James Henry Greathead

Civil engineer, born in Grahamstown, S South Africa. He went to England in 1859 and studied civil engineering. At the age of 24 he undertook to build a subway under the Thames in London (1869). To penetrate the very difficult water-bearing strata he greatly improved the tunnelling shield designed (1818) by Brunel for the Rotherhithe tunnel. He engaged in various other surface and underground railway contracts including the City and South London Railway tunnels under the Thames (1886), having in 1884 patented further improvements to his shield, incorporating the use of compressed air and forward propulsion by hydraulic jacks, an arrangement that is now in general use in tunnel construction.

James Henry Greathead (6 August 1844 - 21 October 1896) was an engineer renowned for his work on the London Underground. Barlow and then spent time (around 1867) as assistant engineer on the Midland Railway between Bedford and London (working with Barlow's brother, William Henry Barlow).

Soon after, in 1869, he rejoined Barlow and they began work on designs for the Tower Subway, a tunnel under the river Thames in central London. Today Greathead is particularly remembered for his pioneering work in relation to tunnelling shield techniques, in which he greatly improved the shield developed by Marc Isambard Brunel in 1818 for the construction of the Thames Tunnel. South London Railway (now part of the Northern Line, opened in 1890), and, shortly before his death in Streatham, began work on the Central Line (opened 1900) with Sir Benjamin Baker.

An English Heritage blue plaque marks his home in Barnes, south-west London, 3 St Mary's Grove, where he lived between 1885 and 1889, and the statue shown here is next to the Royal Exchange in the City of London.