John Addy
John Addy (1847-1896)
1897 Obituary [1]
JOHN ADDY, born on the 1st January, 1847, was the second son of Mr. Myhill Addy, of West Deeping, Lincolnshire.
After being educated at Grantham Grammar School he served articles for two years in the Great Western Railway Company’s locomotive works at Swindon.
He then came to London, in 1868, and, turning his attention to another branch of engineering, entered the office of Baldwin Latham as a pupil. So apt did he show himself that at the end of two years Mr. Latham cancelled his articles and engaged him as an assistant, appointing him in 1871 Resident Engineer on the extension of the Beddington Irrigation works, which consisted in the preparation and laying out of additional land for the purpose of disposing of the sewage of Croydon.
While thus occupied he discovered at Beddington some interesting remains of a Roman villa and developed a taste for archaeological study which throughout his life remained a marked characteristic. He also represented Mr. Latham on the Reigate Sewage Outfall Works and on the Hornsey Drainage Works.
During his pupilage in London he had become, in December, 1868, a Student of the Institution, and four years later he was awarded a Miller prize for a Paper entitled 'The most suitable Materials for, and the best mode of Formation of, the Surfaces of the Streets of large Towns.'
In 1874 Mr. Addy began to practise on his own account and in the following year he settled at Peterborough. He was at once engaged in preparing plans for the drainage of several towns and villages in Lincolnshire, that of Caistor and of Market Rasen and Middle Rasen being carried out from his designs and under his superintendence.
In August, 1874, he was instructed by the Corporation of Peterborough to report upon the water-supply and drainage of that city. The works which he carried out to provide a more abundant supply of water were completed at the end of 1879 and were described in a Paper presented by him to the Institution in 1883.
He also superintended the execution of sewerage works for the Corporation, for the Peterborough Land Company, and for the Dartford (Kent) Local Board, and acted as engineer for the Peterborough Tramways, for which an act was obtained in 1880. On several occasions he gave evidence before Parliamentary Committees on water and drainage bills.
His health requiring that he should lead a more active and outdoor life, Mr. Addy left Peterborough in 1882 and settled at South Lawn, near Burford, in Oxfordshire, where he energetically and successfully carried on farming operations for many years, at the same time undertaking the management of estates in Lincolnshire and in Northamptonshire.
In the summer of 1896 failing health compelled him to seek retirement and he took up his residence at Kingsbridge, South Devon, where he died on the 23rd December of that year.
Mr. Addy was elected an Associate on the 3rd December, 1872, and was transferred to the class of Member on the 12th April, 1881.