William Lowe Lowe-Brown
William Lowe Lowe-Brown (c1876-1956)
1956 Obituary [1]
WE regret to have to record the death of Dr. William Lowe Lowe-Brown, which occurred at his home at 81, Campden Hill Court, London, W.8, on March 20th. He was in his eighty-first year and had had a long and distinguished career as a civil engineer.
Dr. Lowe-Brown was educated at Liverpool University, and after graduation in 1897 joined the engineering staff of the late Sir Benjamin Baker. Among the works with which he was associated during his time in that appointment were the construction of the Central London Railway and the building of the first Aswan dam.
In 1905, Dr. Lowe-Brown became resident engineer to the Pennsylvania Railroad for the building of tunnels under the Hudson River, and for some time thereafter he was civil engineer to the Buenos Aires Western Railway.
His years of service in Buenos Aires were interrupted by the first world war, during which he was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers, and was the officer commanding the construction of the Richborough train ferry and the Southwick "mystery towers."
After the war, Dr. Lowe-Brown continued his work with the Buenos Aires Western Railway until 1924, in which year he started a consulting practice in London.
The works on which he was engaged in the succeeding years included the Vrnwy project of the Liverpool Corporation, the Mersey tunnel, and many Government schemes in the early part of the second world war.
In 1943, Dr. Lowe-Brown joined Sir Murdoch MacDonald and Partners and over the next seven years was engaged on consulting work concerned with the remodelling of the Esna barrage, the Great Ouse Catchment Board flood protection scheme, and some of the projects of the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board.
Dr. Lowe-Brown relinquished his partnership in Sir Murdoch MacDonald's firm in 1950, though he did not retire from consulting practice until about three years ago. Up till that time he travelled extensively, and our readers will no doubt recall an interesting article entitled "An Engineer's Impression of Australia," which he contributed to THE ENGINEER of August 1, 1952.
Dr. Lowe-Brown was elected to associate membership of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1902 and became a full member in 1910. He contributed several papers to the Institution, and was awarded the James Forrest Medal, a Telford Premium, and a Miller Prize. He was also a member of the Association of Consulting Engineers, the Smeatonian Society, and of the American Society of Civil Engineers. From the last-named, he received the Thomas Fritch Rowland Prize for a contribution to its proceedings.
1956 Obituary [2]