OLD PLYMOUTH . UK
www.oldplymouth.uk
 

WHO WAS WHO IN OLD PLYMOUTH

ROBERT THOMAS RELF (1833-1915)

After several decades of travelling around Britain, the business house of Messrs R T Relf and Son, public works and railway contractors, eventually settled in Plymouth.

The founder, Mr Robert Thomas Relf, was born at Southampton, Hampshire, on May 24th 1833.  He was the son of Mr Samuel and Mrs Sarah Relf, of Milkhouse Street, Cranbrook, Kent., and grandson of Mr Robert Relf, a millwright in that village.

His father did his apprenticeship with Mr Relf senior at the same time as Mr William Betts, who later also became an eminent contractor.  Samuel Relf and William Betts then joined Messrs Williams, Betts and Son, which later became Messrs Sir Morton Peto, Brassey and Betts, and Samuek remained with them for some fifty years until he died at the age of 72 years.

Young Robert Thomas Relf ran away from school at the age of 12 and was engaged by Messrs Betts and Son to work on the Chester and Holyhead railway and then the Great Northern railway between Peterborough, Boston, Lincoln, Gainsborough and Bedford, and on the Doncaster Loop.

He then went to Preston Hall, at Maidstone, Kent, where he 'served three years at the bench, assisting to build the magnificent hall for Mr Edward Ludd Betts, the partner of Sir Morton Peto'.

This is supported by the 1851 census, which shows him as a 17-years-old joiner living with widower Mr William Gilliam and his daughter, Alice Gilliam, in New Street, Aylesford, Kent.  He was the youngest of three joiners living in the house.

Mr Robert Thomas Relf then worked on the construction of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway where he was the assistant to the agent, Mr Thomas White.  He remained there until 1858 when he firstly got married to Miss Sarah Wileman, at Kensington, and then joined another railway contractor, Messrs Smith and Knight, with whom he constructed the Grantham, and Sleaford Railway and then the Torre, Torquay and Paignton line in Devon.

That was followed by work constructing the Metropolitan Railway between Paddington and Euston Square, at which some 1500 men were employed day and night for more than two years.  Next came his most important position yet, in sole charge of the building of the Mid-Kent and Addiscombe line, under Chief Engineer Mr (later Sir) John Fowler.  Between 1864 and 1868 he was in charge of the construction of the Doncaster and Gainsborough line, some 20 miles in length.

In was in 1868 that Mr Robert Thomas Relf became a contractor in his own right, his first contract being the maintenance of the Doncaster to Gainsborough line for twelve months.  At the same time he went over the Royal Sardinian Railway, compiling a report for Messrs Smith and Knight on the condition of the Railway and compiling an estimate of the cost of completing a large contract which that Company was undertaking.

When he returned from Sardinia, he was engaged by several influential investors in Devon and Cornwall to report on works within the two counties that they had an interest in.  This resulted in him being contracted in 1871 by the Devon and Cornwall Railway Company to extend the London and South Western Railway from Okehampton Road Station, later known as Sampford Spiney, to Okehampton.  The LSWR were prohibited by Act of Parliament from promoting this small piece of line themselves so an independent company was formed to did it instead.  At the completion of the work there was a banquet at which there was the usual toast to "The Contractor".  Mr Relf could make railway lines but not speeches and he is alleged to have said in response to the Toast: 'Gentlemen, I cannot make you a speech, but if you'll find the money, I will make you another railway'.

However, it would appear that he formed a partnership with a Mr Thomas Scott in order to undertake the above-mentioned work because that partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on Saturday December 10th 1870.

During this period he and Sarah were living at Park Villa, Okehampton, Devon, and he was listed in the 1871 census as a "Contractor".  They had seven children, the eldest being Master George Robert Relf, aged 11 years, and the youngest being newly-born Master Harry Herbert Relf.  Only those two had been born in Devon; the others were born in Middlesex, Kent and Nottinghamshire.  They had two female domestic servants and a stable boy.

The gentlemen who had listened to his short speech at Okehampton soon found some more money and he was asked to extend the railway line from Okehampton to Lydford.  This involved what was probably his most prestigious project yet, the Meldon Viaduct, 154 feet in height and spanning the West Okement river.  Apparently it was known locally as the 'spider bridge'.

