The life and times of Arthur Brome Wilson, canal engineer

Arthur Brome Wilson (1866–1944) was a civil engineer with a special interest in canals. This paper records his life including his genealogy, training, career both in the UK and in North and Central America and his specialist military service (1918–1922). His major project in the UK involved extensive repairs to the Thames–Severn Canal in Gloucestershire in 1901–1905. Owned at the time by Gloucestershire County Council, extensive records and correspondence for this project survive and have been consulted by the authors. Wilson pioneered the use of concrete for lining the canal summit, particularly for construction of the Sapperton Tunnel where geological challenges led to extensive leakages. The paper demonstrates some of the difficulties in researching a little-known peripatetic engineer and illustrates the professional challenges faced by an independent civil engineer during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.