BRIEF NOTES ON THE CAREER OF THE LATE THE BY HENRY COLE, C.B. HE Corps Papers of the most scientific branch of the British Army are so suitable a place to preserve some notice of the career of one of the most scientific members of that corps, that I have cheerfully acceded to the request made to me to note down some of the facts of the life of Captain Francis Fowke, R.E., with whom I had been almost in daily intercourse since the year 1854. of his life. He was descended from an old Leicestershire family; born in Belfast in July, 1823; and was chiefly educated at Dungannon College. I am informed that at a very early age he showed much Early years ingenious ability, which often took a humorous and mischievous turn, and that when 13 or 14 years old, he made a small working steam-engine. The bent of the boy's talent induced a desire that he should enter the Royal Engineers, and for two years he was sent to the Rev. A. De La Mare, who prepared him for the Woolwich Academy. Woolwich. The records at Woolwich show that in 1839, being 16 years old, he entered the Woolwich Academy; that in 1840 he passed Success at his probationary examination; in 1841, his theoretical examination in 1842, his practical examination, and came out sixth in a batch of 16 successful candidates. Only four Engineer Commissions were given, and he was very nearly obtaining his commission in the Artillery, but his ability in drawing was so pre-eminent over that of his fellow Cadets, a fact worth recollection by all those who desire to be Engineers, that he was chosen out of his turn for the Engineers and obtained the third Commission. He was only just of age when he fulfilled that destiny which DEPART MENT OF A.D. 1860-1873. Part II. Selections. Barracks. seems so common to young Engineer officers, and took to himself a wife. He married Miss Rede, and soon after this event was sent out to Bermuda, where he seems to have excited attention by numerous clever devices for the rigging of a canvas yacht, and tradition says that he spent most of his time on the water. The late Sir William Reid was the Governor at Bermuda, and it is remarkable that both these officers afterwards took such prominent positions in connection with International Exhibitions. On his return to England, he designed and made the working Devonport drawings for the Raglan Barracks at Devonport, for which he obtained much credit. In this work he introduced, not without opposition, many useful novelties conducive to the health and comfort of soldiers, which are now accepted as necessities in Barrack accommodation. in projec tiles, Pontoons, In 1852, he invented a drawbridge, and in the year 1854 received his Captain's commission. About this time, before WhitExperiments worth and Armstrong had appeared as inventors in the manufacture of guns, he was scheming all kinds of ways of using elongated shot for rifled ordnance, but could never induce the military authorities to give his suggestions a trial. Little better luck seems to have attended his ingenious collapsing pontoons. What were the features of this invention, and what were its novelties, the Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers, New Series, Vol. VII. p. 81, 1858, and the "Transactions of the United Service Institution" (see Journal, Vol. IV, 1860) show. The military judges appointed to consider them, were difficult to convince. No results at present have followed in this country from his labours, but I am informed that collapsing canvass pontoons were successfully used in the American Civil War. One of these pontoons was exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1855, and at a later period, he made several improvements in them. He also perfected a light and portable one for Infantry, which could be transported by two men. trial of these pontoons, on which his own corps has hitherto been unable to take decisive action, has been left in the hands of the First Middlesex Volunteer Engineers, who, at their own cost, have made many experiments. The When he was about to leave Devonport, in 1854, Captain, now Colonel Owen, R.E., then Secretary for the Paris Exhibition, accidentally met him in London, and justly appreciating his MENT OF SCIENCE AND ART. A.D. 1860-1873. Selections. Part II. Work at Paris Exhi inventive ability, invited him to assist in superintending the DEPARTMachinery Department of the Paris Exhibition, and Capt. Fowke was appointed to undertake the duty. Upon Colonel Owen leaving for the Crimea, he succeeded him as Secretary to the British Commission, and resided in Paris during the year of the Exhibition. He conducted numerous valuable experiments on the strength of colonial woods. The results were published in the bition of Parliamentary reports on the Paris Exhibition of 1855, and subsequently reprinted as a pamphlet on "Civil Construction." At the same time, he drew up a report on the objects exhibited under the head of "Naval Construction." For his services to the Paris Exhibition, he was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur; but as the decoration was given for civil and not for military services, he was unable to wear it in this country. In Vol. V., 1856, of the Corps Papers, is his project for Batteries, &c., for the defence of Batteries. coasts. 