Edward Cousins
Edward Cousins (1820-1899)
1900 Obituary [1]
EDWARD COUSINS died at his residence, Cadoxton, St. Albans, on the 30th December, 1899, after a long period of ill health.
Born at Alnwick, Northumberland, in 1820, he served articles to Mr. John Dobson, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, with whom he remained subsequently as an Assistant.
About the year 1853 Mr. Cousins was appointed Borough Engineer to the Corporation of Swansea, which post he held for twenty-nine years. During that period he designed and carried out an extension of the waterworks for the supply of the Borough, including a reservoir with an embankment 80 feet in height; the completion of the Cwm Donkin Reservoir; the construction of a subway under the River Tawe; the laying of about 150 miles of water-mains; and a system of drainage for Swansea, Pentre, Landore, Morriston, the hamlet of St. Thomas Foxhole and Gwendy.
Towards the end of 1882 Mr. Cousins resigned the post of Borough Engineer of Swansea and began to practise on his own account in Westminster. He soon acquired considerable reputation as an authority on sanitary matters, and his evidence was frequently sought in Parliamentary inquiries.
During the greater part of 1891 he was engaged on the important work of reporting for the Indian Government on the best means of procuring effective drainage and water-supply for the town of Madras. He was then over seventy years of age, and unfortunately his health suffered from the effects of the Indian climate. Shortly before his death he was occupied, in conjunction with his son, as engineer for the construction of drainage works for Bridgend, South Wales.
Mr. Cousins was elected a Member of the Institution on the 4th February, 1879.