George Parker Bidder started life in lower class provincial obscurity. An arithmetical child prodigy before he could even read or write, he later became a key figure in the Victorian railway age, to rival Brunel and Stephenson. He also worked as an engineer or consultant on projects internationally, from Belgium to India. He designed and developed London’s Victoria Docks, and helped start the first electric telegraph company. Few important engineering proposals were brought to Parliament where his advice was not sought. He was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1860.
Why does Bidder deserve a place in a list of
under-appreciated British historical figures? It’s because he rose from an
extremely humble background via a fairground act as a ‘calculating boy wonder’ to
achieve professional eminence and high success across a stunning range of fields.
He was among a group of Victorian civil engineers whose skill, innovation and
perseverance was instrumental in building the world’s railways. They needed to
overcome both the natural obstacles of topography, but also much opposition
based on human ignorance and prejudice. Bidder succeeded with a rational,
logical approach against superstition and self-interest.
The Calculating Boy
Bidder was born on June 14th 1806 at
Moretonhampstead, a village on the eastern edge of Dartmoor, Devon. His
ancestors had lived in the area for generations. He was the third son of local stonemason
William Bidder by his second wife, Elizabeth Parker. He attended the village
school, though apparently played truant on every possible occasion. Not that
he’d perhaps have learned much there anyway if reports of the ‘three ha’pence a week’
school teaching are true. He’s described at this time as being a ‘bright merry
little fellow, full of fun and mischief’.
It wasn’t long before his family realised he had an
astonishing gift - the facility to memorise and manipulate large numbers in his
head. He’d so honed his mental calculating skill that when he was aged seven
people outside the family began to notice it. Two neighbours were arguing over
the weight and price of a pig being sold. George, heard this, and announced,
“You are both wrong”, naming, to general surprise, the correct price. Hearing George
had a talent for combining numbers, local Baptist minister Jacob Isaac
questioned him. Apart from his prodigious mental arithmetic talent, he found
him illiterate. He asked George how many days were in two years, but the child
didn’t know what a year was or how many hours were in a day. When he was told
this he could work it out quickly. But despite doing complex multiplication
sums, he didn’t know the word ‘multiply’.
Isaac sadly drew some misguided and condescending
conclusions. But the cat was out of the bag. His father profited from George’s
extraordinary gift by presenting him at local fairs as the Calculating Prodigy. As his reputation grew he was shown as a sort
of circus act around Britain. On one occasion, aged eight, he was exhibited to
a bunch of establishment figures including Queen Charlotte, wife of George III.
He speedily solved complex questions and conversions between the clunky
imperial units used at the time. It was reported “His composure and charming
demeanour endeared him to audiences; the rapidity and accuracy of his answers
astonished them”.
Much later, in 1856, George gave a remarkable lecture
to the Institution of Civil Engineers - On
Mental Calculation - describing how he performed rapid computations in his
head. But as a small child here are some of his questions and answers.
1) Two ships of 83 guns each exchange at sea, and
continue in action for five hours, 43 minutes and seven seconds, each firing a
broadside every two and a half minutes; how many shots will they each fire?
Answer,
in 20 seconds – 11,391 each
2) How many pounds weight are there in 232 hogheads of
sugar, each weighing 12cwt 1qr 22lb?
Answer,
in 30 seconds – 323,408lb
Education
As most of George’s time was spent touring the country
he was receiving no proper schooling. In autumn 1817, when he was 11, Rev.
Thomas Jephson and John Herschel (son of astronomer William and nephew of
Caroline) paid him a visit. Scions of the Wranglers maths group from St John’s
College Cambridge, they were impressed by George. They arranged for him to
attend Wilson’s Grammar School, Camberwell, London, all expenses paid. But
within a year his father had removed him to go back on the road.
Soon however, on a trip to Edinburgh, George was seen
by Sir Henry Jardine, a major figure in the city, and a kind, liberal-minded
man. He and some friends raised a subscription to cover his education - first
with a private tutor, Rev. A Stewart, and then from 1819 at Edinburgh
University. They even compensated William Bidder for his loss of income. George did
well and in 1822 won the magistrates’ prize for the study of higher
mathematics. It was here that he first met engineer Robert Stephenson - the
start of a long friendship and working partnership.
George left Edinburgh in 1824 when he was 18. With help
again from Jardine, he secured a trainee position with the Ordnance Survey.
He never forgot what he owed to his university education and the friends who
got him there. In 1846, once professionally established, he founded an
Edinburgh scholarship called the Jardine Bursary, in remembrance of Sir Henry,
“to whose munificence and kindness I owed the advantages which I had enjoyed”.
The aim was to aid poor but gifted students unable to afford a university
education. Fortunately, Sir Henry lived to see this mark of affectionate
gratitude.
