John Braithwaite

John Braithwaite (1797–1870) was a British civil and mechanical engineer who, with John Ericsson, designed Novelty for the 1829 Rainhill Trials, and who later served as Engineer to the Eastern Counties Railway. He pioneered the use of compressed air for industrial purposes and built the first practical steam fire engine in 1829.

Born at New Road, London on 19 March 1797, Braithwaite was apprenticed at the family's St Pancras engineering works and joined briefly with Ericsson in private practice. He laid out the Eastern Counties to the broad gauge (5 ft), later reluctantly converted to standard. He died at New Cross, London on 25 September 1870.