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PETER SCHUYLER BRUFF,
born on the 23rd July, 1812, obtained his early engineering
experience under Joseph Locke, Past-President.
The knowledge of
railway construction thus gained he subsequently turned to
account in the Eastern Counties, where his great work was the
establishment of railway communication between Colchester and
Norwich. The old Eastern Counties Railway had been constructed
from Shoreditch as far as Romford, in 1835; in the following
year it was carried to Brentwood, and in 1843, after
considerable delay, Colchester was reached.
Owing to various
difficulties no further progress was made until 1845, when the
Eastern Union Railway Company was formed, and a direct line from
Colchester to Ipswich was constructed under the superintendence
of Mr. Bruff, Mr. Locke being the consulting engineer. The line
was subsequently continued to Bury St. Edmunds and to Norwich.
Mr. Bruff acted as Engineer and Manager to the Eastern Union
Company, until in 1862 that and various other systems were
amalgamated under the style of the Great Eastern Railway
Company. Many of the branch lines and connections by which the
present system was completed were planned by Mr. Bruff in the
years following 1846; among them may be mentioned the Woodbridge
extension, branches from Manningtree to Harwich, Bentley to
Hadleigh, Bury St. Edmunds to Thetford, and Beccles to
Tivetshall; the Tendring Hundred line from Colchester to
Walton-on-the-Naze, with a branch to Clacton-on-Sea; and the
Norwich and Spalding line. Although for a long time the struggle
was an uphill one, the Great Eastern Company having at first
mainly to depend on agricultural traffic, Mr. Bruff lived to see
it establish a line of steamers to the Continent develop a
valuable connection through Lincoln with the North of England,
and open out an enormous suburban traffic.
Mr. Bruff's work was
not confined to railway engineering. At the time of the
extension of the line to Harwich his attention was drawn to the
lack of potable water in that town, and he undertook to supply
that deficiency; but it may be doubted whether he would have
begun the task if he had had any idea of the difficulties to be
encountered.
His first attempt to
get water was by deep boring at Harwich, which proved
unsuccessful. Nothing daunted, he determined to pierce through
the chalk, in the hope of obtaining water from the lower
greensand, which he expected to find beneath. After boring for
over 1,100 feet, however, carboniferous limestone was struck,
and the well had to be abandoned.
Mr. Bruff made a
further attempt at Dovercourt, where he succeeded in obtaining a
supply which lasted for some years. It was never quite
satisfactory, however, in point of quality, and a third boring
was made at Bradfield. This also proved unsuccessful, and the
promoter was finally driven to Mistley, where he struck a good
supply, which is now carried to Harwich, over a distance of 10
miles.
In 1850, in conjunction
with the late Mr. Hawkins, of Alresford, Essex, Mr. Bruff
developed the works for the water supply of Colchester, which
some years later passed by purchase into the possession of the
Corporation of that town.
For many years the
gradual formation of a bar across the mouth of the Orwell and
Stour estuaries was viewed with anxiety by all interested in the
ports of Harwich and Ipswich.
In 1844 (power) was
granted by Parliament for the formation of a breakwater from
Beacon Cliff, to divert the current towards Landguard Point, and
also for dredging the shoals at the entrance to the harbour, in
order that access might be afforded to first-class vessels. But
the danger was not averted by the adoption of those measures,
and, when Mr. Bruff was appointed Engineer to the Harwich
Harbour Conservancy Board, about the year 1865, this was the
problem he had to take in hand. After a full and careful study
of the tidal currents, he designed and constructed a curved
jetty at Landguard Point, which had the effect of completely
destroying the bar, and, as a direct consequence, of preserving
the ancient ports of Harwich and Ipswich, and of opening the way
for the creation of Parkeston Quay.
In the development of
many east coast watering-places Mr. Bruff took an active part.
At Walton-on-the-Naze he constructed gas- and water-works, a
pier, the Clifton Hotel and several lodging-houses. At
Clacton-on-Sea he erected the pier and the Royal Hotel, and
brought the town into communication with the Great Eastern
Railway system.
He also acted as
Engineer for the Corporation of Ipswich in designing and
carrying out the main drainage of the greater part of that town,
and, at a later date, he was largely instrumental in the
establishment, by private enterprise, of a system of tramways
through some of its principal streets.
In his earlier days Mr.
Bruff was an active member of the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, of
which he acted for many years as Chairman of the Committee.
Until recently he
discharged his duties as Chairman of the Tendring Hundred
Waterworks Company, and Engineer to the Harwich Harbour
Conservancy Board, and was able to pay occasional visits to
London. He died from natural decay at his residence, Handford
Lodge, Ipswich, on the 24th February, 1900, in his eighty-eighth
year.
Mr. Bruff, at the time
of his death, was one of the oldest members of the Institution,
having been elected an Associate on the 19th May, 1840, and
transferred to the class of Members on the 8th April, 1856.
In 1850 he contributed
to the Proceedings a 'Description of the Chapple Viaduct upon
the Colchester and Stour Valley extension of the Eastern
Counties Railway.'
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