George Henry Bayly
George Henry Bayly (1845-1887)
1888 Obituary [1]
GEORGE HENRY BAYLY, son of Richard Uniacke Bayly, of Ballyre, County Cork, and of Ballynaclough, County Tipperary, was born on the 6th of October, 1845.
He was educated at Enniskillen, and was subsequently trained for the profession in the Engineering School of Dublin University, where he took first-class honours in Mathematics, gained the Gold Medal for Science, and obtained a B.A. degree.
He was for a short time an Assistant Engineer on the Great Southern and Western Railway, and served a pupilage of one year to Messrs. Cotton and Flemyng.
He joined the Indian Public Works Department as an Assistant-Engineer on the 23rd of July, 1868; and, on arriving at Bangalore, was posted to the Shimoga Division and Nagar Roads. There he remained until July 1869, when, having passed his first examination, he was transferred to the Bangalore Division, in a higher grade.
The next eighteen years - constituting, indeed, the remainder of Mr. Bayly's career - were spent in Mysore, the Government of that Province, on the expiry of the British Commission in 1879, having borrowed his services. He rapidly acquired the Canarese and Telegu languages, and rose steadily through the various grades, becoming Executive Engineer, second grade, in 1883. It was thought that he would have been made Chief Engineer of the Province in 1883, but Captain Kensington, R.E., was selected for that post, and Mr. Bayly was compensated by his pay being increased, and by extended charge being given to him.
From 1876 to 1878 occurred the great famine in Mysore, and in fighting this dreadful enemy the warm-hearted Irishman worked like a hero. In recognition of his exertions the Government consented to his counting one year's extra service for pension ; but his health had become completely undermined, and a severe illness, consequent upon the excessive strain of the famine period, obliged him in 1878 to take a year's furlough.
He returned to his duties in 1879, but his constitution was shattered, and attacks of illness prostrated him at frequent intervals until his death, which occurred at Madras, of fever, on the 12th of June, 1887. The news of his death cast a gloom over both European and native society in Mysore, where he was well known and appreciated, more especially as the result of his work in connection with the Maharajah‘s palace, and his successful administration of the Bangalore division. Socially he was most unassuming and considerate, and had many friends. The estimation in which he was held may be judged from the fact that, when at one time it was sought in Mysore to replace European by native engineers, Mr. Bayly alone was specially selected for employment.
Mr. Bayly’s work consisted in the projecting, construction, and maintenance of important works of irrigation, water-supply, and communications, including canals, aqueducts, reservoirs, and river dams ; also Ghaut roads between the Mysore plateau and the West Coast of India.
He was elected a Member of the Institution on the 3rd of February, 1885.