John Smeaton (1724 – 1792) is regarded as the founder of the British engineering profession with a range of projects including lighthouses, canals and river training, docks and harbours, fen drainage and bridge building. He was an innovator and this lecture considers the reasons for his pre-eminence and highlights some of his achievements, including, towards the end of his career, many improvements to Ramsgate Harbour.

Julia Elton’s own photograph of the Smeaton Sluices in Ramsgate harbour

For our speaker, we welcome Julia Elton FSA who has spent many years working as an antiquarian book dealer specialising in the history of engineering and nowadays is an independent historian. She wrote a number of entries to the Institution of Civil Engineers Biographical Dictionary on lighthouse and gas engineers and is currently working towards a PhD on the history of lighthouse illumination. She is a past president of the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and Technology, the only woman to have held this post.

As usual, the event takes place at The San Clu Hotel with doors open at 6:30pm and the talk itself from 7pm to 8pm.

For more details and to book your place click here:  https://bit.ly/JohnSmeatonTalk