When he received this address, Thomas Evans Blackwell (1819-1863) had only a year to live. In 1857, the London head office sent him out to direct the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, a rapidly expanding company. Despite his chronic illness and failing health, he was to supervise the completion of the Victoria Bridge. This lavishly illuminated document expresses his colleagues' esteem. Blackwell died in England on June 25, 1863, at age 43.