Richard Hammersley Heenan : Short Biography

Millions of people have ridden to the top of Blackpool Tower, Lancashire, since it opened as a tourist attraction in 1894. It takes centre stage every year in the ‘Blackpool Lights’ festival in this seaside resort. Few visitors will know however that this iron structure, the 135th tallest free standing structure in the world, was made possible by Richard Hammersley Heenan.

A civil engineer born in County Offaly, Ireland, Richard Hammersley Heenan went to India at the age of 17 to work on railways and public projects. Returning to the UK in 1880 through ill health, he established an engineering company called Heenan and Froude in Manchester, UK. Blackpool Tower, inspired by the Eiffel Tower in Paris, was an early project. Heenan & Froude were appointed structural engineers, supplying and constructing  the tower, the electric lighting and the steel front pieces for the aquariums within the complex.

The company went on to transform towns across the world with bridges, jetties and railways. Notable examples include Folkestone Pier, Kent, England, Cordova Central Railway, Buenos Aires and the jetties in Rangoon, India.

Richard Hammersley Heenan retired as chairman and managing director in 1918. The company (now called Froude) is still in business today.