Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Engineer, of Dublin. James Price, second son of James Price of Newtown Park, Monkstown, was born at Monkstown on 18 January 1831. He attended Trinity College, Dublin, obtaining the Diploma of Civil Engineering in 1850 and the BA degree the following year. After working on the staff of the General Valuation, he entered the employment of JAMES BARTON  JAMES BARTON at Dundalk as a general assistant. Under Barton he was employed from 1855 to 1857as resident engineer of the the Banbridge Junction Railway and afterwards on the Wicklow Harbour improvements. From 1859 to 1860 he was resident engineer for the construction of the Cootehill and Ballybay line and then had charge for two years of the track of the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway. In 1862 he was appointed resident engineer of the Midland Great Western Railway,(1) a post which was combined with that of engineer to the Royal Canal from 1868 or earlier. Price held both posts until May 1877. For the Midland Great Western Railway he planned and carried out the Spencer Docks, Dublin, which incorporated two floating swing-bridges of a form designed by himself.

From 1877 onwards Price practised privately in Dublin. During this later phase of his career he worked on the Galway New Dock and the Lough Erne drainage scheme. He was also consulting engineer for the Cork & Macroom Railway and reported on a number of railway and light railway schemes. He was a consistent advocate of broad gauge track. In 1887 he stood in as Professor of Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin, during the illness of the incumbent, Robert Crawford. Active until a week before his death, he died after a bout of influenza followed by pneumonia on 4 April 1895.(2) He was buried in the new cemetery near Greystones,(3) where he had been living for many years. He had married in 1855 Frances Alicia, daughter of John Peebles, M.D., of Dublin and was the father of JAMES PRICE [2] JAMES PRICE [2] , ALFRED DICKINSON PRICE ALFRED DICKINSON PRICE , seven other sons and two daughters. He was a member of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, and is described in his obituary as 'a man of large-hearted sympathy' who 'gave much time and energy to works of benevolence'.

Price's pupils and assistants included SHIRLEY RUSSELL GOING SHIRLEY RUSSELL GOING , ALBERT GORDON ALBERT GORDON , EDWARD AUGUSTUS HACKETT EDWARD AUGUSTUS HACKETT , ARTHUR EDWARD JOYCE ARTHUR EDWARD JOYCE , JOSEPH MOYNAN  JOSEPH MOYNAN and ARTHUR JAMES HAMILTON SMYTHE. ARTHUR JAMES HAMILTON SMYTHE.

ICEI:(4) elected member, 1861; council member, 1863-1864,1869-1876,1890; hon. secretary, 1865,1867; vice-president, 1868,1871-1872; president, 1894-95.
Inst.CE: elected member, 1 March 1870; read paper, 'On the testing of Rails', 1871, for which he was awarded a Telford Medal and Premum; read paper on 'Movable Bridges', 1879, for which he was awarded Telford Premium.

Addresses:(5) Work: 26 Westmoreland Street, 1883; 44 Harcourt Street, Dublin, <=1887 until death.
Home: Highfield, North Circular Road, <=1874->=1875; Knockeevin, Church Road, Greystones, from circa 1878.(6)

See WORKS and BIBLIOGRAPHY. BIBLIOGRAPHY.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise accounted for is from the obituary of Price in Min.Proc.Inst.CE 121 (1894-95, Pt. III), 327-329. A similar obituary is in TICEI 25 (1895-96), 127-129.

(1) DB 4, 1 Nov 1862, 276.
(2) For the resolution of regret passed at the meeting of ICEI on 1 May 1895, see TICEI 24 (1894-95), 94-96.
(3) Wicklow Newsletter, 13 Apr 1895.
(3)
(4) From lists of office holders and members in TICEI and Thom's directories.
(5) From Thom's and Post Office directories unless otherwise stated.
(6) See note 2, above.


13 work entries listed in chronological order for PRICE, JAMES [1]


Sort by date | Sort alphabetically


Building: CO. LEITRIM, DRUMSNA, RAILWAY BRIDGE
Date: 1862
Nature: Bascule bridge, first in Ireland, over R. Shannon for Midland Great Western Railway. 380 ft long. 6 arches. Contractor: Smith & Knight.
Refs: DB 4, 1 Oct 1862, 255; Min.Proc.Inst.CE 121 (1894-95, Pt. III), 327-329

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NORTH WALL, ROYAL CANAL DOCKS
Date: 1867a
Nature: Improvements, opened to traffic 10 Aug 1867.
Refs: IB 10, 15 Mar 1868, 67

