Our next FoWT monthly meeting will take place on Monday 2nd November 2026 – 7.00 pm (19.00 hrs) via Zoom.
“Thomas Brassey – Victorian Contractor and engineer on whose shoulders we have built our modern infrastructure” by Richard Coackley.
About the Speaker
Richard Coackley CBE BSc CEng FICE CWEM FCIWEM.
Richard’s professional background as a chartered Civil Engineer is in water engineering and power. He has been involved in major infrastructure works in Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan and Asia in water supply, sanitation, maritime, major hydropower and nuclear decommissioning.
Richard is a Past President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Honorary Life President of the European Council of Civil Engineers and a Smeatonian. He is past chair of the UK Reservoirs Committee and represented the UK at the World Federation of Engineering Organisations, part of UNESCO, and former vice chair of the Thomas Brassey Society.
About the talk
Thomas Brassey deserves to be as well known as many of his Victorian contemporaries. By the time of his death in 1870 he had constructed one third of the railways in this country and 1 in 20 miles of the railway network throughout the world. Brassey was, at the same time, constructing major municipal works, including water supply and sewer systems, such as Bazelgette’s London foul drainage, to the laying of the first Transatlantic cable, proposals for a channel tunnel and Panama canal.
If you would like to take part in this, or any of FoWT’s future monthly meetings, you will need to register your interest. Once registered, we will e-mail you the details you will need to join the meeting on the night.
To register, Fill in the form on our FoWT Monthly Meeting page and we will do the rest. Once you are on our mailing list to take part in our monthly meetings, look out for our e-mail a few days before the meeting, which will give you all the details you will need to join the meeting.
To see the complete list of talks, presentations and speakers planned for 2026.