Joseph
Sandars
was a successful corn merchant from Liverpool.
Sandars was a Whig who was involved in most
of the progressive causes at the time, including parliamentary
reform and the campaign to end slavery.
Sandars was also a strong critic of the local canal and river monopolies.
When William
James began to plan the building of the Liverpool
& Manchester Railway in 1821 he approached Sandars who agreed
to back the project. With the support of James Cropper and other local
Quakers, Sandars formed the Liverpool
& Manchester Railway Company and commissioned James to survey
the line.
When James was declared bankrupt and was imprisoned for debt in 1823
Sandars asked George Stephenson to
produce a new survey to decide the best route between Liverpool
and Manchester. After the House
of Commons rejected Stephenson's proposed route, Sanders recruited
a company run by George Rennie to carry
out a new survey and were invited by the company to build it. However,
they refused to work with George Stephenson,
who they did not consider was a real engineer, and they lost the contract.
The Liverpool & Manchester Railway
was a great success and in 1838 Joseph
Sandars went into partnership with George
Hudson and George Stephenson and
together they opened coalmines, ironworks and limestone quarries in
the Chesterfield area.
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