Denis Main Ross Esson was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, on 4 February 1919 . His father, John Ross Esson, was a mechanical engineer and export merchant. Denis attended the University of London and graduated with a second class BSc in Civil Engineering in 1949. He then attended the University of Glasgow from 1968-1975 as a part-time research student working towards a PhD on A study of a Suspension Bridge System Using a Pretensioned Inverted Catenary in Place of a Stiffening Truss. He also worked as a Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering. His publications include The Curse of Cromwell: A History of the Ironside Conquest of Ireland, 1649-1653, (1971) and A metric manual of specifications and quantities for civil engineers, (1975) with W H King. He died on 24 March 1975 .
From the guide to the Papers of Denis Main Ross Esson, 1919-1975, Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Glasgow, Scotland, 1970, (Glasgow University Archive Services)
