1832 - apprenticed to Sir William Fairbairn and went to Manchester. 1838 - elected an Associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 1843 - appointed Assistant Chief Engineer of Woolwich dockyard. 1844 - received the Telford Medal from the Institution of Civil Engineers. 1846 - appointed Chief Engineer of Portsmouth Dockyard. 1847 - elected Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. 1853 - appointed a member of a committee on the keeping of manufacturing accounts in Her Majesty’s dockyards. 1858 - made a member of the Committee on Dockyard Economy. 1869 - left Portsmouth and was appointed Inspector of Factories and Consulting Engineer to the Admiralty at Whitehall. Made a Civil Companion of the Order of the Bath. 1870 - retired from Government service.