Becoming an engineer and consultant
At the Ordnance Survey Bidder helped with
the trigonometrical calculations involved. But friends urged him to leave and
within a year he joined the firm of engineer Henry Robinson Palmer, working on
several railway and canal surveys. During his time there he also served as a
clerk at Royal Exchange Life Assurance to supplement his income. Bored by this
work, he later claimed he was “the worst
clerk that ever entered the office”. In 1829 he joined engineers Walker and
Burges, his first task being to lay the granite tramway in Commercial Road, at
Limehouse. He was also assistant engineer on Blackwall's Brunswick Wharf,
the first to use cast-iron piles and plates.
Since leaving Edinburgh he had steadily
drifted towards engineering. His major career break came 10 years later, in
1834 when old university friend Robert Stephenson offered him a job on the
planned London to Birmingham Railway. Stephenson and his father George, flushed
with success from their Liverpool to Manchester railway, had several irons in the
fire. Bidder worked on London’s Blackwall railway and began helping Stephenson senior in
his parliamentary work, including projects for a London to Brighton line and a Manchester to Rugby line via the Potteries. Projects needed legislative approval and Bidder soon became expert in securing this, or equally in
demolishing the case for rival schemes.
Bidder was fast becoming a railway guru.
His strongest talent was commonly agreed to be the power of analysis - he was
quick to see the weak spot in an opponent’s argument and his judgment was
almost infallible. Most plans sent to Parliament seemed to involve Bidder as a
consultant for one party or another. But he was also practically involved in new
techniques like the Blackwall cable traction system and in building the Great
Eastern network. Here he chose Lowestoft as the trade terminus and designed its
harbour.
The electric telegraph and overseas rail
With what now seems amazing foresight, Bidder then spotted a huge opportunity from an invention by William Cooke. In 1837 he and Stephenson jointly recommended that the new electric telegraph be tried to support signalling on 16 miles of the London to Birmingham railway, and at the same time, on the Blackwall line. In 1840 the Yarmouth and Norwich railway bill was in Parliament. With experience from its use on other lines, an enthusiastic Bidder advised that the single line should be worked by telegraph.
It’s often forgotten today but the ‘wire’ was soon to revolutionise international communications and has since been called ‘the internet of the age’. Always open to new ideas, Bidder was convinced about its value and future. Indeed so impressed was he that he joined Cooke, Stephenson and others in forming a company to provide a public telegraph service, later well known as the Electric Telegraph Company. Though not himself an electrician, Bidder was the largest shareholder and given his wider influence, effectively became the main promoter of Britain’s telegraph system.
His reputation as a consulting railway
engineer was meanwhile still growing. Railway fever in Britain was spreading
abroad and Belgium asked Bidder for advice on planning its railway. His recommendations
on the country’s rail layout were largely followed and the network’s reputation
for economy and efficiency has long been known. He and Robert Stephenson
constructed the first railway in Norway, the 40 miles long Christiania to Eidsvold
line. Bidder was also engineer-in-chief of the Royal Danish Railway, opened in
1855. He was heavily involved in the introduction of gas lighting there, too,
via a company where he held shares. He also advised on the early Swiss
railways.
Victoria (London) Docks
Despite all Bidder’s railway projects, his
magnum opus was building the Victoria (London) Docks. This plan involved using 100
acres of marshy ground, and constructing London’s largest locks and gates. The
project was deep water and its quay space included warehouse accommodation,
cranes and hydraulic equipment. The iron lock gates were 80-feet, and cast iron
piles and concrete were extensively used to construct the walls.
Building the Victoria Docks 1855
The total cost of the Victoria Docks was
only £870,000, low for a project of this size and scale. And many in the 1850s
considered the whole scheme, given its extent, innovative construction features
and location on a marshy site, an act of folly. But despite the criticism Bidder’s
scheme worked. His boldness with hydraulics paid off. On top of this his
foresight in buying more acreage than initially needed was vindicated when 20
years later the site was expanded - the value of the land had in the interval risen
four-fold.
Bidder was consulted on engineering and construction projects across the board. They included Joseph Bazalgette’s huge Metropolitan Board plan for large sewers and pumping engines to rebuild London’s drainage system.
India's 'gauge war'
A far-flung activity was in India as consulting
engineer to the Sind Railway Company and its allies. Their plan was to make
Karachi the focus of trade in Northern and Western India, as Calcutta was in the east. It would be via a part railway,
part steamship route to Lahore and Amritsar, later developed to include Delhi.
The break in the chain was 570 miles of the river Indus which Bidder had always
considered temporary.
