Early Life
Buck was born on 1 April 1789 at Stoke Holy Cross, near Norwich. His parents were Quakers and sent him, with his two brothers, to the Quaker School at Ackworth, West Yorkshire. With his schooling completed, his father placed him with a wholesaler at Tower Hill, London, as he wanted him to be involved in trade, but the position did not suit Buck, and so he looked for something else. Around 1807, the East London Waterworks Company were building Old Ford pumping station, which had been designed by Ralph Walker, and Buck managed to secure a job there. When the job was finished, Walker moved on to Farlington, to work on a water supply scheme for Portsmouth and Gosport. The scheme had been authorised by an Act of Parliament in 1809, and Buck went to work as resident engineer, reporting to Walker. The scheme suffered from an intermittent water supply, as did a competing scheme engineered by William Nicholson.
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Famous quotes related to early life:
“... goodness is of a modest nature, easily discouraged, and when much elbowed in early life by unabashed vices, is apt to retire into extreme privacy, so that it is more easily believed in by those who construct a selfish old gentleman theoretically, than by those who form the narrower judgments based on his personal acquaintance.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)