Lieutenant Peter Lecount (1794-1852), R.N., FRAS, C.E., was a naval officer and a civil engineer with a strong interest in railways.
1794 May 25th. Born the son of Peter Lecount and his wife Hannah. Baptised at Saint Leonards, Shoreditch.
He joined the navy in 1809 and saw active service until going on half-pay in 1827.
He was made a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society while a Midshipman.
1820-23 Wrote papers and related letters to the Board of Longitude on clocks and chronometers, celestial navigation, particularly using Jupiter's satellites, and a marine chair for observing them.
1833 Published an estimate of the road and canal traffic between London and Birmingham.[1]
1836 Published "An Examination of Professor Barlow's reports on iron rails, etc."
1836 Paper on Railway Blocks.[2]
c1837 One of the twenty-five assistant engineers on the London and Birmingham Railway
He was the author of "The History of the Railway connecting London and Birmingham"
1839 Assisted Thomas Roscoe in writing the 'London and Birmingham Railway'[3]
1840 Published "A Practical Treatise on Railways, explaining their construction and management", originally published as Railways in the seventh Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica;[4]
1851 Living at Wellington road, Edgbaston: Peter Lecount (age 56 born London), Civil Engineer. No other occupants of this abode.[5]
1852 Died.
1853 January 8th. Probate granted. Executor is his 'old and valued friend' Joan Sowton Hurpay (Murpay) of Birmingham