Presidential address

Reprinted from Min. Proc. Instn Civ. Engrs, 1858, vol. 17,128-152

In the 150 years of the Institution's proceedings, there have been a great many presidential addresses of note and significance. The choke of Joseph Locke's rests largely on his key place as one of the 'triumvirate of the engineering world' as the London Times once described him. Since the other two were Isambard Kingdom Brunei and Robert Stephenson, Locke's place in the pantheon of engineers can be seen to be of the highest. For all that, Locke has always been less well known than his great contemporaries, even though his close relationship with the contractor Thomas Brassey gave rise to the construction industry as it is now.