William Richard Le Fanu [1816-1894]

William Richard Le Fanu

William Richard Le Fanu was a famour railway engineer who was born in Dublin in 1816. He worked under John Benjamin McNeill on a number of railway projects in Ireland. He worked on the Bagenalstown to Ballywilliam line including the Borris viaduct, which he designed circa 1860. William Le Fanu was brother to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the famous novelist. He died at home in Summerhill County Wicklow on September 8th 1894.

Carlow County Library

William Richard Le Fanu
Carlow County Library

William Richard Le Fanu

William Richard Le Fanu was a famour railway engineer who was born in Dublin in 1816. He worked under John Benjamin McNeill on a number of railway projects in Ireland. He worked on the Bagenalstown to Ballywilliam line including the Borris viaduct, which he designed circa 1860. William Le Fanu was brother to Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the famous novelist. He died at home in Summerhill County Wicklow on September 8th 1894.

Carlow County Library

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William Richard Le Fanu was born in Dublin in February 1816. His father Reverend Thomas P. Le Fanu was Chaplain to the Royal Hibernian Military School. His older brother was Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, the well-known novelist.

William was educated at Trinity College, Dublin where he received a B.A. degree in 1839. He became an apprentice to John Benjamin McNeill, the great railway engineer and was employed on railway work including the construction of the Great Southern and Western Railway. Le Fanu and another engineer called Matthew Blakiston were principal assistants to McNeill. He was responsible for the design of the Bagenalstown and Ballywilliam line, including the Borris viaduct around 1860.

In 1863, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Board of Public Works. Le Fanu relates that he was "much pressed to do so by (his) friends in the Irish Government".

In 1863, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Board of Public Works. Le Fanu relates that he was "much pressed to do so by (his) friends in the Irish Government".

In his memoirs "Seventy Years of Irish Life" published in 1893 he William Dargan described by WR Le Fanu recounts anecdotes and reminiscences from his life as an engineer on the railway between Bagenalstown and Kilkenny which was "a single line". He also mentions two of his friends pioneers of transport in the first half of the nineteenth century William Dargan and Charles Bianconi, who predeceased him. He died at home in Summerhill, Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow on September 8th, 1894.