Sir William Arrol (1839–1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Party politician.
The son of a spinner, he was born in Houston, Renfrewshire, and started work in a cotton mill at only 9 years of age. He started training as a blacksmith by age 13, and went on to learn mechanics and hydraulics at night school. In 1863 he joined a company of bridge manufacturers in Glasgow, but by 1872 he had established his own business, th...
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Sir William Arrol (1839–1913) was a Scottish civil engineer, bridge builder, and Liberal Party politician.
The son of a spinner, he was born in Houston, Renfrewshire, and started work in a cotton mill at only 9 years of age. He started training as a blacksmith by age 13, and went on to learn mechanics and hydraulics at night school. In 1863 he joined a company of bridge manufacturers in Glasgow, but by 1872 he had established his own business, the Dalmarnock Iron Works, in the east end of the city. In the late 1870s he went on to found Sir William Arrol & Co., a leading international civil engineering business.
In 1878, he secured the contract for the Caledonian Railway Bridge over the Clyde, and In 1882 he was awarded the reconstruction contract for the Tay Rail Bridge, which had collapsed in 1879. His company went on to construct the Forth Bridge which was completed in 1890. At the time, the Tay and Forth bridges were the largest of their type in the world. They were notable not...
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