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Richard THOMAS, C. E. (1779-1858)
Richard Thomas, Civil Engineer, was born in Falmouth on 27th December, 1779, and died at the house of his son-in-law, J. T. Buxton, at St. Mary's, Scilly on 21 February, 1858.
In 1815, he produced a survey of the navigation of the Severn River and a chart 72 x 24 inches, published in London. A geological map of the mining district of Cornwall in 1819 went through several editions.
1815: (Battle of Waterloo) Thomas produced the first "Falmouth Guide" containing "a concise account of the history, trade, port and public establishments of Falmouth; directions to the public offices, lodging-houses, inns, taverns, etc., and an appendix noticing everything of interest in its vicinity, being a complete directory to strangers going abroad in the packets. 
" It was published by Lake, a second edition appearing in 1820, published anonymously. In 1827, Trathen of Falmouth published Thomas' "History of Falmouth" and, a second edition appeared the following year.
Signals and Commanders of the packets then operating from Falmouth. (1827 Panorama)
Richard Thomas was an advocate of the Narrow Guage Railway system which proposed a line of railway down the natural highway [spine] of Cornwall to link up with the London and South Western Railway at Exeter. "Had it been completed, Cornwall would probably have had a very different development. Falmouth free of the bottle-neck of Saltash Bridge, would possibly have become a port second only to the Pool of London."
In 1831, a railway from Perran Porth to Truro was proposed, partly to carry ore to the smelting-sand houses, but principally to carry sand to the inland farme. Thomas was the surveyor.
In 1845 he surveyed a scheme for a railway to St. Agnes from Truro, with branches to Chacewater station on the West Cornwall Railway, and to Perranporth.
[The last Packet sailing 6 Dec.1850]
West Briton, 20th December 1850: Statistics of Cornwall
The first of a series of 55 articles, the last being published in the edition of 11th June, 1852.
Letter no. 7: "Many thousands of acres remain unenclosed, and form open downs and moor-lands, some of them being in common, and others forming appendages to the farms; these unenclosed grounds may amount somewhere about one-eigth or one-tenth of the whole county. I believe the arable grounds may be taken at about 500,000 acres, and the portion of the same that may be growing wheat annually at about 80,000 acres."
In Letter no. 20, he gave an account of the various improvements which brought the turnpikes to the very high state of development thay acheved before the coming of the railroad. The cost of those works being surprisingly small, as frequently the landholders freely gave the necessary ground. A new road through Penryn - along the wharfs* - was an exception; "a high rate was paid for parts of the buildings taken to widen the road." [* Commercial Road, Penryn]
In 1856 it appears he left his home at Mellingye [Mellingey] in Perranaworthal, when there was advertised a sale of "about 300 volumes of books, valuable mathematical instruments, etc., the property of Richard Thomas, Civil Engineer, who is about to leave the neighbourhood."
In February 1858, he died in the Scillies, but his funeral took place at Budock, Falmouth.
His obituary stated that he constructed the tramway from Redruth to Hayle, on which, in 1838, the first locomotive engine for railways ever built in Cornwall, the Cornubia, was placed. Parts of the line were taken over by the West Cornwall Railway, a narrow guage line which, in about 1865, was fitted with a third rail and connected with the broad guage Cornwall Railway, since merged in the Great Western Railway. (GWR)
In 35 of his letters to the West Briton, he drew attention to the numerous ancient fortifications and other earthworks and archaeological remains in Cornwall. "One hundred of the 209 parishes are dealt with, and 490 Barrow, or sites of barrows, are located; in most cases their diameters being given to the nearest five-foot." The work was the result of notes made during the course of his surveys and plans for roads, tramways, mining development, tithe apportionments etc. Barrows destroyed since he had seen them included 7 barrows on Feock Downs, the diameter of some being 55 feet, the others smaller. In Constantine parish, there were 4 ancient pits, near Trevease, about 60 fathoms (360 feet) apart, the diameter of each about 40feet, and about 5 feet deep. The enclosure of Downs frequently led to the destruction of barrows, which often had the central part surrounded by a circle of stones, despoiled to obtain stones for hedge making.
qf. Richard Thomas of Falmouth and an unpublished Survey of Cornwall, by Ashley Rowe.
Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornwall, (RIC) New Series Vol.1. Part 1.(1946)
