A statue of the railway contractor, Thomas Brassey, has been unveiled outside Chester railway station by His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester thanks to the commitment and dedication of the Thomas Brassey Society to recognise one of Britain’s greatest railway builders.
Installing a Statue has been one of the key aims for the Thomas Brassey Society since their formation and today was the culmination of many years of planning and fundraising. So with the sun shining and hundreds gathering for the grand “reveal”, it was an emotional day for many members. Prince Richard, The Duke of Gloucester, was a particularly fitting person to unveil the statue as he has had a genuine interest in steam engines and engineering projects for many years and professed himself to be delighted to be unveiling the statue to such a significant contributor to progress during the Victorian era. The Duke then engaged with the watching crowd, chatting to many of them to their evident delight. Pete Waterman was also present and spoke about his pleasure at seeing the project coming to fruition. Designed and sculpted by Andy Edwards, who is known for his wonderful statues of the Beatles at Pier Head and many others, the statue shows Thomas reading a 19th century map whilst standing upon a partly built section of railway line.
Thomas Brassey was born in Aldford near Chester in 1805 and upon leaving school, he started his apprenticeship with a local surveyor. During that time he worked under Thomas Telford, surveying the alignment of the A5 in North Wales. Afterwards he went on to manage Storeton Quarry, on the Wirral, where stone was provided to George Stephenson’s Sankey Viaduct on the Liverpool-Manchester Railway. Following this he became a prominent railway builder and during his lifetime he built one third of Britain’s railways, three quarters of those in France at the time and one in twenty miles of the world’s railways during the 1800’s. It is fitting that the statue is located at Chester Station which he built in 1848, but he also built parts of the Chester – Crewe line, Chester – Holyhead line, Chester – Birkenhead and all of the Chester – Shrewsbury line.
He not only built railways across the world but also constructed major civil engineering works such as the Thames Embankment and Birkenhead Docks. He even built a railway at breakneck speed in Crimea to provide the British and French armies with food and ammunition to assist with the fall of Sebastopol in 1855. At his busiest times he was employing as many as 80,000 men, requiring significant managerial skills and he died in 1870 having accomplished a phenomenal amount of construction across Britain and the world.
The Thomas Brassey Society raised donations, both large and small, from many benefactors including the Tyrer Trust, the Couch Trust, the Brassey family, Heap & Partners Ltd, Avanti West Coast, the Community Rail Partnerships, Society members and the general public.
Stephen Langtree MBE, Chair of the Thomas Brassey Society, said:
“It has been a long term aim of the Society to erect a statue outside the magnificent Chester Station – one which Thomas Brassey built – and through energetic fundraising and the generous support of many benefactors, our dream of a statue has now become a reality. We hope this results in many more people appreciating his remarkable achievements”.
The Society extends special thanks to Solid Ground, who generously supported the event by hosting the pre-unveiling gathering at the Carriage Shed. Their expertise in curating meaningful community events helped make this historic day possible, bringing together Society members, dignitaries, and the public to celebrate Thomas Brassey’s remarkable legacy.
