ABSTRACT
In some ways John Pinkerton, canal contractor, would seem to have a claim to be called the Thomas Brassey of canals. Pinkerton claimed that his over-expenditure was On account of the extreme hardness of the strata, and the immense quantity of water it made, a circumstance not apprehended from the information which had been collected from the most intelligent colliers in the neighbourhood. His earlier work had been in Yorkshire and eastern England, and his first foray into the Midlands was to build the Broadwaters extension to the Birmingham Canal in 1783. The Birmingham company had for some time been trying to ensure that the Broadwaters extension was completed properly, but even after Pinkerton had claimed to have repaired the defects it was reported 'left very incompleat' and the company refused to settle his account. In any case Pinkerton wanted engineers as arbitrators, which the company refused, on grounds which are far from clear.
