Richard Tiplady
Richard Tiplady (1843-1902)
1903 Obituary [1]
RICHARD TIPLADY, born in Blackburn, Lancashire, on the 7th February, 1843, was a son of the late Mr. Charles Tiplady, bookseller and printer, and Alderman of that town.
After being educated at Balderstone Grammar School, the subject of this notice was articled to Mr. Hugh Wilson, then Borough Surveyor, whom he accompanied to Brazil in 1858, Mr. Wilson having obtained occupation in superintending road-making works in the State of Bahia. After Mr. Tiplady’s term of service as apprentice to Mr. Wilson was completed he remained as the latter’s assistant until the completion of the works.
He was then engaged on the construction of the Bahia and Sao Francisco Railway, and, from 1864 to 1870, he acted as a District Engineer on that line.
From 1870 to 1873 he was Principal Resident Engineer of that line, Mr. T. J. Thompson being the Consulting Engineer; from 1873 he had sole charge, and in 1881 he was appointed Chief Engineer.
Mr. Tiplady’s experience during construction on the heaviest part of the line served him well in after years as the Company’s Engineer. The obituary notice of the late Mr. Roland Perrier bears testimony to the arduous tasks the engineers were frequently called on to perform, and in these Mr. Tiplady took a prominent part.
In 1883 he was appointed General Manager of the Company, and in 1888 he completed the construction of the Timbo Branch, a metre-gauge line, 53 miles in length. His arduous duties faithfully performed during a long term of years in a tropical climate seriously undermined his health, and when, in 1901, the Bahia and Sao Francisco and Timbo Railways were taken over by the Brazilian Government, Mr. Tiplady severed his connection with those railways, and returned to England.
He died in Liverpool on the 18th July, 1902.
Mr. Tiplady was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 14th January, 1873, was subsequently placed among the Associate Members, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 5th February, 1889.