George Cornwell

George Cornwell was a British railway engineer and building contractor working in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in the second half of the nineteenth century. Among his prominent works, were the Hawthorn Railway Bridge built in 1861, with a span of about 60 metres (200 ft), being one of the last major items of permanent way to be completed on the fledgling Melbourne and Suburban Railway. Under the name 'George Cornwell and Co.' Cornwell had previously been involved as contractor in many other major construction works including the Melbourne Grammar School, the Model School, Coppin’s Haymarket Theatre, the Sunbury railway goods shed and other Melbourne and Suburban Railway works.^[1] Subsequently he was a contractor on Parliament House, Albert Park Station, Jack’s Magazine^[2] and the Wallaby Creek water supply.

Hawthorn Railway Bridge, Melbourne, built by George Cornwell

His work also extended to New South Wales, where he wond he construction contract for the Wagga Wagga to Albury section of the Great Southern Railway on 14 February 1878, in partnership with F Mixner.^[3]

Family and connections

Cornwell married in 1850 with Jemima Ridpath. The family was wealthy and well connected. His eldest daughter Alice Cornwell (born in 1852) married John Whiteman MLA, and in 1890 he went to England and bought The Sunday Times newspaper. His youngest daughter Kathleen Clarice Louise Cornwell (1872-1954) was a prolific writer first married with the music critic Herman Klein, and her daughter, Denise Robins, and her grandaughter, Patricia Robins, also became popular novelists. While another daughter Alice Anne Cornwell, married the well-known politician and 'very old colonist', John Whiteman.^[4]

Cornwell, however, was also prone to arguments and litigation, having been convicted of assaulting 65-year-old Member of the Legislative Assembly McColl.^[5]

References