Thomas Sopwith (3 Jan 1803–16 Jan 1879) was an English mining engineer born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.[1]
Son of a cabinet maker, Sopwith maintained links with the family furniture and joinery business throughout his life. However, he soon became an illustrator of antiquities, then took up land and mineral surveying, and subsequently described himself as a civil engineer. He invented, and the family firm manufactured, an ingenious type of desk with all its drawers secured by a single lock, the 'monocleid', which won a prize at the 1851 Exhibition; an improved levelling stave; and wooden geological teaching models. He wrote a book on the Alston mining area [2], and two editions (1834, 1838) of a treatise on the use of the isometric projection for drawing surveys [3].
His association with northern lead mines owned by the Greenwich Hospital regularly took him to London to report to Parliament, and he built up contacts there, especially in the area of geology, where he became a fellow of the Geological Society (and its more exclusive Geological Club) in 1835, sponsored by John Phillips. He travelled widely, first by coach, then on the railways and left records of the times, prices, and conditions of travel in his diaries spanning the years from 1821-1878. [4]
He advocated the collection of mine surveys and was a founder of the Mining Record Office in 1838. He became a railway surveyor and worked with George Stephenson and Sir William Cubitt creating the French railway network. He was an early user of 3-dimensional models both for practical illustration of regional geology (Forest of Dean; Ebbw Vale; Nentberry) and for teaching, for which he produced sets (as recommended by Charles Lyell in his 1841 Elements of Geology) [5][6]
He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1845. his candidature citation read: Thomas Sopwith Esq FGS London, Memb Inst CE and Member of the Geological Society of France, Civil Engineer [of] St Marys Terrace Newcastle on Tyne. The Author of a Treatise on Isometric Drawing. The Inventor or improver of Methods of representing Mineral structure by dissected Models. [7]
He died in London and was buried at Norwood Cemetery. His son was a civil engineer and his grandson, also called Thomas Sopwith, founded the Sopwith Aviation Company