Hosking, William

SUBJECT AREA: Civil engineering

[br]

b. 1800

d. 1861

[br]

Australian architect and engineer.

[br]

William Hosking was appointed Professor of'the arts and construction' at King's College, London, in 1840. He was an architect and engineer who moved to England in 1819 after working as a builder in Sydney. He thus represents an unusually early example of the reverse migration of professional talent between Britain and its colonies. He exhibited drawings in London, becoming a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1830 and Fellow of the Royal Institution of British Architects in 1835. He was then caught up, like so many of his contemporaries with engineering ability, in railway building, working on the West London Railway. From 1840 to his death in 1861 he occupied the Chair at King's College, making a pioneering contribution to the development of engineering education in Britain. He published his Theory, Practice and Architecture of Bridges in 1843, and contributed to the design for the British Museum reading room.

[br]

Principal Honours and Distinctions

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries 1830. FRIBA 1835.

Bibliography

1843, Theory, Practice and Architecture of Bridges.

Further Reading

Dictionary of National Biography, London.

AB