Sir Robert Williams
1860 Born in Aberdeen
1875 Apprentice with Blaikie Brothers, Aberdeen
1881 Chief engineer Tarry and Co, engineers, Kimberley
1883 Moved to a French diamond mining company
1884 Moved to another diamond mining company
Moved to another diamond mining company in Kimberley
1887 Associate member of the Inst Civil Engineers
1891 Robert and Margaret Williams, Civil Engineer, were living with his mother in Aberdeen Old Machar[1]
1911 Robert Williams 50, mining engineer, lived in Kensington Gore with Margaret Williams 49, Annie Williams 23, Gordon Williams 21 Mary Williams 19[2]
1938 Obituary [3]
IT is with regret that we note the death, at the age of seventy-eight years, of Sir Robert Williams, one of the pioneers in the opening up of South Central Africa. He was born in Aberdeen and was educated at the Gymnasium, where he later studied civil engineering. In 1881 he went to South Africa, where he work ed as a mining expert and geologist for Cecil Rhodes and later in conjunction with Rhodes formed the Zambesia Exploring Company. As a result of his investigations of the area which is now known as Southern Rhodesia, Williams informed Rhodes that in order to develop the minerals economically it would be necessary to have a railway from Beira, and this line was built with British capital. In 1898 he went with an expedition to prospect for minerals in Northern Rhodesia and to visit the south of Lake Tanganyika, where a town and pier were to be built and a steamer placed on the lake. In 1900 he was granted a concession for minerals in Katanga, and later he handed his rights to Tanganyika Concessions. As a result of these negotiations Rhodes directed that the Cape-to-Cairo railway should be diverted to pass through Katanga. After the death of Rhodes, Williams continued the work and was responsible for the construction of the line from Broken Hill to the Congo border. To work the copper field in Katanga the Belgian interests and the Tanganyika Concessions formed, in 1906, the Union Miniere du Haut Kanga. Prior to this, however , Williams had begun the construction of the Benguela Railway, a scheme which he pre pared to provide a direct outlet from the copper mines to the Atlantic by the shortest route. At that time, as Katanga was part of the Congo Free State and Angola was Portuguese territory, he secured a concession to build a railway from Lobito Bay to the Congo frontier, and King Leopold II agreed to continue the line to the mining area. The Great War delayed the construction of the line, and it was not until March, 1931, that the route from Lobito Bay to the main line from the Cape was completed. In recognition of his work in Africa he was created a baronet in 1928. Sir Robert was an associate member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a member of the Institution of Mining Engineers.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ 1891 census
- ↑ 1911 census
- ↑ The Engineer 1938 Jan-Jun: Index
- Civil engineer records