News
William Lindley and William H. Lindley got Blue Plaque in London
Lindleys works in Warsaw the Monument of History
Magical Winter and a happy New Year 2015
(Photo by Ursula Frydrych)
In
March 2017, the President of the German National Committee for the Protection
of Monuments, the Minister of Culture of Brandenburg and the Minister of State
for Culture invited the volunteers to participate in the European Year of
Cultural Heritage in 2018. This
year's project takes place in Germany under the slogan "Heritage
sharing" and is an initiative of the German National Committee for the
Protection of Monuments, the Federal Government, federal states and municipal
associations in Berlin. The
Coordination Office expects about 500 projects and about 1,000 events in Germany
throughout the year.
The
ceremonial inauguration of the European Year took place on January 8, 2018 in
the Grand Hall of the Town Hall in Hamburg.
Six
schools connected in a regional network were given the task of becoming
acquainted with and interpreting the role of monuments and historic buildings
in the urban space. Teams
will learn about the cultural heritage of their city as part of the history of
North Germany and commitment to the protection of monuments.
William Lindley project. A man to start with
Klosterschule high school in Hamburg, as part of the project William Lindley project. A man to start with, focused on William Lindley, a British engineer who in Hamburg designed the first modern waterworks and underground sewers on the European continent, the first railway connection and engaged in the redesign of the port. Its results will be presented publicly as part of an exhibition organized by the Office for the Protection of Monuments in Hamburg.
https://denkmal-aktiv.de/schulprojekte/archiv/schulen-2017/gymnasium-klosterschule-hamburg/
20 years have passed since our first meeting at the Polish Institute in Darmstadt in 2003, when Ryszard Żelichowski presented the first edition of his book The Lindleys. The history of an engineering family.In following years, the family reunion took place in Warsaw (2007), Hamburg (2008), Prague (2009), Frankfurt am Main (2012), Baku (2014, 2017) and Hamburg (2015 and 2018).
Munich 2023.
At the end of the pandemic mixed team of English and German families, started to think about a new place to meet.The choice of Munich seemed natural. One of our seniors, Ursula Caspar (1931-2023), who turned 90 in 2021, lived there, but due to the pandemic we could not visit her.Secondly, in Munich is located the famous German Museum, which William Heerlein Lindley co-organized with German engineer Oskar von Miller, sat on its Management Board and served there for many years as secretary-recorder (Schriftfüher). The Archive, which is part of the Museum, since 1920 holds materials donated by the wife of Sir William Heerlein, Lady Fanny Henrietta Lindley (1859-1931), in the form of Lindley Stiftung (Lindley Foundation). And least but not last, 170 years ago (1853) William H. Lindley was born. A nice, round date to celebrate.
Unfortunately, fate decided that Ursula Caspar left us in April this year, and before her, both her brothers Alexander and Dietrich.
Margrit and Lorenz Neubauer, Karin Deubner and Tom Lindley. A warm evening in the Hirschgarten, a Bavarian
specialty
After consultation with the Archive and the family, we agreed that we will continue our reunion. The best time to visit Minich, according to the Archive directors, was 12-14 September. The organization of our three-day reunion remained the responsibility of Eugen Deubner from Wiesbaden, who remains in permanent contact with the German part of the family. The English part led by Bill Lindley eagerly joined the project.
Eugen Deubner, Ben Lindley and Alex Egerton
Bill Lindley, Ryszard Żelichowski and Ben Lindley
The chief-goal was accomplished. After five years we met and enjoyed the re-union and had a great time together. The highlights were: the presentation by Dr. Röschner, deputy director of the Archive, some of the treasures of the Archive, including examples of Lindleiana collection and a witty and informative tour of the Deutsches Museum guided by Alexander Lucas.
We look forward to the next family reunion, possibly in England.
On the 22nd of April 2015 in Blackheath (London Borough of Greenwich) was unveiled a plaque funded by English Heritage Blue Plaques, dedicated to William Lindley and his eldest son, William Heerlein.
In this way, we have completed long-lasting process to bring to the Pantheon of those with outstanding imerits for the British Empire, two engineers, natives of the County of Yorkshire, the pioneers of hygiene, who had worked most of their life in the three empires-Austro-Hungarian, German, and Russian.
