Montgomeryshire Canal in the early 19th Century, and was responsible for the unique lock paddle design.
He was later resident engineer during the building of the London and Birmingham Railway, and later designed Stockport Viaduct on the Manchester and Birmingham Railway.
He was born at Stoke Holy Cross, near Norwich, on 1 April 1789. He worked for a wholesaler at Tower Hill, London before obtaining a position at Old Ford Pumping Station. He later worked as resident engineer on the Farlington water supply scheme near Portsmouth.
He was appointed Engineer of the Eastern Branch of the Montgomeryshire Canal in 1819. He was responsible for the rebuilding of various bridges, the replacement of lock gates in cast iron, and rebuilding of the Brithdir Aqueduct. In 1821 he designed the waterwheel used to pump water from the River Severn at Newtown to the top pound of the Western Branch. He introduced the distinctive lock paddle gear to the Eastern Branch in 1831. In 1832 he was appointed Engineer of the Western Branch.
In December 1833 Buck left canal employment to join Robert Stephenson's team building the London and Birmingham Railway. In 1838 he became solely responsible for building the railway from Manchester to Crewe. In 1839 he published a work entitled A Practical and Theoretical Essay on Oblique Bridges in which he was the first to apply trigonometry to the design of the skew arch railway bridge.[1][2]
In the mid 1840s he retired due to ill health.
Today a boat is named after him which operates from Llanymynech Wharf on the Montgomery Canal.