Description

Holograph letter from Thomas Bouch to William Arrol & Co dated 2 October 1879. It is requesting information from William Arrol & Co relating to the delivery of steel links from Vickers and Sons for the construction of Bouch’s suspension bridge over the Forth at Queensferry.

It is dated some three months before the Tay Bridge disaster on 28 December 1879. It was this event that led to the cancellation of Bouch’s scheme for a suspension bridge.

See the article from the Sheffield and Rotherham Independent Newspaper of 4 October 1879 regarding the contract with Vickers and Sons to supply steel for the bridge (Image 3).