William Barton Worthington

William Barton Worthington (1854–1939) was a British railway civil engineer. After four years at Owen’s College, London University, he was articled to his father, S. B. Worthington, then Engineer of the Northern Division of the London & North Western Railway. He subsequently spent a year on the Carlisle Joint Station reconstruction works and a further year assisting Messrs Blyth and Cunningham of Edinburgh on Caledonian Railway projects.

In 1878 Worthington was appointed apprentice resident engineer for the London & North Western Railway on new works in and around Manchester. He became an assistant to S. B. Worthington in 1883, and in 1886 was appointed Engineer of the Lancashire Division of the London & North Western Railway. He joined the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway in 1890 as Assistant Engineer and was promoted to Chief Engineer in 1897. In 1905 he became Chief Engineer of the Midland Railway.

Following his retirement in 1915, Worthington practised as a consulting civil engineer in London. He was elected President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1917 but was prevented by illness from taking up office; he later served as President in 1921–22 and remained on the Council until November 1927. He received an honorary D.Sc. from Manchester University in 1923, served as Chairman of the Engineering Joint Council in 1922–23, and was President of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers in 1928. He was also a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (elected 1897).