Peter Barlow (1776-1862) - Institution of Civil Engineers

Peter Barlow (1776-1862) pioneer of British Engineering
Science
One hundred and fifty years ago, a 1 March 1862, Professor Peter Barlow died in Woolwich, where he
had spent much of his life (1801-1847) teaching at the Royal Military Academy. At a time when
formal engineering education was unavailable in Britain outside the military, Barlow became an
authority in engineering science, and advised government and practicing civil engineering on a whole
range of mathematical and technical topics.
Born in Norwich in October 1776 Barlow was gifted in mathematics and acquired a broad range of
scientific knowledge which enabled him both to teach these subjects and contribute to Dr Charles
Hutton’s Ladies Diary – a polite learned societal annual. It was Hutton who helped him to obtain his
post at the RMA.
Barlow wrote on a range of mathematical and scientific topics, but his interaction with the civil
engineering profession seems to have dated from 1801 when Thomas Telford wrote to him, and many
other scientists and engineers, about the feasibility of Telford’s project of a 600ft single arch cast iron
span for a new London Bridge. Barlow became interested in the strength of timber and the value of
various engineering theories for the proportioning of beams and columns, initially of timber. He
devised a testing machine and produced the first British test book on the strength of materials in
1817: An essay on the strength and stress of timber. Telford was able to enlarge the scope of the
book by offering Barlow the results of his tests of iron made for a proposed suspension bridge at
Runcorn. He subsequently sought Barlow’s advice on the Menai suspension bridge design. Barlow’s
book was the subject of discussion at the inaugural meeting of the Institution of Civil Engineers in
1818.
Enlargened, largely by tests carried out in the railway era, the book remained in print as a standard
textbook into the 1860s. Unfortunately, Barlow never really revisited the work in the light of
developing ideas for structural analysis. It was, however, the first textbook to explore ideas of stress
in a modern manner.
Barlow presented a paper to ICE on hydraulic pressure in the Bramah (hydraulic) press and produced
design rules.
In the railway era he tested railway bars for the London-Birmingham Railway, and with the Royal
Engineer, Colonel Frederick Smith, reported on the strategic railway routes from Chester to Holyhead,
and London to Edinburgh and Glasgow. He investigated locomotive performance in another paper to
ICE. He also reported on the atmospheric railway system often associated with I K Brunel.
More generally Barlow investigated the variation of navigational compasses, electromagnetism –
including the phenomenon that could have pioneered the use of the electric telegraph. He contributed
to leading encyclopedia of the day, including Rees Cyclopaedia, and the Encyclopaedia Metropolitana
for which he compiled a major overview of manufactures and machinery.

