Chapman Frederick Dendy Marshall

Biography

Centenary history of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. London, 1930.
Ottley 6361 notes that Rastrick's Rainhill Notebook forms an appendix in transcript form. Reviewed Locomotive Mag., 1930, 36, 71.
Early British Locomotives: a supplement to the first of the author's 'Two essays in early locomotive history'. London: Locomotive Publishing Co., 1939. 107pp.
Ottley 2866. Reviewed Locomotive Mag., 1940, 46, 25.
A history of British railways down to the year 1830. 1938.
Author was President of' the Newcomen Society. The work is arranged geographically. Bibliography. Glossary. Illustrations, maps.
History of the railway locomotive down to the end of the Year 1831. London: Locomotive Publishing Co., 1953. 271pp.
Ottley 2887: KPJ Ottley may have misquoted title: this was presumably based on the two earlier works.:
The chapters are as follows: Steam Power and its application to locomotion; Richard Trevithick; Blenkinsop and Murray (an Internet correspondent noted serious inaccuracies in this section); Taylor Swainson; William Chapman; William Hedley; William Brunton; William Stewart; George Stephenson; Robert Stephenson and Co.; John M'Curdy; Robert Wilson; Timothy Hackworth ...; Braithwaite and Ericsson; Timothy Burstall; John Urpeth Rastrick; Bury and Kennedy; Neath Abbey; Rothwell and Hick; Goldsworthy Gurney; George Dodds; Miscellaneous British Builders; Early attempts on the Continent; Marc Seguin; The United States of America
A history of the Southem Railway. 1936.
An officia1 history extending from the time of the earliest railways until 1934. Treats each major company amalgamated into the Southern Railway separately, then describes events between 1923 and 1934. Bibliography. Plates (4 coloured), illustrations (including reproductions of early prints), maps. Locomotiv history was written by A.C.W. Lowe: .Reviewed in Locomotive Mag., 1936, 42, 403.  Hilton (Locomotive Mag., 1947, 53, 44) resolved a problem relating to the builder of the White Horse of Kent supplied to the SER: it was Robert Stephenson & Co.
A history of the Southem Railway. 1963.Second (enlarged) edition, revised by R. W. Kidner. Vol. II. London: lan Allan. 275 pp.
Reviewed Rly Wld., 1964, 25, 118

The motion of railway vehicles on a curved line, etc. London: Railway Engineer, 1932. 41pp.
Misssing from both Ottley and Jones: date and obituary below do not quite register
The resistance of exprress trains. London: Railway Engineer, 1925. 76pp.
Ottley 2768
Two essays in early locomotive history. London: Locomotive Publishing Co., 1928.
Ottley 2854. Part I the first hundred railway engines; Part II. British locomotives in North America. Cites Warren's Century of locomotive building and Young's Timothy Hackworth which receive the accolade of being "excellent books". This work clearly formed the foundation for the later, much larger study of locomotive history. The Introduction notes "even official publications cannot be trusted implicitly". He observed that there are errors in the postcards issued by both the LBSCR and LNWR. Supplented by C.F. Dendy Marshals. British locomotives in North America Locomotive Mag., 1940, 46,. 186-9.

Other

Springs, a miscellany. C. F. Dendy Marshall. Locomotive Mag,, 1944, 50, 31
Reassessment of Jervis as inventor of bogie locomotive with respect to Chapman's contribution

