Matthew Kirtley

Matthew Kirtley (1813–1873) was a British locomotive engineer who served as the first Locomotive Superintendent of the Midland Railway from the railway's formation by amalgamation in 1844 until his death in 1873, establishing the Derby-based locomotive engineering tradition that his successors Johnson, Deeley, Fowler, and ultimately Stanier developed into one of the most influential schools of British locomotive design.

Born at Tanfield, County Durham on 6 February 1813, Kirtley was apprenticed on the Stockton and Darlington Railway — the world's first public steam railway — and subsequently worked as a driver on the London and Birmingham Railway before joining the Midland Counties Railway in 1839. When the Midland Counties, North Midland, and Birmingham and Derby railways amalgamated to form the Midland Railway in 1844, Kirtley became the new company's first Locomotive Superintendent at Derby Works.

Kirtley's twenty-nine years at Derby produced the foundation of the Midland's locomotive fleet, principally 2-4-0 passenger engines and 0-6-0 goods engines of progressive development. His 700 Class 0-6-0 of 1869 was the Midland's definitive Victorian goods locomotive, with numerous examples built and rebuilt under his successors. His most practically significant contribution was the development of the brick arch in the firebox: by building a brick arch across the rear of the firebox, Kirtley found that the combustion of coal was dramatically improved compared with the coke that most locomotives then burned, enabling the use of the cheaper fuel with results that quickly convinced other engineers. The brick arch became a universal feature of coal-burning locomotive fireboxes worldwide. Kirtley died at Derby on 24 May 1873.