Robert Neville Grenville (1846-1936), civil engineer. M.I.M.E.
1846 Robert Neville was born in Windsor Castle, son of Ralph Neville Grenville and his wife Julia (nee Frankland Russell)
1865 Cambridge University
One of the early students of engineering at Cambridge
1869 B.A.
Apprenticed to Easton and Anderson, engineers, of London
Concerned in the development of the Great Western Railway.
1870-1 Erected drainage engines for Easton and Anderson in Somerset and Carmarthenshire
1871 B A, J P, Lieut W. Somerset Yeomanry, living with his parents in Butleigh[1]
1873-4 Employed by Easton and Anderson to supervise fitting of marine engines on board ships.
Attended Royal Agricultural Society's Implement Trials as an engineer's assistant.
c.1879 Worked 3 sets of double-engine steam plough tackle.
1879 Became a member of I Mech E
1879 Married Gertrude Agnes Portman.
1881 Robert Neville 34, J P For Somerset, Engineer and Steam Ploughman, Employing 12 Men 4 Boys, lived in Butleigh with Gertrude Neville 30[2]
1886 Took the additional name of Grenville on succeeding his father in the family estate.
Designed and built a steam road-car; owned a steam yacht and held a Master's certificate. Set up a trout fishery, near Butleigh; also a cider press which had a wide reputation.
1890 Living in Glastonbury
Played a major part in establishing the Long Ashton Institute.
1911 Robert Neville Grenville 64, landowner and farmer, lived at Butleigh Court, Glastonbury with Gertrude Agnes Neville Grenville 60[3]
1928 Wrote and published "Birth of Engineering at the University of Cambridge", which gave an account of his career and that of Frank C. Simpson (Trinity, 1865).
1936 Died in Somerset[4]
See Also
Sources of Information
- Cambridge University Alumni
- Mechanical engineer records