Frome’s illustrious engineer

The Frome engineer

Benjamin Baker, who was born in Keyford in 1840, became one of the most respected and prolific civil engineers of the Victorian era. He was an expert on long-span bridges, and is best known for his work with Sir John Fowler on Scotland’s Forth Bridge.

The bridge

Built between 1882 and 1890, the Forth Bridge is a railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in Scotland. It was the world’s earliest great multi-span cantilever bridge, the first major structure in Britain to be constructed of mild steel rather than of cast or wrought iron, and it held the record for the world’s longest individual spans for 27 years. It continues to operate as an important passenger and freight rail bridge.

The photographs

The official photographer for the building of the Forth Bridge was Evelyn George Carey (1858–1932), Baker’s personal assistant. Carey combined his technical engineering knowledge with his photographic skills to create a famous and unique photographic record. His images remain one of the most important visual records of Victorian industrial labour.

The exhibition

The photographs were originally shown in Frome in 2009, as part of Rook Lane Arts’ Bridging the World exhibition curated by Sue Bucklow, and some were displayed in 2016.

This exhibition is dedicated to his memory of the of the late Martin Bax. Martin’s kind donation of funds for a professional picture-hanging system has enabled us for the first time to make use of our Grand Staircase to showcase the wonderful 1880s framed photographs of Benjamin Baker’s works that we hold in our archives.

Opening hours

The Exhibition runs from 25 August to 10 October at Frome Museum.

Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 3pm, plus Independent Sundays. Entry is free.