Thomas Brassey

Born of a Cheshire farmer in 1805, Thomas Brassey trainedas a chartered surveyor. At 21, he was made a partner by his employer and in 1834, met George Stephenson for the first time. Brassey won a contract to build a viaduct on the Grand Junction railway line, then under construction. In 1836, as railway building took off in Britain, Brassey was at the centre of the construction activity.

His extraordinary business skills led to a global business. Apart from British railways, he was active in France, Italy, Canada, the Crimea, Australia, Argentina, India and Moldavia. In 1866, he managed to build a line in Austria on time despite its war with Prussia. But the toll of his huge workload led to illness and Brassey's death in 1870.

He left a £3.2m fortune, about 0.35% of the £893m net national income at the time. In today's terms that would be just over £3.8bn.