Edmond George Matheson (c1880-1932)
1932 Obituary[1]
"THE LATE MR. E. G. G. MATHESON.
The death was announced on Thursday of last week, at the relatively early age of 52, of Mr. E. G. G. Matheson, O.B.E., for many years of the Engineers’ Department of the Great Western Railway. Mr. Matheson had a varied career on railway work in the United Kingdom. His general education, at Blairgowie School and Perth Academy, was followed by practical training of 34 years under Mr. James Ritchie, of Perth. In 1899, he joined the staff of Messrs. Sir R. McAlpine and Sons, and was engaged as an assistant on the construction of the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway. He subsequently acted as contractor’s engineer on the construction of the Prince’s Dock Railway, Glasgow.
He first joined a railway staff in 1901, being appointed assistant to the resident engineer on the Wemyss Bay Railway widening, of the Caledonian Railway. Afterwards he was engaged on the preparation of Parliamentary plans, &c., but in 1905 transferred to the Great Western Railway, to act as engineering assistant to Mr. W. Y. Armstrong in connection with new construction in South Wales. Subsequently, he acted as assistant resident engineer on the Aynho and Ashendon line and on the construction of the Snow Hill station, Birmingham.
The years 1915-19 were spent with Royal Engineer units, three of them being passed in France, on railway-construction work, Mr. Matheson having the rank of major and being twice mentioned in dispatches. In this connection he was awarded the O.B.E. After the war he was resident engineer for deviation and other works on the Great Western Railway, in Devon and Cornwall, until 1922, when he was appointed assistant divisional engineer at Bristol. In 1924, he was promoted to divisional engineer at Bristol, and in 1926, was transferred to Paddington as assistant engineer. Three years later he was advanced to assistant chief engineer. Mr. Matheson was made an associate-member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1907, and a full member in 1929."