Explorations into the intersections of imperialism and urban locations have for long been a central concern in the historiography. Questions of space, place and location have been tied successfully to the issue of how imperialism shaped European societies, cultures and cities. Several studies have focused on London, the largest urban centre and capital of the most extensive of the European empires. Thus, a substantial literature is available on the impact of imperialism on specific locations in London and on the activities these locations facilitated. By now a detailed ‘historical map of Imperial London’ is emerging from the studies.

Engineers have hitherto been absent on this map and the present chapter places them there. It provides precise data on the number and location of civil engineers in London and explains why their businesses clustered around certain streets in the core of Westminster. These were also the streets where the ICE and the offices of the consulting engineers of the Great George Street Clique were located.