| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Construction |
| Founded | 1842 |
| Defunct | 1895 |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Key people | Charles Lucas, (chairman) |
Lucas Brothers was a leading British building business based in London.
Contents
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Construction |
| Founded | 1842 |
| Defunct | 1895 |
| Fate | Dissolved |
| Headquarters | London, England |
Key people | Charles Lucas, (chairman) |
Lucas Brothers was a leading British building business based in London.
The business was founded by Charles Thomas Lucas (1820 London – 1895 Warnham Court, near Horsham) [1] and Thomas Lucas (1822–1902). They were the sons of James Lucas (1792–1865), a builder from St Pancras, London. Charles joined his father's business and was soon employed to manage construction of the Norwich & Brandon Railway for Sir Samuel Morton Peto. [2]
In 1842 Charles set up his own contracting business in Norwich and progressed to rebuilding Peto's house, Somerleyton Hall. [2] Charles and Thomas established a facility in Lowestoft from which they undertook various works, including the railway, the station, the Esplanade, St John's church, and several hotels. [2]
Building contracts included:
Stations included:
Private houses included:
Civil engineering works i.e. railways and bridges were undertaken from 1870 by the joint venture, Lucas and Aird. [11]
Lucas Brothers also undertook the construction for the International Exhibition of 1862 [12] and the South Kensington Exhibitions of 1867 and 1871 with Sir John Kelk. [2]
After the company began collaborating with John Aird & Co., their combined businesses were re-organised in 1870 as follows: [13]
In 1895, when Sir Charles Lucas died, Lucas Brothers and Lucas and Aird were dissolved. [13]
Charles Thomas Lucas married Charlotte Tiffin and had five sons and two daughters. He lived in London and then at Warnham in Sussex. He was created a Baronet in 1887. [2] Thomas Lucas married Jane Golder and had a daughter. After her death, he married Mary Amelia Chamberlin, daughter of Robert Chamberlin of Norwich, and had six sons and four daughters. He lived in London, Ascot, and briefly at Ashtead in Surrey. [14]
Sir Thomas Charles Lucas was the first of the Lucas baronets, the present holder of the baronetcy is Sir Thomas Edward Gubbins Lucas 5th Bt. [15]
Somerleyton is a village and former civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north-west of Lowestoft and 5.5 miles (8.9 km) south-west of Great Yarmouth in the East Suffolk district. The village is closely associated with Somerleyton Hall and was largely rebuilt as a model village in the 19th-century at the direction of Samuel Morton Peto. The parish was combined with Herringfleet and Ashby to create the parish of Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet in 1987.
Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet was an English entrepreneur, civil engineer and railway developer, and, for more than 20 years, a Member of Parliament (MP). A partner in the firm of Grissell and Peto, he managed construction firms that built many major buildings and monuments in London, including the Reform Club, The Lyceum, Nelson's Column and the new Houses of Parliament; which made him a millionaire.
Charing Cross railway station is a central London railway terminus between the Strand and Hungerford Bridge in the City of Westminster. It is the terminus of the South Eastern Main Line to Dover via Ashford. All trains are operated by Southeastern, which provides the majority of commuter and regional services to south-east London and Kent. It is connected to Charing Cross Underground station and is near to Embankment Underground station and Embankment Pier.
Edward Middleton Barry RA was an English architect of the 19th century.
Lowestoft railway station serves the town of Lowestoft, Suffolk, and is the eastern terminus of the East Suffolk Line from Ipswich and is one of two eastern termini of the Wherry Lines from Norwich. Lowestoft is 23 miles 41 chains (37.8 km) down the line from Norwich and 48 miles 75 chains (78.8 km) measured from Ipswich; and is the easternmost station on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom.
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer. He had connections with the Gurney family.
Sir John Aird, 1st Baronet was an English civil engineering contractor of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He also served as Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Paddington North from 1887 to 1906, was the first Mayor of Paddington in 1900, and became an enthusiastic collector of British art.
Henry Francis Pelham, FSA, FBA was an English scholar and historian. He was Camden Professor of Ancient History at the University of Oxford from 1889 to 1907, and was also President of Trinity College, Oxford from 1897 to 1907.
Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot Park, Oxfordshire; West Dean House, Sussex; and Ilnacullin, County Cork, Ireland.
There have been two baronetcies created for persons with the surname Lucas: one in the Baronetage of England and one in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom.
Sprowston Manor Hotel is a AA 4 star hotel, part of which is the 19th-century Sprowston Hall. It is located on the north east suburbs, of the English city of Norwich, close to the suburb of Sprowston and village of Rackheath, within the county of Norfolk, United Kingdom.
John Aird & Co. was once a leading British civil engineering business based in London.
Langham Place is a short street in Westminster, central London, England. Just north of Oxford Circus, it connects Portland Place to the north with Regent Street to the south in London's West End. It is, or was, the location of many significant public buildings, and gives its name to the Langham Place group, a circle of early women's rights activists.
Sir Edmund Henry Knowles Lacon, 3rd Baronet was an English businessman and liberal Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1852 and 1885.
The Yarmouth & Norwich Railway (Y&NR) was the earliest railway in Norfolk, England. It was formed after it became apparent that it would be a number of years before the Eastern Counties Railway would extend their railway into Norfolk.
Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet is a civil parish in the north of the English county of Suffolk. It is 5 miles (8.0 km) north-west of Lowestoft and the same distance south-west of Great Yarmouth and is in the East Suffolk district. The parish is made up of the villages of Somerleyton, Ashby and Herringfleet and at the 2011 United Kingdom census had a population of 427.
Grissell and Peto was a civil engineering partnership between Thomas Grissell and his cousin Morton Peto that built many major buildings and monuments in London and became one of the major contractors in the building of the rapidly expanding railways of the time.
Sir John Kelk, 1st Baronet was a British Conservative Party politician, builder and public works contractor.
Morston Hall in the parish of Morston near Holt, Norfolk is a building of historical significance. The original house was built in about 1640 and cellars and chimneys from it survive. It was substantially altered in the 18th Century and a wing was added in the 19th Century. It was owned by the Townshend Viscounts from Raynham Hall from the 17th Century until 1911 and during this time it was tenanted by various notable people. Today it is a hotel with an award winning restaurant. It also caters for special events particularly weddings.
Sir Arthur Charles Lucas was an English first-class cricketer active 1871–81 who played for Middlesex and Surrey.