In No. 36/4 for April 2022 I wrote about F. S. William's , broadly-based history published in 1852, intended for the general reader. Twelve years earlier, in 1837, it had been preceeded by S. C. Bree's , strictly technical treatise for professional engineers, financed by a list of subscribers, all civil engineers, surveyors or architects. They included such well-known figures as I. K. Brunel (wrongly printed as ‘J. K.’), William Cubitt, R. B. Dockray, Thomas Langridge Gooch, Grissell & Peto – the big contractors, Joseph Herapath — the publisher of the wellknown , the Rennies father and son, Charles Vignoles and Bicholas Wood, together with three Board of Trade Inspecting Officers of Railways. In addition, the author acknowledged the assistance and encouragement he had received from
