Draft:Edward Roberts (engineer)
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Edward Roberts was a New Zealand architect and engineer.
Early life
[edit]Nothing is known about Edward Roberts life before he came to New Zealand.[1] Roberts arrived in New Zealand in 1847 as a civilian in the Royal Engineers to work on military construction.[2][1][3] It is estimated he was in his late 20s or early 30s upon his arrival.[4][2] Roberts possibly trained under the Royal Engineers at Woolwich[2] or at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham, Kent.[5]
In 1849 an E Roberts was listed as an architect living on Boulcott Street in Wellington. This same E Roberts purchased property on The Terrace in August. In October a map of Wellington was published by 'Mr Roberts' who was working for the 'Engineer Department'. Both these Roberts are likely to be Edward Roberts.[1]
Career
[edit]
In 1848 Roberts designed a Wesleyan church, marking his earliest known work.[2] Roberts designed the Mechanics Institute's athenaeum on Lambton Quay, opening in 1850. Roberts held multiple talks at the athenaeum including on pneumatics and electromagnetism.[1] Roberts also submitted a design to a competition to fix the Hutt River bridge, which was at risk of collapse.[1] The bridge later collapsed in the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake and Roberts designed the replacement. The bridge lasted until 1868.[1][6] Roberts worked alongside Thomas Fitzgerald to design the Wellington Colonial Hospital[a], which opened in 1852. That same year he had publicised a tender for construction of the Wellington Gaol and self-describing his design as earthquake-proof.[1] In 1852 he designed Pencarrow Lighthouse.[3] The construction was put on hold until 1857.[7] The lighthouse was prefabricated in England and was sent over to New Zealand in 1858 to be installed.[3][8] 1849–1852 represented the zenith of his architectural career with six government buildings, a church, and hotel being designed during these years.[1]
According to Fredrick William Furkert in Early New Zealand Engineers was employed as colonial engineer from January 1851 to April 1855 but in June 1851 Roberts was reported as 'Government Architect' for his work developing the Barrett's Hotel ballroom into the legislative chamber for the General Legislative Council. The Blue Book for New Munster lists Roberts as working for both the provincial government and Royal Engineer Department, possibly explaining the discrepancy. As colonial engineer Roberts designed a town plan for Wellington in 1851 that included the first proposal for The reclamation of the Wellington Harbour.[1] Roberts was involved with the 1852, 1853, and 1854 reclamations.[9]
Roberts listed his house for sale in November 1855 with the listing saying Roberts was heading to England. Despite the listing Roberts did not immediately head to England as he was working as commissioner reporting on the 1855 Wairarapa earthquake.[1] During the earthquake Roberts was surveying a stock track along the Turakirae coast at Mukamuka and reported his findings of the earth being raised as high as 9 ft (2.7 m) at Mukamuka.[b][10] Roberts was in correspondence with Charles Lyell, who used his information to give an account of the earthquake in the 10th edition of Principles of Geology.[5][11] Roberts also provided information on the earthquake for Richard Taylor and his 1855 book Te Ika a Maui or New Zealand and its inhabitants.[9] In 1856 Roberts was in England[3] and was in London by March 1856 and remained until at least 1858.[c][1] Roberts did not return to New Zealand.[12]
c.1865 Roberts went to Gibraltar to work as engineer to the Sanitary Commissioner of Gibraltar. He still held this position in 1880 but the only other reference to Roberts is a letter published in a Royal Institute of British Architects journal about brick construction in Wellington in 1888, suggesting he had likely returned to London at some time after 1880.[1] This letter was addressed to New Zealand readers about his design of a military barracks in Wellington that had used iron bars to seismically strengthen a brick building from an earthquake. Roberts' design of the barracks has been described as 'technically innovative' and a 'practical solution' by Robin Skinner.[5]
Personal life
[edit]After the New Zealand Society was founded in 1851 Roberts served as a committee member, with the committee first meeting at Roberts' office and the rules committee meeting at his home. Roberts was also a trustee of the Wellington Cemetery.[1] Roberts was secretary for the New Zealand Society of Arts.[13]
Roberts' wife died in 1880.[1]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Contemporary sources state Roberts took over the design[1]
- ^ The highest uplift was 6.4 m (21 ft) at Barney's Whare about 6 km (3.7 mi) away.[10]
- ^ In March 1856 Roberts was interviewed by Charles Lyell in London.[12] In 1858 a letter for Roberts was addressed to the Royal Engineers' Office at 11 James Street, Westminster, confirming his location in England specifically.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Mew, G.; Humphris, Adrian (October 2014). Raupo to Deco. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-1-927242-56-8.
- ^ a b c d Humphris, Adrian; Mew, Geoff (2012-10-12). "Shy Times in 1850s Wellington: will the real architects please stand up?". Architectural History Aotearoa. 9: 21–28. doi:10.26686/aha.v9i.7292. ISSN 2703-6626.
- ^ a b c d McCraken, Helen (15 August 2001). Pencarrow Lighthouse (former) (Report). Heritage New Zealand.
- ^ Humphris, Adrian; Mew, Geoff (2014-10-01). "ARCHITECT ‐ or Painter, Politician, Forger, Farmer: Multiple careers a necessity in 1840s New Zealand". Architectural History Aotearoa. 11: 28–34. doi:10.26686/aha.v11i.7413. ISSN 2703-6626.
- ^ a b c Skinner, Robin (2009). "Understanding the Risk: Seismicity and Architectural Development in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand". Fabrications. 19 (1): 122–139. doi:10.1080/10331867.2009.10539648. ISSN 1033-1867.
- ^ "Hutt Bridge (Lower Hutt, N.Z. : 1844-1929)". National Library.
- ^ Lewis, Miles (2012). "Iron Lighthouses". Construction History. 27. The Construction History Society: 23–64. ISSN 0267-7768. JSTOR 44215884.
- ^ "Slow beginnings". New Zealand History. 20 December 2012.
- ^ a b Grapes, Rh; Holdgate, Gr (2014-07-03). "Earthquake clustering and possible fault interactions across Cook Strait, New Zealand, during the 1848 and 1855 earthquakes". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics. 57 (3): 312–330. doi:10.1080/00288306.2014.907579. ISSN 0028-8306. Retrieved 2025-06-24.
- ^ a b The 1855 Wairarapa Earthquake Symposium (PDF). September 2005.
- ^ "William B. Joyner Memorial Lectures". Seismological Research Letters. 77 (3): 358–359. 2006-05-01. doi:10.1785/gssrl.77.3.358. ISSN 0895-0695.
- ^ a b Grapes, Rodney H.; Downes, Gaye L. (2010). "Charles Lyell and the great 1855 earthquake in New Zealand: first recognition of active fault tectonics". Journal of the Geological Society. 167 (1): 35–47. doi:10.1144/0016-76492009-104. ISSN 0016-7649.
- ^ "Society of Arts". Journal of the Society of Arts. 1 (44): 534. 23 September 1853.