Frederick William McCullough
Frederick William McCullough (1859-1927), Chief Waterworks engineer to the Belfast City and District Water Commissioners.
1927 Obituary[1]
"THE LATE MR. F. W. McCULLOUGH.
The death of Mr. Frederick William McCullough, which occurred suddenly at his home in Belfast on March 28 last, after a long illness, removes a well-known figure from the ranks of British waterworks engineers. Born in Belfast on January 8, 1859, Mr. McCullough served a pupilage of four years, from 18/5 to 18/9, under the late Mr. L. L. Macassey, M.Inst.C.E., of Belfast, and, during the last two years of his apprenticeship, he officiated as assistant resident engineer on the works in connection with the construction of the Upper Woodburn reservoir of the Belfast Waterworks. Afterwards he was appointed to the position of resident engineer in charge of the construction of the Portrush Waterworks, County Antrim, and of the Limavady Waterworks, County Derry. During the period from May, 1881, to July, 1895,' he was chief assistant to Mr. Macassey, and was given charge of the surveys and the preparation of Parliamentary and contract drawings for a number of extensive water and other public works, subsequently superintending their construction. Among these undertakings were the Carrickfergus harbour works, the waterworks at Hollywood, Ballymoney, and Larne, the Portrush outfall sewerage works and settling tanks, and the Carrickfergus Harbour Junction Railway. He was also in charge of the extensive works undertaken in connection with the Stoneyford Scheme, which was authorised by the Belfast Water Act of 1884, and included a large storage reservoir, straining wells, pressure mains and other works. Later, he prepared plans, for and subsequently supervised the construction of, the works authorised by the Belfast Water Act of 1889. These included extensive filtration works, an additional storage reservoir, and new conduits.
From April, 1891 to July, 1892, Mr. McCullough was engaged on preliminary surveys, river gauging, and mapping the various districts in the counties of Antrim and Down, suitable for the supply of water to the City of Belfast. He afterwards prepared a report and estimates for the Belfast Water Commissioners, and was later entrusted with the drawing up of the plans and surveys of the works included in the New Mourne Scheme, which works were subsequently carried out. In July, 1895, he was appointed waterworks engineer of Belfast, by the Belfast City and District Commissioners, and continued to occupy this position until his death. He was in charge of the works at Woodburn, Lough Mourne, Stoneyford and Oldpark, as well as of all the distributing systems in Belfast and district, and of the extensive development schemes which were authorised at various times. In 1915 Mr. McCullough began the preparation of the contract plans and specifications for the construction of the extensive Silent Valley 3,000 million-gallon storage reservoir in the Mourne Mountains, some 45 miles south of Belfast. Just prior to his death he was actively engaged on various works in connection with the construction of this undertaking. He joined the Institution of Water Engineers at its inception in 1896, the Institution then being known as the British Association of Waterworks Engineers. He was president of the Institution during the years from 1915 to 1919, and, notwithstanding the difficulty of crossing the Irish Sea, owing to the submarine menace, he never missed a meeting during his term of office. Mr. McCullough was elected an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on March 5, 1889, and became a full member on May 12, 1896."