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, NEWCOMEN BRIDGE
Date: 1873a
Nature: Rebuilding, involving lowering bridge some feet to make ascent easier. Expenses borne by Midland Great Western Railway, inhabitans of Clontarf, Tramways Co. and Corporation. Almost complete.
Refs: IB 15, 1 Apr 1873, 89

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, SPENCER DOCK
Date: 1873a
Nature: Approaching completion. Multyfarnham and Oranmore limestone. For Midland Great Western Railway.
Refs: IB 15, 1 Apr 1873, 89

Building: CO. MEATH, NAVAN, HOUSES (MIDLAND GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY CO.)
Date: 1877
Nature: Artisans dwellings for Midland Great Western Railway Co. Builder: George Tyrrell.
Refs: IB 19, 15 Mar 1877, 78

Building: CO. WICKLOW, BRAY, ESPLANADE, BATHS
Date: 1878
Nature: New concrete sea baths for ladies, for Bray Pavilion Company.  Works commenced by Jun 1878 and 'will be completed by about the month of August'. 'The baths...will form a very pretty building...they will cover a space of one hundred and sixty-five feet in length and will cost £1,630.' to be constructwed under superintendence of JP and and James Hargrave Bridgford, architect to the Bray Pavilion company.
Refs: Irish Times, 6 Jun 1878.

Building: CO. WICKLOW, GREYSTONES, WATER SUPPLY
Date: 1879
Nature: New reservoir designed by JP with J. Brett now complete. Contractor: John Cunningham, Dalkey.
Refs: IB 21, 1 Oct 1879, 311

Building: CO. WICKLOW, GREYSTONES, HOUSE (KNOCKDOLIAN?)
Date: 1879
Nature: New mansion for Maj. Gen. Richard Stewart Dobbs in process of being built. Builder: G.F. Tyrrell.
Refs: IB 21, 15 Oct 1879, 323; B 37, 25 Oct 1879, 1182

Building: CO. WICKLOW, GREYSTONES, SCHOOL
Date: 1879
Nature: First stone of new school laid by W.R. La Touche, 8 Sep 1879. Contractor: R. Ludlow.
Refs: IB 21, 15 Sep 1879, 293; B 37, 25 Oct 1879, 1182

Building: CO. GALWAY, GALWAY, HARBOUR
Date: 1882
Nature: Works on harbour and docks being carried out from plans and under superintendence of JP.
Refs: IB 24, 15 Nov 1882, 337

Building: CO. FERMANAGH, ENNISKILLEN, WEST BRIDGE
Date: 1885ca
Nature: New 2-arch stone bridge across main channel of River Erne, replacing earlier structure.
Refs: Min.Proc.Inst.CE 101 (1889-90, Pt. III), 94

Building: CO. FERMANAGH, INISHMORE VIADUCT
Date: 1891-1900
Nature: Across Upper Lough Erne. Designed by JP, for J.V.C. Porter.
Refs: R.C. Cox & M.H. Gould, Civil Engineering Heritage: Ireland (1998), 184

Building: CO. WICKLOW, CROSS ROADS, HOUSES (016)
Date: 1894
Nature: JP to prepare plans for 16 labourers' cottages.
Refs: Wicklow Newsletter, 22 Dec 1894

Author Title Date Details
Going, Shirley Russell, & Price, James 'Kingstown and Blackrock Main Drainage' 1891 IB 33, 15 Oct 1891, 230. (Letter to editor.)
Price, James 'On the relative advantages of various forms of Permanent Way used in Ireland' 1863 TICEI 7, Pt. II (1862-63), 34-44.
Price, James 'On rain and evaopration gauges' 1865 TICEI 8 (1863-66), 29-37.
Price, James 'On beams of bricks and wrought iron as used by the author' 1866 TICEI 8 (1863-66), 22-28.
Price, James 'On the testing of rails, with a description of a machine for the purpose' 1871 Min.Proc.Inst.CE 32 (1870-71, Pt. II), 192-202.
Price, James 'Movable bridges' 1879 Min.Proc.Inst.CE 57 (1878-79, Pt. III), 1-30; IB 21, 1 Apr 1879, 99.
Price, James 'The shortest route to India' 1885 TICEI 16 (1884-5), 107-140
Price, James 'To draw a line equal in length to the circumference of a circle' 1886 TICEI 18 (1886-87), 1-6.
Price, James, & Going, Shirley R. 'Kingstown and Blackrock Main Drainage' 1891 IB 33, 15 Oct 1891, 230. (Letter to editor.)