Gentleman Engineers: The Working Lives of Frank and Walter Shanly by Richard White (review)

736 The Canadian Historical Review rather than a career bureaucrat? During his retirement in Victoria, he became an environmentalist and peace activist before such behaviour became socially acceptable. Was this a reflection of his personality or a further demonstration ofhis iconoclasm? Irving's briefstudy introduces contemporary Canadians to a conflicted individual whose life and career merit more detailed exploration and analysis. HEATHER MACDOUGALL University ofWaterloo Gentleman Engineers: The Working Lives of Frank and Walter Shanly. RICHARD WHITE. Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1999. Pp. 262, illus. $50.00 Born in Ireland to a gentry family that immigrated to Canada in 1836, the Shanly brothers abandoned pioneer farming to take up careers in engineering. Both Walter and Frank learned their chosen profession on the job at various canal and railway projects. Walter's engineering career climaxed in 1852-6 with the construction of the Toronto and Guelph section ofthe Grand Trunk Railway. That project, the railway's best-built and most efficient segment, was his greatest and most lasting accomplishment . Afterwards, he remained with the Grand Trunk, first as a consulting engineer and later as its general manager and chiefengineer. Although not especially distinguished, Walter competently helped organize the management ofthis large corporation. Frank Shanly's career was not as successful as his brother's. Perhaps his best work was supervising the Toronto and Guelph's engineering corps as Walter's resident engineer. By the mid-186os, with engineering work scarce, Frank tried contracting; he undertook several railway jobs in Pennsylvania and Ontario. In the late 1870s he worked as the city engine~r for Toronto, but, resenting restrictions on his freedom as a consultant, he resigned in 1880 to become the chief engineer of the Intercolonial Railway. Unlike Walter, Frank married and lived a lavish lifestyle well beyond his earnings. Three times during his career he was forced to sell the furnishings ofthe commodious houses he leased and to send his wife and large family back to her parents. He died in 1882, leaving behind an enormous debt. Meanwhile, Walter Shanly served several terms as the Conservative MLA for Grenville and one session as the MP for Prescott. A quiet backbencher, Walter's contribution was as an expert in committees rather than a promoter of policies. At the same time, he continued his contracting and other business ventures. His largest and most notable undertaking was the 1870s contract to construct the nearly 8-kilometre- Book Reviews 737 long Hoosac Tunnel in Massachusetts, in which he was among the first to make large-scale use ofnitroglycerine and pneumatic drills. A well-written, fascinating, and thoroughly researched book, Gentleman Engineers organizes its material around the theme that the Shanly brothers must be assessed not only as engineers but also as gentlemen. Their social position, Richard White argues, led them to engineering and shaped their style as professionals, contractors, and corporate employees. Their family pedigree, commitment to social and military leadership, and expectations ofhigh social positions meant that they lived by traditional principles. This theme is important, White claims, because it establishes a dose connection between gentlemen and professionals in Canada's industrializing society and, by doing so, it makes the case that several generations before the generally acknowledged rise of the professionalization movement (as in the founding ofthe Canadian Society ofCivil Engineers), the Shanly brothers belonged to a small, dose-knit, selfregulating group. In other words, the Shanly brothers and their collea- , gues, White suggests, were important predecessors, fighting to maintain independence from contractors and clients and suffering the uncertainties and insecurities ofprofessional income. In fact, it was the lack of available engineering work that led the Shanly brothers into contracting and other business ventures. Gentleman Engineers provides a valuable insight into Victorian Canada's engineering profession. The section on the Toronto-Guelph Railway, based on meticulous mining of the documents, furnishes a marvellous insight into the details ofrailway construction management. It is a pity that the documentary evidence did not permit the author to be equally graphic about the private lives of these two engineers, the churches they attended, the voluntary organizations to which they belonged, and the recreational activities they enjoyed. Most regrettably, there is nothing about Louisa Saunders, Frank...