Builder Histories
John Charles Ardagh 1840-1907 born Rossmire, County Waterford, Ireland (Later Major-General Sir John Charles Ardagh KCMG, KCIE, CB.
John Charles Ardagh was the son of an Anglo-Irish vicar the Rev William Johnson Ardagh and Sarah Cobbold. J C Ardagh was educated in County Waterford and then studied at Trinity College Dublin. He had intended to enter the church like his father but by the time he graduated with honours in mathematics he had decided on a military career. He joined the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich in 1858 and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1859 – and then studied at the Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham.
In 1861 he was posted to New Brunswick to construct a military telegraph system but the ship that was meant to take him and his men ran into serious difficulty in a storm and was beaten back twice. Ardagh and his men were credited for their actions that saved the ship which eventually reached safety in Plymouth. (As I sit writing these notes in 2025 I am looking across Plymouth Sound with a storm creating white water all the way into the inner Sound!)
After this failed voyage Ardagh was put in charge of a project to build a fort in Newhaven. This was at a time when Napoleon III was threatening to invade Britain. He showed great ingenuity in his design. It was the first British Fort to be constructed largely of concrete and he designed a unique ‘equilibrium’ lift bridge where the weight of the bridge deck was balanced with counterweights. It was this bridge that has earned John Charles Ardagh a place on this website.
On completion of the fort Ardagh was appointed secretary of a committee that was charged with compiling a report on fortifications that were then under construction. This took him on a tour which included a trip to Bermuda. He went on to inspect fortifications around Europe. In 1872 he was promoted to captain and posted to the Staff College where passed his examinations in 1874.
Captain Ardagh had a varied career from then on including joining military intelligence. This saw him travelling to war zones to inspect and report on defences – including trips to Turkey, Herzegovina and Montenegro, Bulgaria and then to Egypt.
Captain Ardagh was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in 1882 with command as a Royal Engineer. As the British army continued its campaign in North Africa he took part in action in the Sudan. His role in this campaign earned him a Companion of the Bath in 1884. He continued to play vital roles in further conflicts in India, South Africa. He was retired from active service in 1902 aged 62 but continued to serve on a variety of committees and was knighted in for his services.
On top of his army service Ardagh had been a member of the Royal Geographical Society, an associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a member of the Royal Society's Geodetic Arc Committee in 1900. He was made an honorary Legum Doctor by Trinity College, Dublin, in 1897.
Major-General Sir John Charles Ardagh KCMG, KCIE, CB: died in 1907 in Carnarvon. He was buried at buried at the Church of St Mary & All Saints, Broomfield, near Taunton, Somerset.
Following his death his biography was written by Susan Malmesbury –
The Life of Major-General Sir John Ardagh (London: J. Murray, 1909), by Susan Malmesbury, illust. by John Charles Ardagh.
Another book published in 1913 looked at his role in the intelligence service-
John Ardagh (1840-1907): The Irish Intelligence scapegoat for Britain’s Anglo-Boer War debacles. Donal P. McCracken.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Charles_Ardagh
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/who/Ardagh%2C%20John%20Charles%2C%201840-1907
