Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers; 1877 - responsible for the encasing of Cleopata's needle, the obelisk discovered at Alexandria before its transportation to London in 1878; nephew of John Dixon (1796-1865) of the Stockton & Darlington Railway. Apprenticed at Robert Stephenson & Co.; engineer at Consett Ironworks; went into business, restarting the ironworks at Bedlington; moved to London as railway engineer and contractor, including line from Shanghai to Woosung, in China (2ft 6in gauge), opened in 1876.