Thomas Hawksley (1807-1893), civil engineer and architect

Thomas Hawksley was born at Arnold, near Nottingham, on 12 July 1807. He was an engineer for the Nottingham Waterworks Company 1845-1880 and engineer-in-chief to water supply works in Liverpool 1874-1885 and in Sheffield 1864-1893. At Leiceste Hawksley was responsible for and planned the Thornton Park Reservoir (1852–60) and the Bradgate Reservoir (1868).

Elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1840, Hawksley was elected to the council in 1853 and served as president in 1872–18733. He was also president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1876–18777, and became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1878.

He was personally responsible for upwards of 150 water-supply schemes, in the British Isles and overseas (India, Denmark, Sweden, Austria). He died on 23 September 1893 and was buried in Woking.