Robert William Campion
Robert William Campion (1862-1902)
1903 Obituary [1]
ROBERT WILLIAM CAMPION, who died at Peterborough on the 28th November, 1902, at the age of 40, was born at Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, on the 4th February, 1862, and was the eldest son of the late Mr. Frederic Campion, Engineer of the Southern Division of the Midland Railway.
On leaving the Grammar School, Loughborough, where he was educated, the subject of this notice served articles to Mr. Richard Johnson, Chief Engineer of the Great Northern Railway Company, from 1879 to 1882. During his pupilage he made part of the original surveys for the line constructed by the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint Committee from Spalding to Lincoln, and upon the contract being let, had charge, under the late Mr. S. Abbott, of the portion of the work between Lincoln and Metheringham.
On the completion of those works, Mr. Campion obtained an appointment on the staff of Mr. William Shelford, on the Hull and Barnsley Railway, then under construction, and made a survey for the authorised extension of that line from Barnsley to Huddersfield.
Leaving Mr. Shelford in February, 1884, he went to Ireland, and there made part of the working survey of the Belfast and Ballymena Railway.
In March, 1885, Mr. Campion was appointed to the staff of the Great Indian Peninsula Railway Company, and on his arrival in India, was sent to Bhusawal as Resident Engineer in charge of the maintenance of the way and works of a portion of the main line.
In September, 1886, he was transferred to a similar but more important post at Lonauli, on which length is situated the well-known Bhore Ghauts Incline.
In April, 1890, he was selected to fill the post of Personal Assistant to the Chief Engineer, and he remained working at the administrative headquarters in Bombay till March, 1901, when be was promoted to the position of District Engineer. He then took charge of the section of the railway lying between Bhusawal and Jubbulpur, and in addition to the usual maintenance duties, he carried out the rebuilding and remodelling of the important Junction Station at Itarsi.
While performing his onerous duties with zeal and energy, he was struck down, and under medical advice came to England in September, 1902, his malady, however, proving fatal in a few weeks.
Mr. Campion, though of a reserved and reticent disposition, wit8 ever ready to discuss questions connected with the construction and working of railways, and practically his whole leisure was given to their consideration. He was kindly and generous in feeling, with a keen sense of justice and fair dealing.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 10th April, 1888.