Map of part of the Sind railway
But like other private ventures of the 'post-Mutiny' period, in 1869 the railway was taken over by the Government of India. On cost
grounds it wanted future extensions to be on the metre gauge. This would
involve a break of gauge in the middle - the Indus steamship section - of an
important railway line. It would clearly have ruined the new project. Bidder
led engineering opinion in successfully opposing this move.
Parliamentary counsel and professional success
Bidder was involved in railway projects
too numerous to mention. But his skill in proving or dismantling competing
plans in Parliament was quite exceptional. On one occasion in a House of Lords
Committee an opposing counsel suggested Bidder should not be allowed to
remain in the room because “nature had endowed him with particular qualities
that did not place his opponents on a fair footing”. He frequently used his
phenomenal mental arithmetic ability to challenge the accuracy of details -
line levels, loads, distances, mileage rates - presented by opponents. Here he
sometimes clashed with other leading engineers, including Brunel.
Bidder had joined the Institution of Civil
Engineers in 1825 when he was 19. As his interests throughout his career
encompassed all branches of the profession he regularly attended its weekly meetings.
He served on its Council and later became a vice-president. In 1856 he gave his
famous lecture On Mental Calculation and
in 1860 was elected President. His address to the Institution on that occasion covered
the importance of hydraulics, drainage and tidal effects to civil engineers,
and of maritime engineering to the nation. He admitted his general ability in
mathematics, eg. geometry, was limited - a fact earlier observed by his
Edinburgh tutors.
For the last 20 years of his life his
interests spanned a huge breadth of projects and applications. Consulted by the
Treasury on tax changes he was also an adviser on warships and other defence
related issues. He had interests in a brewery, flour mills, and a water works. He
also helped his brother Sam in a colliery venture. If investing in a scheme he
took an active interest and a share in the management. Bidder was a member of a
key committee on explosives, and served as head of the Engineer and Railway
Staff Corps, for the logistics of transporting troops and reserve forces. He also
helped Samuel Lake on plans for steam powered trawlers (though they proved to
be commercially unviable).
Bidder the man - his place in history
Bidder never forgot his roots and often
visited Moretonhampstead. He paid for his parents to move to a more comfortable
life in Exeter and helped his brothers with their education and in finding
jobs. One source has him ‘merrymaking with the grog until 3am’ with Devon
friends. He had earlier married Georgina (‘Georgey’) Harby, who he met in
London. His wedding day diary read,“Day
breezy & fine. Married my wife & set off for Burford Bridge”. They
enjoyed a day’s honeymoon.
Eight children survived the pair into
adulthood. Most made their mark in their own careers. Always fond of his
mother, Bidder had added her name, Parker, to his own. His son George was a
successful parliamentary counsel and an authority on cryptography. His
grandson, also called George, became a marine biologist and President of the
Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1939-1945. Most of his
grandchildren said he always had time for them - friendly, fun and happy to
join in their games.
Bidder is reported to have had a strong
sense of humour and ‘a rough and ready wit’. His diary supports this. He joined
the Devonshire Association in 1868, on moving to Dartmouth. Having made a lot of money he bought land on nearby Paradise Point with a house his wife renamed Ravensbury after their London home. He'd taken up an interest in sailing so Dartmouth was an ideal base. He would often
join his friend and colleague Robert Stephenson on the latter's yacht around Devon. He later
bought his own boat, the Mayfly.
Bidder was an enthusiast in his approach to most things - one of those people who ‘dealt himself in’. Always open to new ideas he embraced change in a confident and constructive spirit. With fingers in so many pies he’s hard to categorise. But he often helped people he came across and didn’t seem to bear grudges. His colleague and erstwhile sparring partner Brunel died before his celebrated Clifton Bridge was finished but it was completed with funds raised from a subscription which Bidder and his friends organised.
George Parker Bidder made a huge contribution to 19th century Britain and beyond. From lowly beginnings he showed what talent and hard work, coupled with a truly positive mental attitude, could achieve. Heart disease plagued Bidder toward the end. And while he had been ill for over a year he died quite suddenly on 20th September 1878 at his Ravensbury home outside Dartmouth. He is buried at St Peter’s Church in the nearby village of Stoke Fleming. Moretonhampstead erected a bronze bust of him in 2021 near his birthplace. The east window of St Petrox' Church (next to Dartmouth Castle) is a memorial to Bidder, donated by his daughter Bertha.
Historian Dr Ian Mortimer deserves great credit for suggesting Bidder as a suitable subject in the series - Ian lives in Moretonhampstead.
I’m also indebted to three writers for most of the source material in this blog.
EF Clark (Bidder’s great-great-grandson) The Calculating Boy 1983
Obituary George Parker Bidder 1879 -
Institution of Civil Engineers
Bill Hardman, Moretonhampstead History
Society, 10 May 2021
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