Robert Wingate
Robert Wingate (1832-1900)
Engineer of the Central Uruguay Railway of Monte Video.
Died 1900 after a short illness.[1]
1900 Obituary [2]
ROBERT WINGATE, born on the 2nd August, 1832, began his engineering career as a pupil of the late Mr. Alexander M. Ross, on the Chester and Holyhead Railway.
After the expiration of his pupilage he was on the engineering staff of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers for two years, and was next engaged from 1853 to 1856, for Messrs. Peto and Betts, on the construction of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada.
In 1856 he entered the service of that Company, and was employed on the Eastern and Central sections until 1863, when he was appointed District Engineer for Messrs. Peto and Betts on the construction of the Dunaberg-Witepsk Railway in Russia.
On the completion of that work he was engaged on the construction of the East Hungarian Railway as District Engineer for Messrs. Waring, the contractors, for whom he went to Monte Video in 1871 to act in a similar capacity on the construction of the Central Uruguay Railway.
On the completion of the works in 1874 he entered the service of the Company as Resident Engineer, and from that date he had charge not only of all maintenance work, but of the construction of all new extensions, including the Eastern and Northern Extensions of the Central Uruguay line and a portion of the North Eastern of Uruguay Railway, from Pando to Minas.
Mr. Wingate retired from the service of the Company in July, 1899, and returned to England, the Board still availing themselves of his long experience and intimate knowledge of Uruguay for consulting purposes, and it was in consequence of the keen interest he took in the affairs of the Company that he made it his practice to call at the office in Finsbury Circus on the receipt of inward mails. There he died after a few hours’ illness, while engaged on such an errand, on the 18th June, 1900.
Mr. Wingate was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 10th April, 1866, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 16th January, 1877.