Volume Thirteen - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Remarkable Connections - Darwin, FitzRoy, Hawkshaw & Wedgwood . . . .

Many years later Darwin became an investor in the Penarth Harbour, Dock and Railway Company, while Sir John Hawkshaw served as its Consulting Engineer.

The connection did not end there. The Hawkshaw and Wedgwood families became linked through marriage, while friendship between the Darwin and Hawkshaw households continued for many years.

Penarth Dock therefore provides an unexpected meeting point where engineering, exploration, science and industry came together.

I covered the connection with Charles Darwin within Darwinian Connections back in Volume 10.

The input of our esteemed engineer John Hawkshaw to the Penarth Dock story is detailed at various Chapters.

John's son, John Clarke Hawkshaw, worked with his father upon the extension to Penarth Dock opened in 1884 and then went on the work upon the construction of Barry Dock.

I also apologise for occasional duplication of inter-family connections which occur throughout this chapter. The family connections are numerous and their importance is so significant, hence, the occasional 'reminder'!