1. Charles Manby was Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers from November 1839 to 1856, and engineer of the first iron steamer to cross the English Channel.
22 Facts About Charles Manby
1. 2.
Aaron Charles Manby was a successful engineer building bridges, ships and engines.
3.
Charles Manby's father was the founder, and from 1812, the managing partner of the Horseley Ironworks at Tipton, Staffordshire.
4.
In 1817, Charles Manby began training as an engineer at the Ironworks working for such notable engineers as John Rennie and Thomas Telford.
5.
The ship was then reassembled with Charles Manby supervising the installation of the vessel's steam engine.
6.
In 1823 Charles Manby started work installing hydrogen gas pipes in Paris, employed by the French company Compagnie d'Carriage par de gaz Hydrogen; The company had been founded by Daniel Wilson and Charles Manby's father the year before.
7.
Still employed in France by his father, Charles Manby worked at a gas works at Ternes, then later reorganised the ironworks at Le Creusot.
8.
Charles Manby's fluency in the French language was an asset throughout his life.
9.
Charles Manby was then employed by the French government creating France's state-owned tobacco factories.
10.
Charles Manby then returned to the UK and took over the management of the Beaufort Iron Works in Beaufort, Blaenau Gwent where he married Ellen Jones in 1830.
11.
Charles Manby briefly managed the Bristol Iron Works, but in 1834 he moved to London and began practising there as a civil engineer.
12.
Charles Manby had become involved with the Arctic explorer Sir John Ross's India Steamship Company which he joined in 1838.
13.
Charles Manby then became Secretary of the Institution of Civil Engineers in November 1839, succeeding Thomas Webster.
14.
Charles Manby nominally retired from this role in 1856 and was awarded a testimonial, a prize and a purse of 2,000 pounds from the chairman Robert Stephenson.
15.
Charles Manby remained involved in the organisation and participated in its activities as Honorary Secretary until his death.
16.
Charles Manby helped Samuel Colt's company to create a factory in Pimlico to manufacture firearms.
17.
Colt had received a lot of interest in his revolvers at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and Charles Manby had been involved in the organisation of the exhibition arranging financial underwriting for Sir Robert Peel.
18.
Charles Manby negotiated a lease with the British Government which enabled Colt to go into full production three years later.
19.
In 1853 Charles Manby became a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1856 he became the London representative of locomotive manufacturer Robert Stephenson and Company.
20.
Charles Manby moved next door to Stephenson and travelled across Europe to represent the locomotive company using the contacts which he had created during his 17 years as secretary of the ICE.
21.
Charles Manby was chosen with James Rendel and John Robinson McClean to join the International Scientific Commission on the Suez Canal.
22.
Charles Manby died on 31 July 1884, at Ranelagh House, 10 Lower Grosvenor Place, London.