A Conflict of Interest at the Tay Bridge Disaster Inquiry

Abstract

The collapse of the Tay Bridge on the evening of Sunday 28 December 1879 was an event of global interest, partly no doubt because of the pathos of the loss of life on a structure that represented the best of engineering triumphs at that time. Many aspects of the disaster have either remained unexamined or have been subject to little sustained or critical research. The legal considerations of all the relevant events of 1879 have not been reviewed in much detail. The crucial engineering lessons for the Empire and the industrial world beyond British limits were such that an inquiry was convened and heard crucial evidence in London. The inherent unfairness in that procedure seems to have been hinted at in the past and is examined closely here.