Edward Watkin

Sir Edward William Watkin, 1st Baronet (26 September 1819 – 13 April 1901) was a British Member of Parliament and railway entrepreneur. He was an ambitious visionary, and presided over large-scale railway engineering projects to fulfil his business aspirations, eventually rising to become chairman of nine different British railway companies.

This article is about the railway chairman born 1819. For other people with the same name, see Edward Watkin (disambiguation).
Sir Edward William Watkin

Bt
Watkin by Augustus Henry Fox now in the National Railway Museum
Born(1819-09-26)26 September 1819
Died13 April 1901(1901-04-13) (aged 81)
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)(1) Mary Briggs Mellor (d.1888);
(2) Ann Ingram
Children2: Alfred Mellor Watkin (son)
RelativesWilliam Thompson Watkin (cousin)

Among his more notable projects were: his expansion of the Metropolitan Railway, part of today's London Underground; the construction of the Great Central Main Line, a purpose-built high-speed railway line; the creation of a pleasure garden with a partially constructed iron tower at Wembley; and a failed attempt to dig a Channel Tunnel under the English Channel to connect his railway empire to the French rail network.

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