Abstract
Death of Telford Thomas Telford, the first president of the Institution of Civil Engineers, died at his house, 24 Abingdon Street, Westminster, on September 2, 1834, at the age of seventy-seven years. In an obituary of him published in the Annual Register for 1834, it is said that âhe was inclined to set a higher value on the success which attended his exertions for improving the great communication from London to Holyhead, the alterations of the line of the road, its smoothness, and the excellence of its bridges, than on the success of any other work he executed. … He understood algebra well, but held mathematical investigation rather cheap, and always resorted to experiment when practicable, to determine the relative value of any plans on which it was his business to decide.... Mr. Telford s will was sworn under £35,000. The testator bequeaths about £3,000 to divers charitable institutions, and legacies to several persons of mechanical and literary genius, amounting altogether to £16,000. Among these is a bequest of 500 guineas to Robert Southey, esq.âthe poet laureate.â
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Science News a Century Ago. Nature 134, 333 (1934). https://doi.org/10.1038/134333a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/134333a0