G. T. Clark - Surgeon To Engineer

Surgeon To Engineer

Clark opened a practice in Bristol but by the mid 1830s was in the employ of Isembard Kingdom Brunel as an engineer on the construction of the Great Western and Taff Vale Railways. His position was a senior one with overall responsibility for some stretches of the line and for civil structures. Involvement in major earth-moving works seems to have fed his interest in geology and archaeology and he, anonymously, authored two guidebooks on the railway, in addition to a critique of Brunel's methods.

Sometime in 1835, Clark made the acquaintance of John Josiah Guest, Taff Vale promoter and proprietor of the massive Dowlais Ironworks, and his family, by 1838 becoming a confidant. It was to prove a pivotal meeting, but not until Clark's return from India.

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