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{{Short description|English soldier and engineer (1804–1863)}}
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Captain '''William Scarth Moorsom''' (1804–1863)<ref>{{cite ODNB |last1=Chrimes |first1=Mike |title=Moorsom, William Scarth |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-19158 |access-date=25 April 2020 |date=23 September 2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/19158 }}</ref> was an English soldier and engineer. After assisting [[Robert Stephenson]] he created railway lines in England, Belgium, Germany and Ceylon.
== Early life and career ==
Moorsom was born at [[Whitby]] into a military family, the youngest of the four sons of Admiral Sir [[Robert Moorsom]], who had served at the [[Battle of Trafalgar|Trafalgar]], and his wife Eleanor.<ref>[[Jehanne Wake]], ''Kleinwort, Benson: the history of two families in banking'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=Qm1fHrcgZuoC&pg=PA89 p.89],
He entered the Royal Military College in 1819, and became especially adept in fortification and military surveying. In 1823 he joined the [[79th Highlanders]] Regiment, then stationed in Ireland. During his stay there, he made a survey of Dublin and its neighbourhood, which remained in use until it was superseded by the publication of the [[Ordnance Survey]]. In 1825 he served in the Mediterranean as a lieutenant in the [[7th Fusiliers]]. In 1826 he transferred to the [[69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot|69th Regiment]], and then to the [[52nd Light Infantry]] in Nova Scotia, having been promoted to Captain.<ref>1864 ''"Obituary Captain William Scarth Moorsom, 1804-1863."'' Institution of Civil Engineers: Minutes of the Proceedings, Volume 23, pages 498 –504</ref>
During this time he served as deputy quartermaster-general. He produced a survey of the harbour and environs of Halifax, along with reports on transport feasibility to all parts of the province, and published a monograph ''Letters From Nova Scotia; comprising Sketches of a Young Country'' in 1830.<ref>{{cite book|last=Moorsom|first=William|title=Letters from Nova Scotia: comprising sketches of a young country|year=1830|publisher=Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/lettersfromnova00moorgoog}}</ref>
Although he was highly regarded he was unable to purchase a suitable promotion so returned to England and
== Railway engineer ==
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Moorsom was also awarded the Telford Medal for his method of using iron [[caisson (engineering)|caisson]]s filled with concrete and masonry to form the foundations of a three-arch viaduct across the [[River Avon, Warwickshire|River Avon]], near [[Tewkesbury]].
In passing, one of his assistants was [[Herbert Spencer]]. F. R. Conder was critical of Moorsom's management style and engineering abilities in his ''Personal Recollections of English Engineers'' (1868)<ref>F. R. Conder, ''Personal recollections of English engineers, and of the introduction of the railway system into the United Kingdom'' (1868); repr. as J. Simmons, ed., ''The men who built railways'' (1983) in Chrimes 2004</ref> Spencer was less recriminatory in his ''Autobiography'' (1904),<ref>H. Spencer, ''An autobiography'', 1 (1904), 140–86 in Chrimes (2004)</ref> describing Moorsom as a kind man, although he felt that he had treated some subordinates meanly. Chrimes
The period of 1844–45 proved to be especially busy with new lines from Birmingham to Wolverhampton, Shrewsbury, Newton, and Chester,; the Yarmouth Junction, from Diss and Beccles, the Irish Great Western,{{which|Midland Great Western or Great Southern & Western?|date=May 2016}} from Naas, by Tullamore, to Galway, the Metropolitan Counties Junction, from Gravesend, by Reigate, Dorking, Weybridge, Staines, Rickmansworth, St. Albans, Chelmsford, and Billericay to Tilbury,
In 1845 he was in [[Ireland]] working on the [[Waterford and Kilkenny Railway]]. Of note was a timber viaduct over the River Nore, {{convert|85|ft|m|2}} in height and of {{convert|200|ft|m|2}} span, at the time the largest of its type in the British Isles.
Though the design was not used, he won the Prussian government's engineering prize in 1850 for his design for a bridge to cross the Rhine at [[Cologne]] on the line from Prussia's Rhine Province to [[Antwerp]] in [[Belgium]] for the ''Königlich Preußische und Großherzoglich Hessische Staatseisenbahn'' (K.P.u.G.H.St.E.).
For the next four years there was a general retraction of the industry and in 1852 Moorsom became involved with the Britannia and Baltimore Mining Company to prospect for and mine gold in the United Kingdom. Although some gold was produced it was not enough to make the company viable. During this period he was appointed engineer to the [[Cromford and High Peak Railway]] which was in deep financial difficulty. In 1857 the [[Stockport, Disley and Whaley Bridge Railway]] was opened, with a proposal to link with the Cromford line.<ref>Hodgkins, D.J., (1983) ''Captain Moorsom and the Attempt to Revive the Cromford and High Peak Railway,'' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol 103 Pp 137‑159</ref> Plans were laid to capitalise on this by substantially improving the line. The necessary funds were not forthcoming, however, and there was opposition from other railway companies. The C&HPR and Moorsom parted company in about 1856.
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{{refend}}
{{Moorsom family tree}}
{{Authority control}}
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[[Category:British railway civil engineers]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British railway
[[Category:People of the Industrial Revolution]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:Military personnel from North Yorkshire]]
[[Category:19th-century British Army personnel]]
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