#244, Frederick Ewart ROBERTSON

Frederick's mother was Jane Isabella Ramsay, born 4th February 1852 in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland, who died in 1949 in Bath, Somerset.  Frederick became a Mason on 20th April 1915 at Allallabad, India.

Frederick's father was also Frederick Ewart Robertson born 1847 in Enfield who died in 1912 in Kensington, London. He was Assistant to the Engineer in Charge of railway extension work between Victoria Station and Clapham Junction. He later went to India to work on the railway system there. Frederick's mother was Jane Isabella Ramsay who was born in 1853 in Crief, Scotland and died in 1949 in Bath, Somerset. They had married in Kensington, London in 1879 and had 7 children of whom we show only one.

Frederick Ewart Robinsons obituary: T ROBERTSON, C.I.E., was born on the
24th February, 1847, and after completing the usual course of
education at a private school, was articled, in 1864, to Mr. E.
Wragge, M. Inst. C.E., then Resident Engineer of the railway
extension works between Victoria Station and Clapham Junction.
After remaining a short time with him as an assistant, he entered,
in July, 1868, the Public Works Department of India by an open
competitive xamination, generally known as the Stanley. Be
served one year in Bengal in the Roads and Buildings branch, and
then entered the State Railways Department, and for 2 years was
employed on the survey for the Indus Valley Railway. He was put
in charge of the construction division in Upper Sind in 1870, and
on completion of this division in 1877, in which year the railway
was opened for traffic, he took 2 years' furlough, being employed
during that time as an Inspector by the India Oftice. He returned
to India in 1879, and taking charge of a sub-division of the Indus
Valley Railway, he established the railway ferry over the Indus at
Sukkur, a description of which appeared in the Technical Section
Papers of the State Railways Department. The ferry was successfully worked until it was replaced by the well-known Lansdowne
Downloaded by [] on [04/06/24]. Copyright © ICE Publishing, all rights reserved.  Bridge. This bridge,’ which was of the cantilever type, of 820 feet
span, involved the design by Mr. Robertson of novel and suitable
plant for its erection. The whole of the work was successfully
carried out by him, and the bridge was opened in 1889. Mr.
Robertson’s services were acknowledged in a special Gazette notification, and he was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian
Empire. He was subsequently appointed Engineer-in-Chief of the
Indus Valley RaiIway, which included the Khojak Junction under
construction ; and in 1889 he was offered and accepted the office of
Chief Engineer of the East Indian Railway, which post he held for
8 years, and at one time acted as Agent. He resigned this position for family reasons in 1897, and was appointed President of the
Egyptian Railway Board. For similar reasons he relinquished this
appointment in 1898 and joined Sir Alexander M. Rendel, K.C.I.E.,
M. Inst. C.E., practising as Consulting Engineers in Westminster ;
and for 14 years, up to the date of his death, he was an active partner
in that firm. Besides his Paper on the Lansdowne Bridge, awarded
a Telford Premium, he also contributed to the Proaeedings descriptions2 of his work on the Jubilee Bridge over the Hooghly, and the
Embabeh Bridge, Cairo. He died, after a short illness, on the
16th November, 1912, aged 65, having just completed the designs
for the steelwork of perhaps the most difficult bridge yet undertaken, that now under construction at Sara over the Lower Ganges.
Mr. Robertson was a very talented engineer, and not only had he
a profound knowledge of engineering science and practice, but, as is
often the case in the career of a clever man, he had many other
accomplishments. He was very fond of mechanical pursuits, and,
in particular, of organ-building, and there are several churches in
India indebted to him for their organs. He also published a book
on the subject.3 A painter of no mean ability, he pursued this art
to the very end of his life, He was a fluent French and Arabic
linguist, and during the time he was in Egypt he compiled an
Arabic vocabulary. Mr. Robertson devoted a great deal of attention to the work of the Engineering Standards Committee, serving
on no less than seven sub-committees.
To those who did not know him intimately he appeared at times
impatient of ineptitude, but in reality he was the kindest of men,
most pleasant to work with, and possessing the highest ideas of impartiality and straightforwardness in his professional and private life.
He was elected an Associate of The Institution on the 1st December, 1874, and was transferred to the class of Members on
the 25th February, 1890. In 1911 he was elected a Member of the
Council of The Institution.

Copyright ICE Publishing.