Charles Edward Cage Montresor
Charles Edward Cage Montresor (1857-1891)
1891 Obituary [1]
CHARLES EDWARD CAGE MONTRESOR, the second son of Mr. Charles F. Montresor, late of the Bengal Civil Service, was born on the 5th of November, 1857.
He was educated at Haileybury College and received his professional training at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper’s Hill, which he entered by competitive examination in 1876.
In 1879 he was appointed to the Public Works Department of the Government of India. On his arrival in India in November of that year he was posted to the Tirhut State Railway, and underwent a year’s practical training in the locomotive workshops at Somastipur and on open line maintenance.
In December 1880 he was employed on the Eastern extension of the line from Durbhanga, and afterwards held charge of the Survey Division.
In March 1883 he took over the first sub-division of the Hajipur extension, and constructed a considerable length of line, encountering many difficulties from floods.
From June 1884 to April 1885 he was employed as assistant to the manager of the railway, and assisted in preparing the Gandak bridge project. He again held charge of the maintenance of open line till February 1887, when he commenced the Pertabganj extension. This work, which included the erection of a bridge of seven spans of 60 feet, was successfully completed in a very short length of time, in spite of a severe outbreak of cholera among his workmen.
Mr. Montressor, who for some years had been in weak health, then went to England on furlough. Returning to India at the end of 1889, he was posted to the East Coast Railway survey.
In May 1890 he took charge of the Chiccacole Survey Divisions, and, on the commencement of the construction of the line, joined the Vizagapatam Division. He remained actively engaged in this work till, on account of illness, he was compelled to take leave in March 1891, in the hope that rest and change might restore his failing health. This hope unfortunately was not realized, for he died at sea off Colombo, on the voyage home, on the 19th. of March, 1891. Mr. Montresor was a man of a kind and gentle disposition, and was most popular in Tirhut, where he passed the greater part of his service. He was in the Public Works Department for eleven years and six months, but notwithstanding the success with which he executed the important works entrusted to him, received only one permanent step of promotion. Though he held temporary rank as Executive Engineer in March 1887, and for years carried out the duties of an executive engineer, he was at the time of his death an Assistant Engineer, 1st grade.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 4th of December, 1888