Magnus Volk | |||||||||
Nationality: | British | ||||||||
Birth Date: | 19 October 1851 | ||||||||
Birth Place: | Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom | ||||||||
Death Place: | Brighton, Sussex, United Kingdom | ||||||||
Resting Place: | St. Wulfran's Church, Ovingdean, Sussex | ||||||||
Spouse: | Anna Volk (Banfield) | ||||||||
Parents: | Magnus Volk, Sarah Volk (Maynard) | ||||||||
Children: | Magnus Herman Volk, George Herbert Volk, Cecil Volk, Gordon Volk, Edgar Volk, Conrad Volk, Muriel May Volk | ||||||||
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Magnus Volk FII (1851–1937) was a British-German inventor and pioneering electrical engineer.
He is most notable for having built Volk's Electric Railway, the world's oldest operating electric railway.[1]
Aside from the Volk's Electric Railway, he also built the unique but short-lived Brighton and Rottingdean Seashore Electric Railway, together with its unusual Daddy Long Legs vehicle.[2] He also built another short-lived line, similar to the VER, in the pleasure grounds at Aston Hall, Birmingham.[1]
In 1887 he attracted attention in Brighton by building a three-wheeled electric carriage powered by an Immisch motor. In 1888 he built another electric car, this time a four-wheeled carriage which was made to the order of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire,[3] for which he was awarded an Order of Osmali, presented to Magnus by the Sultan in person whilst in Constantinople.[4]
Other projects of Magnus included inventing a fire-alarm system, early successful attempts at electricity in the home, telecommunications and installing electricity to the Royal Pavilion for the first time.[4]
Magnus Volk was the son of a German clockmaker and was born on 19 October 1851 in Brighton. He lived at 38 Dyke Road in Brighton. On 8 April 1879, he married Anna Banfield in Burgess Hill. George Herbert Volk, his second son, is noted as a pioneer builder of seaplanes, whilst another son, Conrad Volk, wrote a biography of his father.[4] His descendants include the musician Joe Volk and the journalist Scott Campbell.[5]
Magnus Volk died in Brighton on 20 May 1937, and is buried at St Wulfran's churchyard in Ovingdean near Brighton.[6]