During the 1870s his workmen constructed railway lines for the LSWR to Holsworthy and Sidmouth, as well as the lines between North Road Plymouth Station and Devonport Station and the branch from Devonport to Stonehouse Pool.  They also constructed the quays and dredged the waterfront.  Their only contract for the Great Western Railway was for the line between Lipson Junction and Friary Station. 

In 1880 he moved to London and set up an office at number 26 Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster.  At the time of the 1881 census the family were living at Meldon House, Ravensbourne Park, Lewisham, Kent, and they had gained another son, born while they were at Okehampton, Master Frank R G Relf, aged 9.  Robert was now a "Contractor for Public Works" and employed 70 men so it is perhaps no surprise that his second eldest son, Mr Edward J Relf, was an accountant, hopefully looking after his father's financial affairs.

Meanwhile, Mr George Robert Relf, the eldest son, was in residence at Chubb's Hotel, 98 Old Town Street, Plymouth, in 1881.

Seven years after moving to London Mr Relf came back to Devon and teamed up with Mr John Pethick (1827-1904), of Plymouth, to construct the 26-miles long Plymouth, Devonport and South Western Junction Railway between Lydford and Devonport.  This involved a great deal of heavy engineering including numerous deep cuttings, several viaducts and Shillimill Tunnel, Ford Tunnel and Devonport Park Tunnel.  And as if that was not enough to keep the partners busy, they also built the line to Plymstock Station and Turnchapel Station at the same time.

As and from Friday June 30th 1893, Mr Relf and Mr Pethick parted company and instead Mr Relf took his eldest son, Mr George Robert Relf, into the business, which then became Messrs R T Relf and Son.  Together they constructed the line between Brent Station and Kingsbridge, and diverted and doubled the main Great Western Railway between Saltash Station and Penzance.  The latter work also involved erecting new masonry viaducts to replace Brunel's wooden ones.  In Devon, the Relfs were responsible for doubling the line between Torquay and Paignton and enlarged the marshalling yard at Hackney, Newton Abbot.

Although most of their work was now concentrated in Devon and Cornwall, they did venture as far as the Meon Valley Railway, between Farnham and Alton, in Hampshire, and even constructed two slipways at Pembroke Dock, in South Wales.

The Relfs also dredged Sutton Harbour and built new quays, constructed the oil fuel depot at Oreston for the Admiralty and made the Harford Reservoir at Ivybridge.

At the time of the 1901 census Robert and his wife were living at 18 Portland Villas, Plymouth.  Only one child was left living with them, 30-years-old Mr Harry H Relf, a civil engineer.

Meanwhile, Mr George Robert Relf, still unmarried and now a "Contractor for Railways", was living at 22 High Street, Fareham, Hampshire, with his unmarried sister, Miss Beatrice A Relf, a cook and a house maid.

Following the death of his first wife in 1906, Mr Robert Thomas Relf, then 73 years of age, married 32-years-old barmaid Miss Adela Louisa Matcham in Plymouth in 1907.

In 1911 the census shows that they were living at 17 Portland Villas and that they had one child, Miss Gertrude Louisa Relf, born in 1910.  His eldest son and partner had also returned to Plymouth and was living as a boarder with Miss Kate Willis at "Meon", Western College Road, Plymouth, whom he married at Emmanuel Church on April 30th 1913.

Mr Robert Thomas Relf died in Plymouth on Sunday December 12th 1915.  It was said of him that: 'He knew many of the earliest and greatest railway pioneers, and no one man has had more to do with railway developments in the extreme West since the days of Brunel, upon much of whose work he improved by means of modern methods and resources'.  He was survived by his widow, all of his sons and two of his daughters.

His funeral was held at Christ Church, Plymouth, on Wednesday December 16th 1915.  The Reverend W Howard Coates officiated.  Family mourners were his widow, Mr & Mrs George Relf, Mr Harry Relf, and Miss Edith Relf and their were floral tributes from his staff at Ivybridge, Laira and Saint Austell.

Mr George Robert Relf died at his home, "Dunridge", Mannamead, Plymouth, on Thursday August 21st 1930.  He was 71 years of age.  Mr & Mrs B H Pethick were amongst those who attended his funeral at Emmanuel Church and Efford Cemetery and Crematorium on Monday August 25th 1930.