Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hartley, Jesse
HARTLEY, JESSE (1780–1860), civil engineer, was born in 1780 in the North Riding of Yorkshire, his father being 'bridge-master' of that district. After being apprenticed to a mason he succeeded his father as bridge-master, and soon evinced a natural bent towards engineering. He was appointed dock surveyor in Liverpool in 1824. As engineer under the dock trust of that port, Hartley for the last thirty-six years of his life altered or entirely reconstructed every dock in Liverpool. Hartley was also engineer for the Bol ton and Manchester railway and canal, and consulting engineer for the Dee bridge at Chester, which Thomas Harrison (1744-1829) [q. v.] designed, and which was completed m 1833. In Liverpool Hartley was noted for his devotion to his work, and for the simplicity of his life and manners. He died at Bootlamarsh, near Liverpool, 24 Aug. 1860.
[Ann. Register, 1850; Liverpool Daily Poet, 25 Aug. 1860; Liverpool Mercury, 25 Aug. 1860; Times, 20 Aug. 1860.]