Grace's Guide
British Industrial History
Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 148,415 pages of information and 233,868 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.
John Dewrance (d.1861)
From Graces Guide
John Dewrance (c1803-1861), railway pioneer of Dewrance and Co
c.1804 Born[1] in Cumberland[2]
1832 John Dewrance, engineer, married Ellen Worrall in Liverpool[3]
He was associated with George Stephenson, and was the erector of the Rocket.[4]
For several years was the locomotive superintendent of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway and the Great Southern and Western Railway
c.1843 Edge Hill Works closed. Presumably at this time he moved south
Went into partnership with Joseph Woods (brother of the engineer of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway), who had founded an engineering business in London. After the death of Mr. Woods, the firm was continued under the name of Dewrance.
1844 Formation of the company that later became Dewrance and Co
1855 Married Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph Curtis, of Tilford.
1857 of Hanover Park, Peckham
1857 of Barge-yard, Bucklesbury[5]
1858 Birth of his son, John Dewrance at Peckham, London
1861 John Durrance 55, mechanical engineer, lived in Peckham with Elizabeth Dewrance 26, Elizabeth J Dewrance 6, Sarah A Dewrance 5, John Dewrance 3, Mary E Dewrance 1, Catherine M Dewrance 3 months[6]
1861 Died in Peckham. Left his engineering business, Dewrance and Co, to his son John.