Richard Mansell

Richard Christopher Mansell b. 1814, Liverpool, Lancashire, England. d.1904, London.

Locomotive superintendent, South Eastern Railway 1877-1878, taking office as successor to Alfred Mellor Watkin, after an uneasy and shortlived sharing of power, and prior to the appointment of James Stirling. Carriage superintendent for SER at Ashford by 1851, and later works manager, a post he resumed after being replaced by Stirling, until retiring from the SER in January 1882. On leaving, he was given an annual consultancy fee/pension of fifty quineas.

He was responsible for the design of a dozen locomotives: 9 x 0-4-4T [1878] and 3 x 0-6-0 [completed 1879, 7 others cancelled]. Three 0-6-0Ts that had been designed by Cudworth were also completed under Mansell's supervision in 1877.

None of his engines had a distinguished service life. The tanks lasted about 12 years and the 0-6-0s about twice that.

His first wife Elizabeth d.1873, aged 56. He married, again, in 1874 to Emmeline Aldgate Clark, a widow, who d.1912.

References 1. The Locomotives of the South Eastern Railway, D L Bradley 2. South Eastern Railway, A Gray 3. UK Cenus Returns 4. Records of the Registrar for Births, Deaths & Marriages