1. Sir Daniel Gooch, 1st Baronet was an English railway locomotive and transatlantic cable engineer.
15 Facts About Daniel Gooch
1. 2.
Daniel Gooch was the first Superintendent of Locomotive Engines on the Great Western Railway from 1837 to 1864 and its chairman from 1865 until his death in 1889.
3.
Between 1865 and 1885 Gooch was Conservative MP for Cricklade.
4.
Daniel Gooch was born in Bedlington, Northumberland, the son of John Daniel Gooch, an iron founder, and his wife, Anna Longridge.
5.
In 1831 his family moved to Tredegar Ironworks, Monmouthshire, South Wales, where his father had accepted a managerial post, and it was there that Daniel Gooch would begin training under Thomas Ellis senior, who together with Ironmaster Samuel Homfray and Richard Trevithick pioneered steam railway locomotion.
6.
Daniel Gooch trained in engineering with a variety of companies, including a period with Robert Stephenson and Company, in Newcastle upon Tyne, as a draughtsman.
7.
Daniel Gooch stayed in touch with Margaret when he moved south to work for Brunel.
8.
In 1843 Daniel Gooch introduced a new form of locomotive valve gear.
9.
From 1859, Daniel Gooch lived at Clewer Park in Windsor and was a Deputy Lieutenant for Berkshire.
10.
Daniel Gooch was chief engineer of the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company.
11.
In 1865, while out of the country laying the cable, Daniel Gooch was elected Conservative MP for Cricklade.
12.
In 1866 Daniel Gooch was created a baronet in recognition of his cable work.
13.
Daniel Gooch led the Great Western Railway out of near-bankruptcy and took a particular interest in construction of the Severn Tunnel.
14.
Daniel Gooch married Margaret Tanner in 1838; they had six children: Anna, Emily, Henry, Charles, Alfred and Frank.
15.
Daniel Gooch's grandson, named Daniel, briefly served as dog handler on Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition.