Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Civil engineer, of Dublin and Wexford. Stafford Gaffney was born into a Wexford business family,(1) on 7 November 1869, and educated at Beaumont and Stonyhurst Colleges in England. In 1890 he was admitted to Trinity College, Dublin, which awarded him the BA degree in 1893, the BAI degree in 1894(2) and MA and MAI degrees in 1903. After graduating he served an eighteen-month pupilage with Sir Douglas Fox & Partners in London, and from 1895 to 1902 worked an assistant for the firm on various railways in England. He returned to Ireland in 1902 as Fox's resident engineer for the Crosshaven extension of the Cork, Blackrock & Passage Railway. He was appointed county surveyor for Co. Wexford in June 1909 following the resignation of HENRY WEBSTER HENRY WEBSTER . He held the post until the end of January 1912, having tendered his resignation the previous November(3) on the grounds that he felt unable to meet the county council's requirements. His subsequent career is not recorded; as a man of private means, he presumably had no need of salaried employment. After his resignation he moved first to Greystones, Co. Wicklow, and then to Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, where he was living circa 1920, and eventually to England.(4)

ICEI: elected member, 2 February 1910;(5) still on list of members for 1920 but not in that for 1921.
Inst.CE: elected associate member, 19 May 1896.(6)

Addresses:(7) 39 Raglan Road, Dublin, <=1896->=1900; 46 Northumberland Road, 1909;(7) 47 Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co.Dublin, 1913; 43 Northumberland Road 'and Wexford', <=1915->=1937; Iona, Greystones, Co. Wicklow, 1914;(8) Chestnut Lodge, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford, <=1917->=1920.

See WORKS.



References

All information in this entry not otherwise attributed is from ICEI admissions applications, IV, 86 (microfilm in NLI, Pos. 9386), and Brendan O'Donoghue, The Irish County Surveyors 1834-1944 (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2007), 177-178.


(1) The only Gaffney to appear in George Henry Bassett's Wexford County Guide and Directory(1885) is Cecilia Gafney (sic), who had an ironmongery business in Wexford Town.
(2) R.C. Cox, Trinity College School of Engineering: 'Graduates' in Engineering 1843-1993 (1993), unpaginated booklet, gives date of BAI as 1893.
(3) Building News 101, 24 Nov 1911, 748.
(4) The engagement announcement of William Gaffney in the Irish Times, 12 Nov 1942, describes him as the only son of the late Mr and Mrs Stafford Gaffney of Wimbledon and grandson of Dr and Mrs Furlong of Foxrock (information from Brendan O'Donoghue, 2015).  
(5) TICEI 36 (1909-10), ? .
(6) Charter…and list of members of the Institution of Civil Engineers (1914), 189.
(7) From Post Office and Thom's directories and ICEI membership lists unless otherwise indicated.
(8) Wexford People, 8 May 1909.


2 work entries listed in chronological order for GAFFNEY, STAFFORD


Sort by date | Sort alphabetically


Building: CO. WEXFORD, WEXFORD, BRIDGE OVER RIVER SLANEY (NEW BRIDGE)
Date: 1911
Nature: Repairs to bridge built in 1863.
Refs: IB 53, 29 Apr 1911, 286

Building: CO. WEXFORD, FERRYCARRIG, BRIDGE OVER RIVER SLANEY
Date: 1914
Nature: New 356 ft long bridge has been constructed; steel girders and ferro-concrete. Contractor: R. Colhoun, Derry.
Refs: Building News 107, 4 Dec 1914, 728