1855. at He was appointed at the conclusion of the Paris work in 1857, to the staff of the Science and Art Department as an Inspector; Appointand upon the transfer of the Department from Marlborough House South Kento South Kensington, he was charged with the superintendence of sington. the buildings there, which at that time, consisted of the iron shed called "the Boilers," built by Sir William Cubitt, and a nest of old houses which had been inhabited, when Brompton was a suburb, by Mr. Greenwood of Messrs. Cox and Greenwood's, by Sir Cresswell Cresswell, and Madame Céleste. The Duke of York was accustomed to retire to Mr. Cox's house for change of air. It was Captain Fowke's duty to bring the iron shed, the old dry-rotted houses, and a series of wooden schools into a working unity, which he did with skill and economy. In the midst of this work he was called upon to build a picture gallery to receive Mr. Sheepshank's gift of pictures, and he did so in concert with Mr. Redgrave, R.A., who had discovered the right formula for a top-light gallery. The building proved very successful, and, before it was finished, other galleries were required to receive the Vernon and Turner pictures, and he built these at a cost not reaching 4d. a cubic foot. Constitutionally, nature had given Captain Fowke a sluggish and indolent temperament, but he was roused to prompt action occasionally. A signal example of this occurred with these picture galleries. If they were to be built at all, they were to be done DEPART MENT OF A. D. 1860-1873. Part II. Selections. Appointed in the shortest possible space of time. Capt. Fowke was on a visit to the Marquis of Salisbury, at Hatfield, when the Treasury decision was made. One evening, Lord Salisbury told Captain Fowke that the work was to proceed, and briskly. The next morning, at breakfast, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, also on a visit at Hatfield, asked Captain Fowke when the works would begin. "They are begun already." "How so? you only knew last night at twelve." Captain Fowke replied, "I was at the telegraph office, at Hatfield, as soon as it was open; I ordered the works to begin, and I have received an answer that 'the foundations are being dug.'' "I call that work!" said Mr. Disraeli. In 1858, he was named, at Sir John Burgoyne's advice, a Commissioner of the International Technical Commission for rendertional Tech- ing the St. George's branch of the Danube navigable, and his on Interna nical Com mission for Navigation of Danube. scheme was unanimously adopted; but, from various causes, diplomatic and otherwise, his plan has only been partially carried into effect. His report to Lord Cowley was privately printed. About this time, he was called upon to design the interior of the Dublin National Gallery, the elevation having been already settled. It is a successful gallery both for day and night use. He also designed the Museum of Science and Art, at Edinburgh, which was opened Science and lately by the Duke of Edinburgh. Edinburgh Museum of Art. A cheap drill-shed. Defence of It was at his suggestion that the first Corps of Volunteer Engineers (the 1st Middlesex) was formed. He planned the erection of their drill-shed, covering 100 feet by 40 feet, which Sir Joseph Paxton commended to me as the cheapest structure he had ever seen. The cost of this was only £100 to the Corps, some of whom gave their labour, and the principle of its construction has been adopted at the entrance of the Royal Horticultural Society's Offices and the conservatory entrances, and frequently for drill-sheds throughout the country. In the "Cornhill Magazine" (No. 6, June, 1860, Vol. I.), he published a paper entitled "London the Stronghold of England," being a plan for the defence of London in case of invasion, which attracted much notice; and in the same periodical (No. 3, March, 1860, Vol. I.) he offered suggestions for the enlargement of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, under the title of the Gallery diff❝National Gallery Difficulty solved." National culty solved. He prepared the general plan for the Horticultural Gardens, MENT OF SCIENCE AND ART. A.D. Part II. which Mr. Nesfield afterwards modified in the gardening details. DEPARTThe conservatory and south arcade were built wholly after Captain Fowke's design. Mr. S. Smirke, R.A., was the architect of the north and centre arcades. The conservatory is one of Captain 1860-1873. Fowke's most successful works. He introduced here the principle Selections. of gas lighting which he had applied to the picture galleries, and the conservatory can be brilliantly lighted with perfect ventilation, and without damage to the plants. Aldershot. At the request of the Prince Consort, he designed the Library Library at at Aldershot, which His Royal Highness built at his own cost. The Prince sent him a box of instruments inscribed as follows, Captain Francis Fowke, Royal Engineers, as a token of regard from ALBERT: 1859." 66 International Exhi bition, 1862. Captain Fowke, having laid out the ground at Kensington Design for belonging to the Commissioners of 1851, was called upon to show buildings for how a building suitable for International Exhibitions might be erected on part of it. He therefore planned the series of buildings used for the Exhibition of 1862. His business was to cover twenty-two acres of ground, having command of only very limited funds. The main feature of his plan was a noble hall, 600 feet long, 300 feet wide, and 200 feet high; but want of funds compelled the abandonment of this, and he hastily substituted instead the glass domes, which proved unsuccessful. But in respect of the picture galleries and the general exhibiting space, the buildings were by far the most convenient that had ever been used for exhibitions. The exact proportions of the picture galleries and system of lighting have been adopted for the Paris Exhibition of 1867. There was no money to pay for the decoration of the outside of them, and public opinion refused to believe it, could be decorated. Captain Fowke was very patient under much unjust treatment, but he apathetically refused to take any measure to rectify public Design for opinion until it was too late. Two years afterwards, justice was done to his talent. In an open competition of designs for buildings to be erected on the site of the 1862 Exhibition, his plans obtained the first premium, the judges being Lord Elcho, M.P., Mr. Tite, M.P., Mr. Fergusson (all of whom had taken an active part in pulling down the Exhibition buildings), Mr. Pennethorne, and Mr. D. Roberts, R.A., and they unanimously gave Captain Fowke the first prize. It was with difficulty he was spurred on in Natural History Mu seum at South Ken sington. |