William John Hardcastle
William John Hardcastle Bey (1831-1890)
1892 Obituary [1]
. . . . In the autumn of 1851 Mr. Hardcastle was appointed by Robert Stephenson on the engineering staff then being organized for the direction and control of the railway about to be constructed from Alexandria to Cairo, 140 miles in length, and involving two crossings of the Nile. This signalized, indeed, the introduction into Egypt of railways, and also of the telegraph, which the then Viceroy, Abbas Pasha, had entrusted to Mr. Stephenson in the winter of 1850-51.
Mr. Hardcastle landed in Egypt in October, 1851, and eventually became Resident Engineer on the Alexandria portion of the line which he had assisted to construct, and over which the British troops were transported at the time of the Indian Mutiny. . . .[more]