John Buddle

John Buddle (1773–1843) was an English mining engineer, sometimes called the 'King of the Coal Trade', who served as viewer — the practical engineering and commercial manager — of the Wallsend Colliery on Tyneside and whose expertise in ventilation and mining safety made him the leading authority on deep coal mining in the Great Northern Coalfield. With the consulting engineer William Chapman he was responsible for the Steam Elephant of around 1815, one of the earliest twin-cylinder locomotives, built for the Wallsend Waggonway.

Born at Kyo Hall, County Durham on 15 September 1773, Buddle was the son of a mining viewer and succeeded his father in that role, developing a deep expertise in the engineering challenges of increasingly deep coal mining — ventilation, drainage, roof support, and safe working practice — that made his advice sought by collieries across northern England and into Scotland. His Buddle ventilation system, using a series of air partitions and doors to direct fresh air through underground workings, was the foundation of safe ventilation practice in the deep mines of the early nineteenth century.

Buddle's involvement in the Steam Elephant locomotive reflected the colliery viewer's natural interest in any mechanical means of reducing the cost of hauling coal from pit to staithe. The Steam Elephant, built by William Chapman to serve the Wallsend Colliery's waggonway around 1815, was among the earliest locomotives to use two cylinders driving a common crankshaft — a configuration that became the standard arrangement for subsequent steam locomotive development. Buddle died at Wallsend on 10 October 1843.