William Brereton Bestic
William Brereton Bestic (1859-1892)
1893 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM BRERETON BESTIC was born on the 5th of January, 1859.
After being educated at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers Hill, he was appointed an Assistant Engineer in the Public Works Department of the Government of India in September 1879.
In accordance with the usual custom, he then underwent a year’s practical training in England, after which he was posted at the end of 1880 to the Dacca Division of the Bengal Presidency. There he remained until July 1883, when he was transferred to the Darjeeling Division.
In the following October Mr. Bestic was appointed Undersecretary to the Public Works Department of Bengal.
In February 1888 he added to these duties those of Under-Secretary to the Marine Department, and was promoted to Executive Engineer 4th-Grade in July, 1890, and to 3rd-Grade in September, 1891. In the spring of the latter year the Government of India formally acknowledged the valuable services he had rendered as a member of the Native Passengers Ships Commission.
He continued to hold this appointment for nearly ten years, till March 1892, when he was selected by the Government of India to assist in the drafting of the Merchant Shipping Bill, which was introduced in the Imperial Council only a few days before his death, accompanied by a eulogium from Sir Alexander Miller (Legislative Member of Council), that was a fitting acknowledgment of the services he had rendered.
On the conclusion of his work at Simla he was, in October, 1892, deputed to the special, and, what was thought, enviable duty of preparing a waterworks project for Srinagar, Eashmir, but had been there only a Sew days when he was seized with malignant smallpox, caught in the native town, and it terminated fatally after only five days’ illness.
Thus was cut prematurely short what promised to be a very brilliant career. In the opinion of the Chief Secretary and the other chiefs of the P.W.D., he would have risen to the very highest posts open to good Civil Engineers.
Mr. Bestic was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 6th of May, 1884.