Biography

Born on 22 January 1873 in Acton, son of a tea broker. The Locomotive Magazine, 1945, 51, 109 is the most comprehensive obituary discovered so far. It is with great regret that we have to record ·the death on June 14, at his residence at Wonersh, of Chapman Frederick Dendy Marshall, who as long as the history of railways endures will be remembered as an. able, painstaking and outstanding research worker and historian. He will also be remembered by those privileged to meet him as a indly gentleman ever ready to discuss engin:eering history with those interested and to show them his magnificent collection of railroadiana, which was particularly rich in items relating to the Liverpool & Manchester Raihvay.
Born in 1873, he was educated at Hurstpierpoint and Trinity College, Cambridge, of which he was an M.A. Although called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1898, he did not practice. During the first World War he was a technical examiner at the Munitions Inventions Department and managed the Ministry of Munitions "Journal."
Over a period of many years he had contributed to "The Locomotive" and other technical papers, usually on matters of historical interest, but not invariably, notable exceptions being his paper on "The Motion of Railway Vehicles on a Curved Line," which shared the George Stephenson research prize awarded by the Council of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1930, and his work on "The Resistance of Express Trains" — the first extensive study of aerodynamics as affecting railway trains.
But it is as an historian on the grand scale that Dendy Marshall will be chiefly remembered. His "Centenary History of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway" will probably remain for all time the outstanding history of an early British Railway-in fact it is difficult to see that it could be improved upon.
His "Two Essays in Locomotive History," dealing with the first hundred locomotives and early British engines in North America, together with his later book, "Early British Locomotives," were excellent examples of the work resulting from his lengthy and careful search into all corners which might yield new information.
Another classical work of its kind was the volume he wrote on "The History of British Railways down to 1830," although this is not so widely known as his "History of the Southern Railway."
On the practical side he evolved a method of compounding which was applied to the L. & N.W.R. 4-6-0 locomotive No. 1361 "Prospero" -this was described in "The Locomotive," Vol. XXI, page 219.
He was elected a member of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1916, assisted in the foundation of the Newcornen Society, of which he was president 1934-35, and was in addition a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society, the Royal Philatelic Society and of the Athenaeum Club.
His contributions to literature were by no means limited to mechanical matters, for he was also an authority on the 'history of the Bntish Post Office, relating to which he possessed another unique collection. He was the author of "The British Post Office from its beginning to the end of 1925," for which work he was awarded the Crawford gold medal by the Royal Philatelic Society, and also of "A Studv of the Line Engraved Twopence Postage Stamps of Great Britain," which was awarded several medals both at  home and abroad.

Marshall failed to record where the great railway historian was born but according to Internet correspondent was in last quarter of 1873 in Brentford. He died at Wonersh on 14 June 1945. He was educated at Hurstpierpoint and Trinity College, Cambridge. He was called to the Bar at Inner Temple but did not practice. During WW1 he was a technical examiner at the Munitions Inventions Dept. He evolved a patented (see below) system of locomotive compounding applied to LNWR 4-6-0 No. 1361 Prospero (Locomotive, 1915 15 Oct., p. 219). He was a founder member of the Newcomen Society and major contributor to its Transactions. He wrote a history of the Post Office. Jack Simmons wrote a carping biography in his common place book alias Oxford Companion. He is especially damning of his history of the Author's Liverpool & Manchester Railway and uses the paragraph to plug his acolyte's study of this railway. The history of the Southern Railway is also condemned ("a large work of uneven value"). Simmons criticism is so damning that one may be forced to assess the critic's contribution (which borders on the unreliable in the case of motive power).

Preface to the Second Edition of  A history of the Southem Railway. Ian Allan, 1962. 2v.

When Dendy Marshall's History first appeared in 1937, among the voices acclaiming its magnitude and patient scholarship were a number referring somewhat pointedly to certain errors, and over the years there was built up a tradition among railway historians that 'you can't trust Dendy Marshall'. Close examination by many experts, including H.V. Borley, M.D. Greville, and J.G. Spence, did not in fact show up more than about fifty minor errors, which in a book of 700 pages, compiled in days when historical railway research was less keenly pursued than today, does not amount to a major indictment. Moreover, the author had good reasons for trusting some of his sources which later proved fallacious – indeed one incorrect date was actually given by the South Eastern Chairman to a Company Meeting. Every effort has been made in this second edition to put these mistakes right, but preoccupation with these details must not be allowed to obscure the great value of the work of the original author.
Some of the material which was included in 1937 for policy reasons has been excluded as no longer relevant. The plans, which were a weak feature of the original edition, have been redrawn. The multitude of photographs of seals and emblems have been omitted to make way for pictures of the railways in action.
I am aware that there is a great deal of detailed history about the constituent companies now available which is not in this book. It could not be added without both destroying the character of the original text and making the work impossibly bulky. Where there might be misunderstanding, however, a considerable number of interpolations in the text and some explanatory footnotes have been added.
Dendy Marshall did not always give full dates for events. Rather than incorporate all these in the text, they are covered in a remarkably complete list of openings and closings of lines and stations which will appear in Volume II.
R.W. KIDNER. Lingfield November 1962

Locomotive improvements: patent

18805/1911 Improvements in steam engines. Applied: 21 August 1911. Published 21 August 1912

2017-05-23