LINDLEY W

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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7.9.1808 London/UK - 22.5.1900 Putney/UK

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William Lindley was educated in Germany. On returning to England in 1827 he contributed to a number of railways projects. In 1837 and 1838 he continued similar works in Germany and in Italy. He spent the next two years with drainage works close to Hamburg. Following the great fire of Hamburg, Lindley became acquainted with municipal engineering, in particular with sewerage and water supply. Until 1860, he designed the public works of the city. The sewers were laid at a considerable depth to drain the subsoil and the cellars; it was from the beginning designed for the use of toilets on carrying off all sewage in a fresh condition. A complete system of artificial flushing was also adopted. These principles were novel at the time and criticized because of the cost. In 1860, when Lindley left Hamburg, some 11,000 houses were supplied with drinking water.

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Due to a serious illness, Lindley took his family to the south of France. In 1863 he was invited by the authorities of Frankfurt am Main to report on the drainage of that city, and from 1865 became the consulting engineer. The sewerage works were carried out until 1879 as previously for Hamburg. In contrast to Hamburg, the eggshaped profile was preferred for its improved hydraulic characteristics during the low discharge periods. When Lindley left Frankfurt, some 130 km of sewers were laid draining the water of almost 20,000 toilets. In parallel, Lindley was also involved as a consultant for the water supply and disposal projects of a number of European cities, notably Düsseldorf, Basel, Warsaw and St. Petersburg. The so-called Hamburg-Frankfurt system has become around 1900 typical for the cities of the German speaking Europe and for the United States. Lindley was not only an engineer but he generalized and included all aspects of a project, resulting in an overall success of his career.

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_{Anonymous (1900). William Lindley. Gesundheits-Ingenieur 23(1): 186-187.}

_{Anonymous (1900). William Lindley. Minutes Institution of Civil Engineers 142: 363-370. Drobek, W. (1954). Die Wasserversorgung in Hamburg seit 1848. Gas-Wasserfach 95(10): 297- 304. P}

_{Lindley, W. (1876). Canalisation de Francfort-sur-Mein. Adelmann: Francfort-sur-Mein. Mevius, W. (1997). William Lindley, ein Initiator der Wasserversorgungen europäischer Städte. Frontinus Gesellschaft 22: 181- 206. P}

_{Sbrzesny, W. (1959). William Lindley und die technische Hygiene. gwf/wasser-abwasser}

_{100(22): 541-545. P}