Warsaw's filters it is the joint work of the four Lindleys: the father William Lindley (1808-1900) and his three sons, William Heerlein (1853-1917), Robert Searles (1856-1925) and Joseph (1859-1906). The youngest of the brothers, Joseph, spent nearly his entire professional life in Warsaw, representing a family company.
Being placed on the list of Monuments of History means a serious step towards entering the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites.
You can view this wonderful album in our E-library (texts in Polish):
Dear Members, Dear Friends of the Societas Lindleiana,
In the hectic days day of traditional Polish Christmas, so important for every family, the Board of SL wishes you and your families, when you seat tired but happy by the handsomely stocked table and beautifully decorated Christmas tree, a moment of reflection over the passage of time.
And when the snow falls, we invite you to take a walk and seat on a certain bench near Royal Castle and look at the a certain English civil engineer patiently standing beside the bench. Think favorably about his life and what he has done for our city, and by the way, also about us.
We wish you a magical Winter, a happy Christmas, and all the best in 2015!
The Board of Societas Lindleiana,
Warsaw, Poland 2014
On June 19, 2014, a commemorative plate dedicated to engineer Stefan Skrzywan was unveiled in the city of Łódź. The plaque was affixed to a wall of the former headquarters of the city's water supply company at the Narutowicz Street 65, where Rectorate of the University of Łódź is located. The sponsor of the plaque was the state company AZERSU JSC, of Baku, Azerbaijan. The unveiling of the plaque was one of the events connected with preparations for the celebration of the centenary of the completion of the water works in Baku, which falls in 2017.
Participating in the ceremony were Hasan Hasanov, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Teyyub Jabbarov, Vice President of AZERSU, Hanna Zdanowska, President of the city of Łódź, Professor Włodzimierz Nykiel, Rector of the University of Łódź and Czesław Cieslak, a representative of the Water and Sewerage Company of Łódź.
Stefan Skrzywan (1876-1932) was born in Odessa. After graduating from the Institute of Technology in St. Petersburg in 1911, he worked in the construction of water and sewage system in Warsaw under the direction of William Heerlein Lindley. When construction of the water supply in Baku began in 1911, Skrzywan replaced Englishman Frank Durham, who had previously represented W.H. Lindley in the Caucasus.
Construction of the water works in Azerbaijan impressed the Europeans. The viaduct for the water extended about 180 km, originating from the springs of in the foothills of the Caucasus in Shollar, near the town of Guba. Water, by the force of gravity travelled to a pump station located about 40 km from Baku, from where it was sent under pressure through the water pipe network.
The waterworks in Baku was the final fully completed project of Sir William H. Lindley. In February 1917, despite the raging war and the Russian Revolution, he was present in Baku for the occasion of opening of the taps with clean water. In December of that year, Sir W.H. Lindley died in London.
Engineer Stefan Skrzywan survived World War I and was invited to finish the work on a comprehensive water supply and sewer system of the city of Łódź. The project included most of the work carried out by the W.H. Lindley and his associates earlier in the 20th century. No one was more qualified to be the contractor of the project than Skrzywan. Thanks to Skrzywan’s diligence, attention to detail and his understanding of the concept of aesthetic and engineering, Lindley’s project was completed posthumously and still appeals to us today with its timeless beauty.
On 7-13 April 2014, four members of the Lindley family from Germany, Switzerland and Scotland, along with the President of Societas Lindleiana and his wife, received an invitation to the CATEC W- ater Technologies Exhibition and Conference, organized in Baku by Azersu OJSC (State water supply Company, open joint-stock company). Azersu organized us a wonderful program, through which we were able to not only learn about the history of the Republic, the city and the great changes made by Presidents Heydar Aliyev and Ilham Aliyev, but also see Shollar, a magic place where he William H. Lindley found the source of drinking water for Baku.
Group employees of Azersu with guests of the Lindley family( from left to right: Manaf Suleymanov, Xadija Abdullayeva, Ryszard Żelichowski, Hanna Żelichowska, Alexander Caspar, Tasognov Abdulbagi, Karin Deubner, Hijran Aliyeva-Sztrauch, Catharina Porter, Eugen Deubner and Shakir Mammadov. In the background the monument of H. Tagiyev w Shollar).