Bradford Leslie

Bradford Leslie Sir KCIE (1831-1926) was an English civil engineer who specialised in bridges and was a pupil of Isambard Kingdom Brunel. His most notable achievement was the construction of the Jubilee Bridge that opened in 1887.

Railway Achievements in India

• Eastern Bengal Railway(EBR) Brunel was a consulting engineer to the EBR and Leslie was sent to India as engineer in charge of bridges and viaducts. He supervised the building of the Eschamutter and Koormar river bridges before returning to Britain in 1861 to design bridges for railway lines in South Wales.
• Eastern Bengal Railway. He soon returned to India as Chief Engineer of the EBR.
• East India Railway Company(EIR). In 1876 Leslie became agent and chief engineer to the EIR. His greatest achievement in India was the Hooghly Bridge (known as the Jubilee Bridge when it opened in 1887) for which he was appointed a Knight Commander Order of the Indian Empire. He also designed an unusual floating pontoon bridge which straddled the Hooghly in Calcutta for 70 years and the Gorai River railway bridge near Kushtia in Bangladesh.