10 Facts About William Halcrow

Sir William Halcrow was one of the most notable English civil engineers of the 20th century, particularly renowned for his expertise in the design of tunnels and for projects during the Second World War.

William Halcrow joined the London-based firm of PW and CS Meik as a pupil in the early 1900s and one of his earliest projects was the Kinlochleven hydroelectric scheme in the Western Highlands of Scotland, where he worked as assistant resident engineer.

William Halcrow's responsibilities extended to tunnels under Whitehall and tunnels for the Post Office and telecommunications.

William Halcrow helped design deep air raid shelters, eight of which were attached to existing stations such as Goodge Street tube station.

William Halcrow's expertise was used in preparatory works at the Manod slate quarry in north Wales, used to keep treasures from the National Gallery, London safe from enemy air raids.

William Halcrow's firm was involved in designing the reinforced concrete caissons used for the Mulberry Harbours employed after D-Day in northern France, while his knowledge of dam construction was used by Barnes Wallis to help perfect the 'bouncing bomb' used in the famous Operation Chastise or Dam Busters raids of July 1943.

William Halcrow was instrumental in persuading the UK government to set up a hydraulics research laboratory at Wallingford in Oxfordshire, while his colleagues were designing railway tunnels at Potters Bar and the earlier Woodhead Tunnel and starting work on the new Victoria line underground line beneath central London.

Overseas, William Halcrow led the company to work on a wide range of engineering projects, from roads, bridges and harbours in Ghana, Libya and Mozambique to dams in Venezuela and a power station in Buenos Aires.

William Halcrow was knighted in 1944, and elected as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1946.

William Halcrow retired in the late 1950s and died in Folkestone, Kent in 1958.