William Theodore Foxlee
William Theodore Foxlee (1850-1927)
1927 Obituary[1]
"We regret to see the announcement of the death on the 27th of Mr W. T. Foxlee, who was for many years in the engineering department of the London and South Western Railway. Of recent years, Mr Foxlee was associated with light railways.
A useful contribution of his to railway literature was the paper on "Railroad Terminals" contributed to the International Engineering Congress, organised in 1904 by the American Society of Civil Engineering."
1927 Obituary[2]
THE LATE MR. W. T. FOXLEE.
Mr. William Theodore Foxlee, whose death, we regret to state, occurred on March 27 last, at his home at Weybridge, was a civil engineer who throughout his long career was actively connected with railway, tramway, and dock works. Born on June 28, 1850, Mr. Foxlee became a pupil of Mr. C. H. Gough, civil engineer, of Whitehall, London, in March, 1870. After completing an apprenticeship of three years, he was appointed assistant engineer to Mr. W. Jacomb, M.Inst.C.E., engineer-in-chief of the London & South Western Railway Company, and was engaged upon the works in connection with the widening of the line at Battersea and the alteration and enlargement of Waterloo station. In November, 1874, the young engineer became a member of the staff of the London & North Western Railway Company, under the late Mr. W. Baker, M.Inst.C.E., and three years later was appointed resident engineer on the Aston and Stechford line. Subsequently he carried out the construction of branch lines to Windsor-street, Birmingham, and to Saltley. On the completion of these works, he was given charge of the Sutton Coldfield & Lichfield line, the project including the widening of a portion of the South Staffordshire Railway. Shortly after bringing this work to a satisfactory conclusion Mr. Foxlee joined the engineering staff of the Great Eastern Railway Company, and was employed for some years on the construction of a number of lines in Essex. In 1890, at the age of 40, he was appointed engineer-in-chief of the New South Wales Government Railways, a post which he held for five years.
Upon his return to this country, Mr. Foxlee took up an appointment on the engineering staff of the Great Northern Railway Company, and was engaged on the design and construction of a large goods depot at Manchester. In 1898 he was granted leave of absence by his employers, the G.N.R.. Company, and proceeded to Jamaica to report on the condition of the railways in the island, on behalf of the bondholders. Shortly after returning to England he joined once again the engineering staff of the London and South Western Railway as assistant engineer for new works, and was engaged upon the preparation of designs for the new station at Waterloo. Before the work was completed, however, he left the service of the company and began to practise as a consulting engineer, opening an office at 53, Victoria-street, London, S.W.l, in 1905. He specialised in railway, tramway and dockwork, and was appointed consulting engineer to the Underground Railway Company; while in this capacity he acted as adviser to Mr. Yerkes. He was also engineer to the Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway until the undertaking was taken over by the Southern Railway Company when the grouping of the railways took place recently. In 1922 Mr. Foxlee proceeded to Bermuda, on behalf of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on various railway construction schemes.
In 1924 he was appointed engineer and managing director of the Hingston Down Quarry Company, Limited, which firm owns granite and stone quarries at Gunnislake, Cornwall. Mr. Foxlee remained in activity until the very end, and was in his office two days before his death. He became a student-member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on January 16, 1877, and was elected to full membership on May 27, 1884.