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Joseph Locke was born near Sheffield in 1805. He was educated in Yorkshire and County Durham. He became an engineer and later an assistant to George Stephenson, taking part in the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Locke's first major project was the survey and construction of the Grand Junction Railway, which established his reputation as a railway engineer. He subsequently oversaw the construction of many other lines, both in Britain and continental Europe; Napoleon III created him a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur for his work in France. He also served as Liberal MP for Honiton, Devon, from 1847 until his death. Locke's obituary in The Times described him, Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as the 'triumvirate of the engineering world'.