Lieut-Col. A. H. Dumaresq (c1870-1917)
1918 Obituary [1]
LIEUTENANT-COLONEL A. H. DUMARESQ, R.E., who died very suddenly at the age of 47 on the 31st May, 1917, had been closely associated with the electrical branches of the duties of his Corps for the greater part of his service.
Immediately after completing his general course of instruction as a young officer at Chatham in the summer of 1891, he was sent to Gosport for a two months' course in submarine-mining, which at that time and for some years longer formed a branch of the duties of the Corps of Royal Engineers.
On completion of this course he returned to Chatham until the summer of 1891, when he was transferred to Cork for duty with a Submarine-mining Company. His duties here included the running of the coast-defence searchlights and of the Brennan torpedo installation, at that time established in the harbour.
In the early part of 1894 he returned to Chatham for duty as Assistant Instructor in Electricity at the School of Military Engineering, in which post he remained for nearly 6 years, until shortly after the outbreak of the South African War. During his tenure of this appointment he was elected an Associate of the Institution.
In February 1900 he was sent to South Africa for duty with a field searchlight section, where he remained until January 1901. He was gazetted Captain during his voyage out and received the Queen's Medal with clasps as a result of his part in the campaign.
On his return from South Africa he was appointed to a post in the office of the then Inspector-General of Fortifications at the War Office, where he remained for 5 years. His duties here were entirely concerned with the administration of the various electrical services connected with the Army, and he was closely associated with the inception and completion of the War Department power station and distribution system at Aldershot, which was then, and is now, the largest War Department installation in existence. It was during this period that he was elected a Member of the Institution.
On the conclusion of this appointment he served for 3 years in Egypt, during which time he received his Majority.
He then returned to Chatham as Chief Instructor in Electricity, where he remained for 3 1/2 years.
In September 1912 he was appointed Inspector of Electric Lights at the War Office, in which post he remained until his death. For his services in this post during the present war he was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel by brevet (receiving his substantive rank at the beginning of 1917) and received the Croix d'Officier of the Legion of Honour from the President of the French Republic.