Talk:Thomas Bouch

Untitled
Sir Thomas Bouch died in 1880, not in 1890. Ian Bowie, Dept Civil Engg, University of Sydney


 * Thank you. Verified and fixed. -- Tim Starling 05:45, 3 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Pictures
It appears the graphic of the bridge are in the wrong location on the page. They are on the right side and should appear in the blank space

Starrymessenger (talk) 14:48, 4 May 2008 (UTC)


 * Do we really need a picture of Fowler's Forth bridge, built ten years after Bouch's death and thirty miles away? Deleting this would solve the problem. There is possibly too much detail on this structure in any case, which of course has its own article. Would the link in the text suffice? --Old Moonraker (talk) 07:14, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
 * This para and image trimmed back. Re-arranged remaining images to avoid conflict with the info box. Thanks, Starrymessenger, for the suggestion. --Old Moonraker (talk) 10:45, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation
I believe Bouch's surname should be pronounced "Booch", but the IPA given on the article suggests it is as it it spelt, or "Bow-ch". Can anyone confirm this is an error? L1v3rp00l (talk) 16:31, 5 March 2011 (UTC)
 * AFAICR the article's version is the pronunciation used in an Open University broadcast for their Forensic Engineering Masters' course. First aired 3 April 2002—I've found a reference to the transmission but no recording. "AFAICR" is far from a reliable source, of course. --Old Moonraker (talk) 18:42, 5 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Correcting self. Same contributor, but different OU programme: Bridges and buildings 18 August 2005. --Old Moonraker (talk) 19:23, 5 March 2011 (UTC)
 * The "Booch" pronunciation is heard on Classic Train Journeys (Scotland volume) and IIRC The Northern Lights Video125 production as well. Again, not a reliable source, unfortunately. L1v3rp00l (talk) 08:30, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Jamieson's Dictionary of the Scottish Language notes that "bouch" is the same as the "bow" in "bow-wow", with a guttural "ch" added: "bouch-wouch" Nothing to say that Sir Thomas adhered to this.--Old Moonraker (talk) 17:27, 7 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Markup tweaked today, but the sound represented was unchanged. If everyone's now done, we seem to be staying with "ouch", to rhyme with pouch, slouch, couch, etc. If I find anything definitive I'll bring it back to restart the discussion. --Old Moonraker (talk) 08:20, 18 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Mmm; verra interesting to know how the Scots would have pronounced 'Bouch' but Cumberland hasn't been Scottish since before Robert the Bruce was a laird, and pronunciation is a very local thing . Go shopping in Carlisle on a weekend, keep your ears open, and you will hear a variety of distinguishable accents (and probably get Scots notes in your change). For what it's worth the current native West Cumbrian view (not necessarily how they did things halfway across the county nearly 2 centuries ago) when canvassed is emphatically Bowch, and speaking as an offcomer I would hear what they say as not simply 'as in "pouch"'; more attack to it than that - much more like Jamieson's account of the Scots pronunciation (rather torpedoes my general point, I know, but there you are). 1841 census returns for Cumberland have many Bouches, quite a few Boaches(which could be a transcription error) and no Booches.  Early censuses have uncertain spelling, and tend to phonetic rendition of names, so if Bouch were pronounced Booch you would expect some Booches to show upRjccumbria (talk) 20:58, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Stuff added, and some Qs
Trying to find out more about Henry Law (expert witness at the Tay Bridge Inquiry) I found his and Bouch's obituaries in the ICE Proceedings, and felt a bit (collectively) guilty that nobody has filled out Bouch's entry with the details available there (which are, when I check, the basis for the DNB entry) - so I did it. Two points in the previous version which didn't match anything in the obit or traceable elsewhere


 * Bouch as a designer of Waverley station, to the point where it ranks with the Tay Bridge as his major achievement. When, and what did he 'help design' ? and is any of it still standing ?
 * The mention of Meik seems to be unfair to the lad; he has a walk-on part in the Inquiry minutes but it looks very much as though he's the office junior; he delivers drawings and nobody asks him any questions in his own right; certainly not about design (Stewart) or supervision (Paterson and Peddie, I think) Any reason, other than the very weak pun (or the view that that's what office juniors are for) why he should have been fingered ?Rjccumbria (talk) 01:45, 18 February 2012 (UTC)