John Daglish

John Daglish, a miner and civil engineer, was born on the 26th of June 1828 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. He was educated at Dr John Collingwood Bruce’s School from 1836 to 1838 and Wesley College at Sheffield from 1838 to 1843. He was a mining engineer apprentice to Nicholas Wood at Killingwoth Collieries. Between 1849 and 1850 he attended lectures at King’s and University Colleges in London.

In 1855 Daglish married Sarah Ellen Robson with whom he had one daughter, Adelaide Mary.

Daglish worked at many different collieries:
1848, as an assistant viewer at Urpeth Colliery.
1850, as a viewer at Barrington Colliery.
1852, as a viewer at Radcliffe Colliery.
1854, as a viewer at Seaton Colliery.
1859, as a viewer at Hetton Collieries.
1863, as chief viewer to collieries belonging to the Marchioness of Londonderry.
1865, as general manager of Londonderry collieries (he resigned in 1869).
1873, as managing director of Whitburn Collieries.
1873, as managing director of Cwmaman Colliery (South Wales).

He also worked as an agent for Kimblesworth Colliery, Durham; Silksworth Colliery, Durham; Houghton Main Colliery, Yorkshire; Swaithe Main Colliery; Yorkshire; and Manvers Main Colliery, Yorkshire. In 1891 Daglish resigned all colliery management positions and purchased Rothley Crag estate. He built a hall at Rothley Crag in 1895.

Daglish was one of the 44 ‘colliery owners, viewers and others interested in the coal trade’ who founded the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. He was President between 1884 and 1886 and was a member until his death in 1906.

John Daglish took a leading role in formation of Institution of Mining Engineers and was keen to see the amalgamation of the various Institutes around the country. He was also a Governor of Armstrong College and founded the Daglish Travelling Fellowship in mining. Daglish died on the 9th August 1906.

Daglish published many articles within the Institute Transactions:
Vol IV, p283 ‘The Relative Heating and Economic Values of Round and Small Coals’
Vol IV, p211 ‘Experiments on the Strength of Wire-ropes and Chains’
Vol VIII, p179 ‘The Injurious Action on Iron in Upcast Shafts’
Vol VIII, p181 ‘The Cause of the Loss of Strength in Iron Wire when Heated’
Vol IX, p131 ‘The Construction of Ventilating Furnaces’
Vol X, p207 ‘The Various Modes of Ascertaining the Velocities of Currents of Air in Mines, in order to Determine the Quantities Circulating in a given Time’ in conjunction with John Job Atkinson
Vol XI, p19 ‘The Destructive Action of Furnace Gases in Upcast Shafts’
Vol XII, p63 ‘The Donesthorpe, Firth and Ridley Coal-cutting Machine’ in conjunction with Mr Lindsay Wood
Vol XII, p 79 ‘The Ventilation of Underground Boilers’ in conjunction with Mr William Armstrong
Vol XII, p 93 ‘Paradoxes in the Ventilation of Mines’ in conjunction with Mr John Job Atkinson
Vol XIII, p205 ‘The Magnesian Limestone of Durham’ in conjunction with Mr George Baker Foster
Vol XIII, p219 ‘Minerals and Salts found in Coal Pits’ in conjunction with Mr R Calvert Clapham
Vol XV, p103 ‘Certain Improvements in the construction of the Water-gauge’
Vol XVI, p33 ‘The Broadbent Patent Safety-cage’
Vol XVI, p33 ‘The Conveyance of Coal Underground’
Vol XVII, p27 ‘A New Application of the Water-gauge for ascertaining the Pressure of the Ventilating Column in Mines’
Vol XX, p205 ‘The Counter-balancing of Winding engines’
Vol XXIV, p23 ‘Some Remarks on the Beds of Ironstone occuring in Lincolnshire’ in conjunction with R Howse
Vol XXIX, p 3 ‘The Application of Counter-balancing and Expansion to Winding Engines’
Vol XXX, p129 ‘Account of a Discharge of Lightning at Kimblesworth Colliery on July 12th 1880’
Vol XXXV, p223 ‘Presidential Address’

Other Publications:
‘The Sinking of Two Shafts at Marsden, for the Whitburn Coal Company’, Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1882, Vol XXI, p178
‘The Mechanical Firing of Steam Boilers’, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. 1869, p155

Taken from:
Transactions Vol XXXIII, pp201-204

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