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Both boys were born in Crow Tree Road, Bishopwearmouth .

Charles was apprenticed to Sir Thomas Bouch, then an engineer of some repute. However, Bouch's career was finished by the Tay Bridge disaster on 28 December 1879 in east Scotland when the 13 high girders forming the central part of the bridge crashed into the river carrying a train and 75 men, women and children with it. Rather than stay in Britain, Charles Meik went to Japan and worked as a port designer for the Japanese government, returning to work in London with his brother Patrick in 1894.

After Thomas Meik retired in 1888, his firm (renamed Thomas Meik & sons) had passed into the hands of his sons, and in 1896, it was renamed PW Meik and CS Meik.

Charles then assisted Patrick on the firm's first venture into Wales, a massive commission to construct docks and a railway at Port TalbotPort Talbot is an industrial town in South Wales, UK, with a population of approximately 50,000. The town grew out of the original small port and market town of Aberafan ( Aberavon), which belonged to the medieval Lords of Afan. The town got its new name, followed by an equally ambitious scheme to expand the port of SeahamSeaham is a small town in County Durham that grew up around a harbour on the North Sea coast of north-east England. Until the early years of the 19th century it was a small farming community whose only claim to fame was that the local landowner's daughter, officially opened in 1905. The Meiks' expertise saw port and railway designs developed in many parts of the British EmpireThe British Empire in the early decades of the 20th century, held sway over a population of 400 500 million people (roughly a quarter of the world's population), and covered nearly 30 million square kilometres, (roughly two-fifths of the world's land area, including Christmas IslandAlternative meaning (there is another island in the Pacific Ocean with the same constitutional name, Christmas Island, also known as: Kiritimati The Territory of Christmas Island is a small, non self-governing Territory of Australia located in the Indian, IndiaThe Republic of India is a large multicultural country in South Asia, with a population of over one billion. The Indian economy is the fourth largest in the world, in terms of purchasing power parity, and is the world's second-fastest growing economy., Burma and MozambiqueMozambique is a country in Southern Africa, bordering South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Malawi and Zimbabwe. It is a member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries and the Commonwealth of Nations. Its capital and largest city is Maputo, located.

The firm was then commissioned to design the KinlochlevenKinlochleven is a village in Scotland and lies at the eastern end of Loch Leven, a sea loch cutting into the western Scottish Highlands. To the north lie the Mamore range of mountains; to the south lie the mountains flanking Glen Coe. The village is domin hydroelectric scheme in the Scottish Highlands. This was a huge undertaking at the time and it was to lead to an even greater hydroelectric project, the Lochaber Water Power Scheme. Unfortunately, Charles Meik died before construction started, leaving the project's completion in the hands of William Halcrow.