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| Thomas Peirson Frank. (Elliott & Fry, Public domain) |
During World War II, especially during The Blitz, London was heavily bombed.
Bombers flew along the River Thames, dropping bombs on the dockyards and industrial sites, before moving towards the City itself, using Tower Bridge as a point of reference.
Because London is a low-lying city the River Thames embankments were targeted, too, in the hopes of flooding some of the area.
However, they didn't know about Thomas Peirson Frank.
Thomas Peirson Frank was born into a farming family in Yorkshire, in 1881. He was educated at Pickering Grammar School and Huddersfield Technical College, before gaining three years of practical experience training under Huddersfield borough engineer, K.P. Campbell.
Over the next few years he gained further experience in general construction, the laying of sewers and water mains, maintenance of roads and tramways and much more.
In 1908, he became the city engineer for Ripon. During the four years that he worked here he was responsible for extending the sewage disposal works and also the construction of two river dams.
He then spent between three or four years in various roles in Cardiff, Liverpool, Plymouth and Stockton-on-Tees. In Cardiff he acted as a surveyor and performed a similar role in Liverpool. While in Plymouth he was responsible for construction work, which included roads and sewers for a housing scheme. In Stockton-on-Tees he was the borough engineer. During his time in Liverpool he also lectured at Liverpool University.
