| This thesis is a narrative of the professional and business careers of Frank and Walter Shanly, two Irish-born brothers who were among the first generation of civil engineers in Canada. Like their better known colleagues Casimir Gzowski and the Keeler brothers, the Shanlys began on the canals of the early Union period, moved on to railroad engineering and construction, and eventually developed varied careers combining engineering, business, and public service.;Their most notable joint achievements were engineering the Western Division of the Grand Trunk Railway (1852-56), and constructing the Hoosac Tunnel in north-western Massachusetts (1869-74), where they were engaged by the State as contractors. Frank Shanly, as a contractor, built many central Ontario railways in the 1870s; he also consulted widely as a railway engineer and worked as Toronto City Engineer from 1876-81. Walter Shanly was the General Manager and then Traffic Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway from 1858 to 1862, and President of the Edwardsburgh Starch Company from 1865. He sat as Conservative Member of Parliament for South Grenville (Ontario) from 1863 to 1872, and 1885 to 1891. He too consulted as a railway engineer at times.;The significance of their careers is considered under three headings--engineers, gentlemen, and brothers. As engineers, they reveal that a clearly defined, self-conscious civil engineering profession existed in Canada in the 1840s. This profession, centred around the Board and Department of Works, was based on an English model: a high-status, well-paid, gentlemanly profession. It was not a rising class of technical men, nor was it a profession of engineering generalists. Their experiences show that this professional ideal did not last much past mid-century--an illustration of how a strong metropolitan influence could have a short life. As gentlemen, their culture was at odds with the growing urban bourgeois culture of the 19th century; their careers are presented as a case study in the modernization of the gentry class. Their fraternal relationship is shown to have in some ways supported, but in other ways restricted, their individual careers. |