Barlow’s two sons William Henry and Peter William benefitted from the grounding in engineering
science he was able to provide to become leading civil engineers. William Henry became President
of the ICE and is well know for the design of the St Pancras Station train shed, one of the wonders of
the railway age.
Exhibits
1811 An elementary investigation of the theory of numbers.
1814 A new mathematical and philosophical dictionary.
1821 On the effects produced in the rates of chronometers by the proximity of masses of
iron. Philosophical transactions.
1822 On the anomalous magnetic action of hot iron between the white and blood-red heat.
Philosophical transactions.
Publications include
1808 Articles for Rees’ Cyclopaedia, of Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.
1809 On the motion of floating Bodies in running Water. Phil. Mag. XXXIII, 300-302
1811 An Elementary Investigation of the Theory of Numbers,
1814 A New Mathematical and Philosophical Dictionary.
1817 Essay on the Strength and Stress of Timber and other Materials. (six editions in English
between 1817 and 1867, and a French edition in 1828).
1818 Calculation of the Stress and Strength of the projected Iron Hanging Bridge over the Menai
Strait in Papers Relating to the building a Bridge over the Menai Strait, near Bangor Ferry. House of
Commons, 1819, 13-14
1821 On the effects produced in the rates of Chronometers by the proximity of masses of iron. Phil.
Trans., 361-390
1822 On the anomalous magnetic action of hot-iron between the white and blood-red heat. Phil.
Trans., 117-126
1823 An Essay on Magnetic Attractions
1823 Account of a new series of Electro-magnetic Experiments; with observations on the
mathematical Laws of Electro-Magnetism. Edin. Phil. Journ., VIII, 368-382
1823 Observations and experiments on the daily variation of the Horizontal and Dipping Needles
under a reduced directive power. Phil. Trans., 326-341
1824 An Account of the experiments made on board H.M’s .ships, Leven, Conway, and Griper, for
correcting the local attractions of those vessels
1825 ‘On the Force exerted by Hydraulic Pressure in a Bramah Press’, Edin. Journ. Sci., II, 293-
296; Trans. Instn. Civ. Engrs. 1, (1836) 133-140
1827 ‘Improvement of Achromatic object-glasses’, Phil. Trans., 231-267
1827 Some particulars relative to the Tides in the upper part of the river Thames, and of the
obstructions caused by the present (i.e., old) London Bridge. Edinb. New Phil. Journ., II, 49-59
1827 On the secondary deflections produced in a magnetized needle by an iron shell, in
consequence of an unequal distribution of magnetism in its two branches. First noticed by Captain J
P Wilson, HEICS, “Hythe”, Phil. Trans., 276-285
1828 An account of a series of experiments made with a view to the construction of an achromatic
telescope with a Fluid concave Lens, instead of the usual Lens of Flint Glass. Phil. Trans., 105-112
1828 Experiments relative to the effect of temperature on the refractive index and dispersive power
of expansible fluids, and on the influence of these changes in a telescope with a Fluid Lens. Phil.
Trans., 313-318
1828 An account of the preliminary experiments and ultimate construction of a Refracting
Telescope of 7.8 inches aperture, with a Fluid concave Lens. Phil. Trans., 33-46
1830 On the performance of Fluid refracting Telescopes, and on the applicability of this principle of
construction to very large instruments. Phil. Trans. 9-16
1831 On the probable electric origin of all the phenomena of terrestrial magnetism. Phil. Trans., 99-
108
1831 On the errors in the course of vessels, occasioned by local attraction; with some remarks on
the recent loss of HMS “Thetis”. Phil. Trans., 215-222

1833 Report on the present state of our knowledge respecting the Strength of Materials. Brit.
Assoc. Rep., 93-104
1833 An account of the construction of a Fluid lens Refracting Telescope of 8 inches aperture and
8¾ft long made for the Royal Society by George Dolland. Phil. Trans., 1-14
1833 On the present situation of the magnetic lines of equal variation, and their changes on the
terrestrial surface. Phil. Trans., 667-674
1834 On the principle of construction and general application of the Negative Achromatic Lens to
telescopes and eye-pieces of every description. Phil. Trans., 205-208
1835 Experiments on the Transverse Strength and other properties of Malleable Iron, with
reference to its uses for railway bars; and a Report founded on the same, addressed to the Directors
of the London and Birmingham Railway Company
1835 Second Report addressed to the Directors and Proprietors of the London and Birmingham
Railway, founded on an inspection of, and experiments made on the Liverpool and Manchester
Railway (repr. 1837)
1836 Letter to the Rev. D Lardner, on the theory of gradients in railways. Phil. Mag., VIII, 97-100
1836 Remarks on Lecount’s treatise on iron rails. Phil. Mag., VIII, 291-293
1836 Observations on the valuation of the mechanical effect of gradients on a line of railroad. Roy.
Soc. Proc. III, 390-391
1837 On the Electro-magnetic conducting power of wires of different qualities and dimensions. Phil.
Mag., XI, 1-11
1837-38 Two reports of the Commissioners on Railways in Ireland (with others)
1838 D. Mahan. Course of Civil Engineering, edited by Barlow. Repr 1848
1840 T. Tredgold. Principles of Carpentry, edited by Barlow
1842 An investigation into the power of Locomotive Engines, and the effect produced by that power
at different velocities. ICE Trans., III, 183-196
1848 The Encyclopaedia of arts, manufacturers and machinery (from Encyclopaedia Metropolitana,
1836, etc.