Joseph Jackson (d.1860)
Joseph Jackson ( -1860), partner of Mr. Wythes, the railway contractor - Wythes and Jackson
Contractor on part of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway
1857 Married Elisabeth Leigh in Cardiff[1]
1860 Obituary [2]
DEATH OF MR. JACKSON. - It is with sincere regret we announce the death, from dysentery, of Mr. Joseph Jackson, the partner of Mr. Wythes the eminent railway contractor.
Mr. Jackson had been employed on railway works as an engineer and contractor since 1831. His first contract was on the Grand Junction, followed by the Eastern Union, London and Brighton, Shoreham Harbour, Eastern Counties, &c.
In 1850 he determined to visit India to observe the features of the country the Great Indian Peninsular Railway was likely to run through, and also to obtain accurate information regarding labour rates, the resources of the country, and the peculiar customs of the natives in connection with labour on earthworks, quarrying, &c. By means of this valuable knowledge communicated to Mr. Wythes in England, the tender was accepted for the line from Tannah to Oomrah, embracing the long viaduct over the Tannah river, connecting Salsette with the main, and the two tunnels at Perseek, which is perhaps the soundest bit of railway yet made in India.
After completing this work Mr. Jackson returned to England, and took a large contract in Glamorganshire, where he married tbe daughter of the Rev. William Leigh, vicar of Lanfabon, a lady whose devoted attachment to her husband has made his death a bereavement which only God can temper and heal. She is left with one daughter aged eighteen months. After the completion of the contract in Wales, Messrs. Wythes and Jackson tendered successfully for the Thull Ghaut incline contract (nine miles), and for a further distance to Bhosawul in Candeish, 190 miles. The gigantic and harassing works on the mountain pass into the Deccan, known as the Thull Ghaut, are similar in character to those on the Bhore Ghaut leading to Poonah, which, after causing the first contractor, Mr. Faviell, to abandon them in despair, were the indirect cause of the death of Mr. Solomon Treadwell, a most able and good man, and who resembled Mr. Jackson in all that does honour to our common humanity. It was however, not the gigantic works on the Thull Ghaut alone which weighed on the mind and energies of Mr. Jackson. Of the many large bridges in the contract, it was the large stone bridge over the Godavery, near Nassick, which was the chief cause of his illness. Great depths had to be sought for pier foundations, and the friable nature of the sand, through which the foundations had to be sunk, let in the water so freely that it may be said they had to pass the whole of the working section of the river through the pumps. When the master was absent, things did not move quickly enough to enable him to get in the last pier foundation before the dreaded monsoon should pour its floods down the river and drown their works. The nature of the work kept him exposed and harassed all day in the bed of the river, where he even had his meals brought. Attacks of diarrhoea passed with little heed, and the monsoon set in with full force, drowning his works without chance of abatement. This no doubt preyed on his mind. He came down to Bombay, and was again attacked by diarrhoea, which, without due and immediate a attention, passed into dysentery.