County surveyor for Co. Longford and the East Riding of Co. Cork. Samuel A. Kirkby, a son of Edward Kirkby of Grove House, Sheffield, was born at sea near St Helena in June 1845.(1) He was educated at Haversham Grammar School and Liverpool College before serving his pupilage at with George Forrester & Co, Vauxhall Foundry, Liverpool, from 1864 to 1869. In 1869 he proceeded to Cambridge University, graduating BA in the Mathematical Tripos in 1871.(2) He then entered the office of Sir JOHN FOWLER JOHN FOWLER , where he remained until September 1872, when he obtained the position of county surveyor for Co. Longford in open competitive examination. He received the MA degree from Cambridge in 1874. In the same year he was transferred from Co. Longford to the southern division of the East Riding of Co. Cork. His responsibilities were enlarged to include the whole of the East Riding in 1898. He resigned in 1908.(3) He also had a private engineering practice: he was engineer for the Kanturk & Newmarket Railway, 1886-88, and, with JOHN WILLIAM DORMAN JOHN WILLIAM DORMAN , for the Schull & Skibbereen Railway, 1884-85, and was adviser for the Clonakilty Railway.

Kirkby returned to England in 1911, and settled in West Dulwich, where he died on 29 January 1927. He was married twice, first, in 1886, to Agnes Augusta (d.1896), the widow of Francis Woodley of Miramar, Cobh, by whom he had one surviving daughter, and second, in 1897, to Eleanor Rubie, daughter of Charles Young of Eglinton Place, Cork, by whom he had a son and another daughter.

ICEI: elected member, 2 April 1879;(4) no longer on list of members for 1887.
Inst.CE: elected member, 7 April 1903; deleted from roll of members, 1916.

Addresses: Home: Castle Jane, Glanmire, 1881;(5) Miramar, Cobh, 1900; Carrigmore, Cobh, 1902; York House, 1 York Terrace, Cork, 1904-1911; Alleyn Park, West Dulwich, 1911.

See WORKS.

References
All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the brief biographies of Kirkby in Alumni Cantabrigienses Part 2, Vol. 4, 55, and Richard J. Hodges, Cork and County Cork in the Twentieth Century (1911), 30 (the latter illustrated with a portrait photograph) and from the records of the Institution of Civil Engineers (information from Mrs Carol Morgan, Archivist).

(1) The date is given as 24 June in Alumni Cantabrigienses and Hodges, loc. cit., and 21 June in the records of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
(2) At some point in his Cambridge career he was awarded a Whitworth scholarship, which consisted of a grant of £200 for three years.
(3) IB 50, 21 Mar 1908, 190.
(4) TICEI 12 (1876-1879), 152.
(5) Cork Examiner, 2 Mar 1881.

13 work entries listed in chronological order for KIRKBY, SAMUEL ALEXANDER

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Building:	CO. CORK, KINSALE (NEAR), RINGNANEAN BRIDGE AND EASTERN BRIDGE
Date:	1877-1880
Nature:	Pair of 3-span bridges over 2 arms of tidal estuary to E of Kinsale. Contractor:J.O. & C.E. Brettell, Worcester. Ironwork: John Steel & Sons, Cork. Cost of Eastern Bridge £26,000.
Refs:	Candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902.; R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland (1998), 267

Building:	CO. CORK, YOUGHAL, BRIDGE OVER RIVER BLACKWATER (1878-1882)
Date:	1878-1882
Nature:	Lattice girder bridge, 1,278 ft long, across tidal section of Blackwater, replacing Nimmo's timber bridge. Cost: £36,000. Contractors: Stockton Forge Co.
Refs:	IB 24, 1 Aug 1882, 225; Alumni Cantabrigienses Part 2, Vol. 4, 55; candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902; S. Hayman, The Illustrated Guide to the Blackwater and Ardmore (reprint,1971), 11

Building:	CO. CORK, YOUGHAL, SEA WALL
Date:	1882-83
Nature:	Sea wall with groynes to protect house and esplanade against the sea. £9,000.
Refs:	candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902.

Building:	CO. CORK, KINSALE (NEAR), WESTERN BRIDGE
Date:	1883a
Nature:	New bridge over Bandon river. Contractor: J.O & C.E. Brettell. (Worcester) Cost:£19,326.
Refs:	IB 25, ? ? 1883, 189 (information from Brendan O'Donoghue)

Building:	CO. CORK, BALLYDEHOB, VIADUCT
Date:	1884-86
Nature:	12-arch viaduct on Schull & Skibbereen Railway line. With J.W. Dorman. Contractors: McKeon, Robinson & d'Avigdor, London.
Refs:	R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland (1998), 261-2(illus.).

Building:	CO. CORK, MIDLETON, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1886
Nature:	Gratitation scheme to supply town of 400 inhabitants. Cost: £4,000.
Refs:	candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902.

Building:	CO. CORK, YOUGHAL, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1889-90
Nature:	Gravitation scheme. Cost £6,700.
Refs:	Alumni Cantabrigienses Part 2, Vol. 4, 55; candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902.

Building:	CO. CORK, COBH, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1897-1904
Nature:	Gravitation scheme, with G.G. Doran, including formation of reservoir at Tibbetstown/Cloneen,  Tenders invited, May 1897;  'nearly finished' in Dec 1902. Contractors: E. & R. Lester, Plymouth. £23,000.
Refs:	IB 39, 15 May 1897, 100; 46, 19 Nov 1904, 766;  Irish Times, 22 May 1897; candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902.

Building:	CO. CORK, YOUGHAL, AUXILIARY LUNATIC ASYLUM
Date:	1901-02
Nature:	Conversion of industrial school into auxiliary lunatic asylum providing 410 beds. With H.A. Cutler. Cost: £20,000.
Refs:	Candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902; 53rd Report on district, criminal and private lunatic asylums (1905), 582.

Building:	CO. CORK, COBH, HAULBOWLINE ISLAND, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1902
Nature:	Deep water main from Cobh to island.
Refs:	Alumni Cantabrigienses Part 2, Vol. 4, 55; candidate's circular for Inst.CE, 6 Dec 1902.

Building:	CO. CORK, MIDLETON, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1903
Nature:	SAK reports on condition of same to Midleton UDC.
Refs:	IB 45, 9 Apr 1903, 1682

Building:	CO. CORK, MIDLETON, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1905-06
Nature:	Supplemental supply. Contractor: J.J. Coffey, Midleton.
Refs:	IB 47, 8 Apr 1905, 222; 48, 30 Jun 1906, 506

Building:	CO. CORK, MIDLETON, WATER SUPPLY
Date:	1909
Nature:	Extension. For Midleton UDC.
Refs:	IB 51, 6 Feb,20 Mar 1909, 90,185