The Victoria Embankment in London, painted by Irish artist John O’Connor in 1874, four years after it officially opened. Work on the Victoria section of the Thames Embankment, which stretches from Westminster Bridge to Blackfriars Bridge, began in 1865 and was completed in 1870, and was officially opened on July 13th that year by Edward, Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII) and his sister Princess Louise. It was one of Brassey’s most high-profile engineering works.
BY 1847, Brassey had helped to build a third of Britain’s rail network, including most of the West Coast mainline. As Britain’s ‘railway mania’ cooled, he turned to other projects, including a waterworks in Calcutta, London’s Victoria Docks, and the Victoria Embankment on the Thames, and to further railways abroad, from Australia and India to Austria, Romania, Denmark and Italy. Thomas also collaborated with Robert Stephenson on Canada’s Grand Trunk Railway between Quebec and Toronto, and founded the Canada Works in Birkenhead to manufacture locomotives, and parts for Robert’s tubular Victoria Bridge in Montreal.
Brassey’s payroll reached 80,000, spread across five continents.* He paid his navvies generously, saw to their education, and took on unprofitable contracts rather than lay his workers off. In the weeks before he died on 8th December, 1870, at St Leonards-on-Sea, grateful navvies walked miles to see their benefactor one last time. He left over £5m in his will, but the legacy of Thomas Brassey was very much larger than that.
With acknowledgements to ‘The Life and Works of Thomas Brassey’ by Sir Arthur Helps (1813-1875).
They are: Australia (New South Wales, Queensland), North America (Canada) and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Peru), Europe (Britain, Denmark, France, Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland), Africa (Mauritius), and Asia (India, Syria). Some authorities give just four, but Brassey’s firm was contractor for the Grand River Viaduct on the Midland line of the Mauritius Railway in 1863-1865; however, Brassey did not design it or superintend it himself. This is why Brassey is seldom named: he was often one of several contractors, and often worked through partners such as Peto and Betts in Canada, and agents such as Samuel Wilcox in Australia.
Précis
Brassey worked on dozens of projects in Britain and abroad, ranging from railways in Canada and France to civic works such as drainage in Calcutta and the Victoria Embankment in London. He was held in high regard for his generous treatment of labourers, many of whom came to pay their last respects just before he died in 1870. (58 / 60 words)
Brassey worked on dozens of projects in Britain and abroad, ranging from railways in Canada and France to civic works such as drainage in Calcutta and the Victoria Embankment in London. He was held in high regard for his generous treatment of labourers, many of whom came to pay their last respects just before he died in 1870.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, because, if, may, not, ought, whereas, who.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Die. Mainline. Pay.
2 Coast. He. Tubular.
3 Construct. Part. Rather.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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