Fleeming Jenkin

Fleeming Jenkin
Born(1833-03-25)25 March 1833
Dungeness, Kent, England, UK
Died12 June 1885(1885-06-12) (aged 52)
Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Alma materUniversity of Edinburgh
Known forTelpherage
Drawing of the first ever aerial tramway or telpher, designed and engineered by Fleeming Jenkin. It was installed in Glynde in Sussex in 1885 to transport clay, and was finished after Jenkin's death.

Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin FRS FRSE LLD (/ˈflɛmɪŋ/; 25 March 1833 – 12 June 1885) was Regius Professor of Engineering at the University of Edinburgh, remarkable for his versatility. Known to the world as the inventor of the cable car or telpherage, he was an electrician and cable engineer, economist, lecturer, linguist, critic, actor, dramatist and artist.[1] His descendants include the engineer Charles Frewen Jenkin and through him the Conservative MPs Patrick, Lord Jenkin of Roding and Bernard Jenkin.[2]

  1. ^ Cookson, G.; Hempstead, C. A. (2000). A Victorian Scientist and Engineer: Fleeming Jenkin and the Birth of Electrical Engineering. Aldershot: Ashgate. ISBN 978-0-7546-0079-4.
  2. ^ "Centenary Celebrations: Department of Engineering Science 1908-2008" (PDF). Newsletter. Department of Engineering Science, Oxford University. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 June 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2014.