c. 1811: book clerk under Jonathan Backhouse, one of the promoters of the Stockton & Darlington Railway; 1821 - took up surveying with George Stephenson; 1825 - went to the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway as resident engineer; 1827 surveyed the line across Chat Moss, Liverpool & Manchester Railway; at LMR put in charge of locomotives, where he contributed improvements; 1845 - returned to Darlington where he became a consulting engineer, including works, includeing the westward extension of the Stockton & Darlington Railway.