1889: Charles Cochrane

Charles Cochrane (1835-1898)

19th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Cochrane was born in Blackbrook, near Dudley, England in 1835. His father, Alexander Brodie Cochrane, was the owner of Woodside Iron Works, near Dudley.

He left school at the age of 15, and although too young to be admitted as a student of Kings College, London, he was given permission to attend college classes. Upon leaving college he gained practical experience with Samuel Holden Blackwell, owner of Russell's Hall Iron Works, near Dudley, and other blast furnaces, mills and forges. At the age of 20, he went to the Ormesby Iron Works which had recently been established by his father. The following year he became a partner with his father in these works and the Woodside Iron Works.

He became one of the leading authorities on blast furnaces and was equally recognized in the United States. The Woodside Iron Works was also associated with many important structures, including the Holborn Viaduct, Westminster Bridge, Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Station, Charing Cross Railway Bridge and Station, and the Runcorn Bridge over the Mersey. They also removed the Hungerford Suspension Bridge over the Thames and re-erected it as the Clifton Suspension Bridge at Bristol.

He died in 1898.

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