Matthew Kirtley

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2017}} {{Use British English|date=October 2017}} {{Infobox person | name = Matthew Kirtley | image = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1813|2|6|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Tanfield, Durham|Tanfield]], County Durham, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|1873|5|24|1813|2|6|df=y}} | death_place = Derby | death_cause = | resting_place = Uttoxeter road cemetery Derby | resting_place_coordinates =  | nationality = | citizenship = | other_names = | known_for = Locomotive Engineer | education = | alma_mater = | employer = | occupation = | years_active = | title = | height = | term = | predecessor = | successor = | political_party = | opponents = | boards = | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = [[Thomas Kirtley]] (brother)<br />[[William Kirtley (railway engineer)|William Kirtley]] (nephew) | signature = | footnotes = }} '''Matthew Kirtley''' (6 February 1813 – 24 May 1873) was born at [[Tanfield, Durham]]. He was an important early locomotive engineer.

==Career==

===Early years=== At the age of thirteen he began work on the [[Stockton and Darlington Railway]]; he was fireman on the [[Liverpool and Manchester Railway]], and was present at its opening. Eventually he became a driver on the [[London and Birmingham Railway]] (L&BR). He is believed{{By whom|date=April 2012}} to have driven the first L&BR train (and the first main line train) to enter London.

===Midland Railway=== [[File:Railway carriage built 1876 by Matthew Kirtley for metropolitan railway.jpg|thumb|A railway carriage built (it is said in 1876) by Matthew Kirtley for the Metropolitan Railway]] In 1839 he was appointed first a locomotive foreman, and then in 1841 [[Locomotive Superintendent]] of the [[Birmingham and Derby Junction Railway]]. When that railway became one of the constituents of the [[Midland Railway]], he became the Midland's Locomotive Superintendent. He was there Chief Mechanical Engineer from 1844 until he died in 1873.<ref name=matt>[http://www.midlandrailway-butterley.co.uk/swanwick-junction/matthew-kirtley-building/ Matthew Kirtley Building], midlandrailway-butterley, Retrieved 13 February 2017</ref> Hundreds of locomotives to his design existed, many of which were to last into the days of the [[London, Midland and Scottish Railway]], some fifty years later.

==Locomotive designs== *[[Midland Railway 179 Class|MR 179 class]] [[0-6-0]] (1845) *[[Midland Railway 137 Class|MR 137 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1846) *[[Midland Railway 240 Class|MR 240 class]] [[0-6-0]] (1850) *[[Midland Railway 130 Class|MR 130 class]] [[2-2-2]] (1852) *[[Midland Railway 270 Class|MR 270 class]] [[0-6-0]] (1852) *[[Midland Railway 280 Class|MR 280 class]] [[0-6-0]] (1853) *[[Midland Railway 222 Class|MR 222 class]] [[0-6-0WT]] (1860) *[[Midland Railway 1063 Class|MR 1063 class]] [[0-6-0WT]] (1860) *[[Midland Railway 30 Class|MR 30 class]] [[0-6-0ST]] (1862) *[[Midland Railway 50 Class|MR 50 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1862) *[[Midland Railway 70 Class|MR 70 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1862) *[[Midland Railway 80 Class|MR 80 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1862) *[[Midland Railway 221 Class|MR 221 class]] [[0-6-0ST]] (1863) *[[Midland Railway 480 Class|MR 480 class]] [[0-6-0]] (1863) *[[Midland Railway 101 Class|MR 101 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1866) *[[Midland Railway 156 Class|MR 156 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1866) *[[Midland Railway 170 Class|MR 170 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1867) *[[Midland Railway 204 Class|MR 204 class]] [[4-4-0T]] (1868) *[[Midland Railway 230 Class|MR 230 class]] [[2-4-0T]] (1868) *[[Midland Railway 690 Class|MR 690 class]] [[0-4-4T]] (1869) *[[Midland Railway 700 Class|MR 700 class]] [[0-6-0]] (1869) *[[Midland Railway 780 Class|MR 780 class]] [[0-4-4T]] (1870) *[[Midland Railway 800 Class|MR 800 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1870) *[[Midland Railway 880 Class|MR 880 class]] [[0-6-0T]] (1871) *[[Midland Railway 890 Class|MR 890 class]] [[2-4-0]] (1871) *[[Midland Railway 2066 Class|MR 2066 class]] [[0-6-0WT]] (1873)

==Family== Matthew Kirtley's brother [[Thomas Kirtley]] was also a locomotive engineer (on the [[London, Brighton and South Coast Railway]] (1847)) as was his nephew, [[William Kirtley (railway engineer)|William Kirtley]], who served as locomotive superintendent on the [[London, Chatham and Dover Railway]], 1874-1898.

==Legacy== The Midland Railway Trust’s collection of locomotives, carriages and wagon is housed in what is now named the Matthew Kirtley Building.<ref name=matt/>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://steamindex.com/people/kirtley.htm#matthew Matthew Kirtley] at steamindex

{{s-start}} {{s-bus}} {{s-new}} {{s-ttl|title=[[Chief Mechanical Engineer]] of the [[Midland Railway]] |years=1844–1873}} {{s-aft|after=[[Samuel Waite Johnson]]}} {{end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirtley, Matthew}} [[Category:English mechanical engineers]] [[Category:English railway mechanical engineers]] [[Category:Locomotive builders and designers]] [[Category:Midland Railway people]] [[Category:1813 births]] [[Category:1873 deaths]] [[Category:People from Tanfield, County Durham]]