Richard Peacock

Richard Peacock (April 9, 1820 - March 3, 1889) was an English engineer, one of the founders of locomotive manufacturer Beyer-Peacock.

• 1820 Born in Swaledale, he was educated at Leeds Grammar School

• c.1834 At 14 he left school, to be apprenticed at Fenton, Murray and Jackson in Leeds.

• c.1838 At 18 he was a precocious locomotive superintendent on the Leeds and Selby Railway. When the line was acquired by the York and North Midland Railway in 1840 he worked under Daniel Gooch at Swindon but reputedly fled to escape Gooch's wrath.

• 1841, he became the locomotive superintendent of the Sheffield, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Railway, subsequently the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway.

• 1853, he joined Charles Beyer to found the celebrated locomotive company Beyer-Peacock. He had met Beyer through the acquisition of locomotives from Sharp Brothers, and from both being among the founders of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1847.

• 1885 From the 1885 general election until his death in 1889, Peacock was MP for Manchester Gorton.

• 1889 He died in Manchester. Obituary in The Engineer

See Also

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Sources of Information

• The Engineer of 8th March 1889 p207