HALCROW

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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4.7.1883 Sunderland/UK - 1.11.1958 Folkestone/UK

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Sir William Halcrow's career was a fine example in civil engineering; his practice was worldwide and the works he designed included docks and harbors, tunnels, road, rail and hydroelectric schemes. Apart from directing civil engineering projects, Halcrow served on many committees and advisory bodies. He was a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur and an Officier de l'Ordre d'Etoile Noir in France.

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William Thomson Halcrow was educated from 1903 at Edinburgh University. His early experience included engagement as an assistant on the design and construction of the Kinlochleven hydroelectric scheme and resident engineer of a pier in Pozzuoli, Italy. From 1910 he was involved in the King George V dry dock, Singapore. After World War I he founded the firm Sir William Halcrow and Partners. It was connected in the 1930s to the Highland water power scheme in the UK of which the 1951 note gives a summary. The success of this scheme was doubtless of great value to the progress of British hydro engineering during the difficult decade before World War II. Other hydro-electric works in which Halcrow was involved concerned schemes in Ireland, Jamaica, Venezuela and British Honduras. Halcrow was also known for tunneling and dock works. Among major harbor works were those in Beira, Tema and Tripoli in Africa. During the war years, Halcrow was responsible for protecting the Underground tunnels from flooding from the Thames through enemy action. Halcrow's firm gradually attained to its eminence in the late 1950s and ranked among the largest of the British consulting engineering organizations. Halcrow became president of the Institution of Civil Engineers ICE in the session 1946-47. His services in advisory committees included a chairmanship of the Hydraulics Research Board, and the Froude Tank Committee. He actively promoted the affairs of international bodies such as the World Power Conference WPC and the Permanent International Association of Navigation Congresses PIANC.

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_{Anonymous (1958). Sir William Thomson Halcrow. The Engineer 206: 728. P}

_{Anonymous (2004). Halcrow, Sir W.T. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 24: 499-500. Donkin, S.B., Halcrow, W., Lee, A.G.V. (1945). Report on the Severn Barrage. London. Halcrow, W. (1937). Presidential address. Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France Paris. Halcrow, W. (1951). The development of hydro-electric power schemes. Joint Engineering Conference: 147-151.}

_{Halcrow, W., Wilson, E.B., Roberts, C.M. (1953). Special features of the Affric hydro-electric scheme. Proc. Institution of Civil Engineers Part 1 2: 606-609.}