Editing John Benjamin Macneill

{{EngvarB|date=July 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix   = [[Sir]]
| name               = John Benjamin Macneill
| honorific_suffix   = [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]]
| image              = Sir John Benjamin Macneill.png
| alt                = 
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = <!--only use if different from name-->
| birth_date         = {{birth year|1793}}
| birth_place        = [[Dundalk]], Ireland
| death_date         = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1880|03|02|1793}}
| death_place        = 
| nationality        = Irish
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = Civil engineer
| known_for          = 
}}
'''Sir John Benjamin Macneill''' [[Fellow of the Royal Society|FRS]] (1793 – 2 March 1880) was an Irish civil engineer of the 19th century, closely associated with [[Thomas Telford]]. His most notable projects were railway schemes in Ireland.

==Life==
He was born in Mountpleasant near the town of [[Dundalk]], [[County Louth]], Ireland.

Macneill started initially as a [[Surveyor (surveying)|surveyor]] and was employed practically in laying out roads and other engineering works since 1816.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gjBDAAAAcAAJ&q=macneill&pg=PR3 |title=Second Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to examine the Turnpike Returns, 1833  |year=1833 |accessdate=11 April 2013}}</ref> His survey of the [[River Boyne|Boyne]] estuary became the basis of a report by [[Alexander Nimmo]] in 1826. During a trip to England in the 1820s he met engineer Thomas Telford who inspired him to become a civil engineer. Indeed, he became Telford's chief assistant for 10 years, eventually succeeding Telford as chief engineer on the massive London–[[Holyhead]] road project. 
He developed Macneill's road indicator in the late 1820s, an instrument for ascertaining the force necessary to draw a carriage over different kinds of roads and pavements, and consequently, the actual condition of the road.

In 1831, Macneill gave evidence to a [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|Parliamentary select committee]] on the effect of [[steam carriage]]s on road surfaces.<ref name="RSCSC">{{Cite Q|Q107302733|pages=204-227,233-236}}</ref>

After Telford's death in 1834 Macneill established his own consultancy, based in London and [[Glasgow]], and turned his attention towards railways—his first projects were freight schemes in the Scottish coal and ironfields near [[Wishaw]] and [[Motherwell, Scotland|Motherwell]]. He was also consulting engineer at Grangemouth Docks and for various Scottish [[canal]] projects.

[[File:Egyptian Arch, Newry, Co. Down, circa 1905 (7499763628).jpg|thumb|left|[[MacNeill's Egyptian Arch]], [[Newry]], ca. 1905]]
During the late 1830s and early 1840s, Macneill focused on his native Ireland. He worked on various railway projects, including the [[Dublin and Drogheda Railway]], including plans to extend the railway beyond Drogheda towards [[Portadown]]. Much of Ireland's modern railway network still follows routes he proposed. For example, the Dublin-Belfast railway line follows the line of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway along the coast (Macneill was knighted in 1844 following its completion) and many of its impressive original structures remain such as the {{convert|98|ft|m|adj=on}} high [[Boyne Viaduct]] near Drogheda, built 1851 to 1855, based on ideas developed by [[William Bindon Blood]],<ref name=dolmetsch>[https://www.dolmetsch.com/Bebinfo.htm An Introduction to the Blood Family] dolmetsch online</ref> the 18-arch, {{convert|126|ft|m|adj=on}} high [[Craigmore Viaduct]] near [[Bessbrook]], built 1849 to 1852, and the nearby [[MacNeill's Egyptian Arch|Egyptian Arch]].

Macneill was also a noted teacher of civil engineering (his pupils included Sir [[Joseph Bazalgette]] and [[G. W. Hemans]]), and in 1842 he was appointed the first Professor of the Practice of Engineering at [[Trinity College Dublin]], a post he held for 10 years.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=MacNeill, John Benjamin|first=Henry Manners|last=Chichester|volume=35}}</ref>

[[File:Monaghan Railway Station - geograph.org.uk - 2653061.jpg|thumb|[[Monaghan railway station]]]]
He was involved with [[harbour]] improvements in his birthplace town of Dundalk in the early 1850s, but was not averse to the occasional overseas commission. In 1855, he helped survey part of a route for a railway line linking Europe to [[India]], participating in an expedition to the valley of the River [[Euphrates]].

Closer to home, however, as chief engineer of the [[Belfast and County Down Railway]] (founded in 1846), he was responsible for crossing the marshy estuary of the [[River Quoile]] (the first bridge was constructed of timber piles driven into the riverbed) to bring the line to [[Downpatrick]] in March 1859 (part of the line is still operational from the [[Downpatrick and County Down Railway|town's railway museum]]).

Soon after, in April 1860, Macneill was appointed engineer of the [[Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway]], intended to link [[Lough Foyle]] and [[Lough Swilly]] across the [[Inishowen]] peninsula in north [[Donegal (town)|Donegal]]. It was around this period that the Victorians' enthusiasm for railways began to wane, and the Lough Swilly company was one of many that rarely made a profit. This was disastrous for Macneill as many of his commissions were to be rewarded through share dividends on any profits. He had also unwisely made himself financially liable for calls on shares for unprofitable railway companies. 

With his income dwindling, Macneill became utterly impoverished. A fire in 1857 destroyed the principal industrial enterprise on his estate, the linen-mill and factory employing over 300 men, and this had been uninsured. He was then forced in 1868 to sell Mountpleasant House, his home in north Louth, which he had designed and built, and he moved to [[Surbiton]] and then London. He later became blind, abandoned by his friends and pupils, reportedly surviving on a pittance earned from making matchboxes in the single room where he lodged.<ref>A letter from John P. Doyle, 'The last days of Sir John MacNeill', published in the Irish Builder, 15 August 1887, p. 235.</ref> He died at his son Torquil's house in [[Cromwell Road]], south-west London on 2 March 1880. Another son, Telford Macneill, later bought back Mountpleasant House in 1894 and lived there until 1934.

==Legacy==
[[File:JohnMacneillBrompton.jpg|thumb|Funerary monument, [[Brompton Cemetery]], London]]
A commemorative plaque was unveiled on 20 July 2001 at his (previously) unmarked grave in [[Brompton Cemetery]] in London.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.brompton.org/Residents.htm |title=The Best Search Links on the Net |publisher=Brompton.org |accessdate=11 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060823091118/http://www.brompton.org/Residents.htm |archivedate=23 August 2006 }}</ref> It lies towards the north-east corner of the cemetery.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
* Diarmaid Fleming (2001) "Macneill: remembering engineering's forgotten hero" ''New Civil Engineer magazine'' (London, UK), pp.&nbsp;24–25, 19 July.

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macneill, John Benjamin}}
[[Category:1793 births]]
[[Category:1880 deaths]]
[[Category:Irish civil engineers]]
[[Category:Irish people in rail transport]]
[[Category:Academics of Trinity College Dublin]]
[[Category:People from Dundalk]]
[[Category:Burials at Brompton Cemetery]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Engineers from County Louth]]