Gentlemen engineers: the working lives of Frank and Walter Shanly

Abstract

As the literature pertaining to the history of the profession of civil engineering in Canada is not extensive, further contributions to that history are of great interest to all who value our rich engineering heritage. Richard White’s book is a very welcome addition to this literature and will be acclaimed not only by engineers but by a wide range of the general public who have an interest in finding out more about the development of our country. The book tells the story of the lives of two of Canada’s best-known civil engineers, Frank and Walter Shanly, two Irish-born lads who in 1836, at the ages of 16 and 19 respectively, immigrated to Canada with their whole family. As Canadian civil engineers, they achieved fame principally as a result of their work on two major projects: the Grand Trunk Railway in Canada and the Hoosac Tunnel in the United States. From original documents, principally those contained in the Archives of Ontario and the National Archives of Canada, the author’s impressive research has resulted in an intriguing tale of life in Canada of the 1800s and has uncovered new information regarding the state of the engineering profession in that era. Central to Richard White’s theme is his “discovery” that at the time the two Shanlys took up civil engineering, there already existed a profession in Upper Canada with a status approaching that of the more established professions, so that being an “engineer” was not incompatible with being a “gentleman.” This, the author points out, is in contrast with what appears to be the prevalent view of other historical authorities that, in that era at least, the term “gentlemen engineers” was an oxymoron! The consensus amongst these authorities was that the development of the profession in Canada followed the pattern understood to have been established in Europe and the United States, of a gradual raising of the status of the engineer from ingenious “artisan” to technically competent professional. White points out, however, that the “prevalent” view may be flawed, as there is evidence that there were considerable variations in the background and status of the celebrated “Victorian” engineers. Thomas Telford and George Stephenson, indeed, rose from the “artisan” level, but the Brunels, for example, were of semi aristocratic status. It is also suggested that there were other factors at play and that the very nature of the Upper Canada society of that time was so different from that of the contemporary societies of Europe and the United States that it may have delayed the development of a purely “professional” class and extended the “gentlemanly” era well beyond the time that it lasted in these other societies. “Perhaps an unusually old fashioned society could also harbour an unusually gentlemanly civil engineer” (p. 185). The difference in the way the “gentlemen” Shanlys perceived civil engineering, in comparison to the way in which the profession was beginning to develop over their lifetimes, becomes evident when one sees that although it was Walter, in his later role as a member of Parliament, who introduced the incorporation bill that established the Canadian Society of Civil Engineers, neither brother took an interest in this move to establish civil engineering on a professional basis. “It was this new ‘Victorian’ profession which espoused the ideology of progress and social betterment, that Walter and Frank had mixed feelings about, and it was this profession that organized itself into the CSCE from which Walter stayed aloof” (p. 184). For the general reader, the book gives an excellent account of the attempts of an Irish immigrant family of “gentlemanly” background to come to terms with life not only in a new world geographically, but in a rapidly changing world of commerce and industry. The more technical aspects of the story relating to the engineering works, the canals and railroads built by the brothers are described clearly and may be easily understood by the nontechnical reader. The engineer, too, will find many items of interest relating to the technical descriptions of the works but may regard as more important the discussions on the role of the professional engineers of that time, their relationship with contractors, and how it was frequently difficult to separate these roles in a truly meaningful way. This is illustrated by the fact that although we celebrate the Shanlys as engineers and Walter, in particular, was very jealous of his role as an independent professional, yet they were as active as contractors as they were engineers. They were, of course, not unique in this, as other famous engineers of that time operated in a like manner, Sanford Fleming and Casimir Gzowski being two obvious examples. In a further clarification of this contradictory situ-