David McFetrich

David McFetrich first became interested in bridges while he was at Oundle School and was given the book The World’s Great Bridges by Hubert Shirley Smith. After he left in 1956 he went on to study civil engineering at King’s College, Durham University (now Newcastle University). He then worked in the structural engineering design office of consulting engineers Halcrow for two years, where his projects included the design of a footbridge in Scotland.

He followed this by moving into civil engineering contracting, and quickly progressed from being a site engineer to being site agent on a number of prestigious projects, one of which involved the construction of two major road bridges.

He left the civil engineering industry in 1970 and spent the rest of his working life in management consultancy, while continuing to collect books and information about bridges as a hobby.