John Wolfe Barry, British civil engineer, 1905

John Wolfe Barry, British civil engineer, 1905. Chromolithograph by Vincent Brooks Day & Son Ltd of a caricature by Leslie Ward, better known as Spy, from 'Vanity Fair' magazine. Sir John Wolfe Barry (1836-1918) was the engineer of Tower Bridge in London. The bridge had two towers rising 200 feet above the river and movable roadways which could be swiftly raised and lowered by steam engines. It caused outrage when it was first opened in 1894, as Wolfe Barry had added his own 'artistic' touches to the original design by Sir Horace Jones (1819-1887). The caption reads 'He has engineered nothing better than his own fortunes', suggesting that he managed to become very rich as an engineer and that this was his main achievement. ©SSPL/Science Museum