Edward Bury (1794—1858)
Established the Clarence Foundry in Liverpool. His first locomotive, DREADNOUGHT (0-6-0), was intended for the Rainhill Trials of 1829 but was not completed in time. His second, LIVERPOOL (0-4-0), marked a change in design as he combined horizontal inside cylinders with a horizontal multi-tubular boiler. His characteristic firebox was in the form of a vertical cylinder with a large domed top. He consistently used inside iron bar frames rather than the then normal outside wooden frames, or the later inside iron plate frames. The domed firebox was widely adopted by other locomotive manufacturers, and from the export of Bury engines to the USA, bar frames became standard there. He was a strong advocate of four-wheeled engines, although his firm (which became Bury, Curtis & Kennedy in 1842) built many large and successful six-wheelers of their own design. The Clarence Foundry closed in 1851, having built approximately 415 locomotives in addition to much other machinery.
In 1836 Edward Bury contracted to work the London & Birmingham Railway’s trains, but this contract system — by which he was to be paid on a mileage basis, per passenger and per ton — was never implemented and from 1839 he was employed as Manager of the L&BR Locomotive Department. On the formation of the LNWR he became Locomotive Superintendent of that company’s Southern Division, but resigned with effect from March 1847.
Later Bury became General Manager and Locomotive Engineer of the Great Northern Railway. He also advised on the building of three railway works, Swindon, Wolverton and Doncaster.
His engineering achievements were recognised when in 1844 he was elected to the Royal Society.
He died in Scarborough on 25th Nov 1858 aged 64.
