Alfred Forrest (1864-1894)
1864 Born the son of Jacob Forrest
1894 Obituary [1]
ALFRED FORREST, son of Mr. Jacob Forrest of Salamanca, Spain, was born in Liverpool on the 2nd of January, 1864, and was educated in that city and at Chester.
He served a pupilage to his father from January, 1881, to June, 1884, at first at the Witley Colliery and Railways, Halesowen, and subsequently on the Triano Railway, Bilbao, Spain.
Shortly after the expiration of his pupilage he was appointed an Assistant Engineer on the San Cebrian Railway in Spain, which post he held for nearly four years.
From June, 1888, to March, 1890, Mr. Forrest was in charge, under his father, of a section of the line - then in course of construction - from Avila to Salamanca, known as the Portugal and Madrid Direct Railway. In the autumn of the latter year he was appointed to the Santiago and Pontevedra Railway, on the survey and laying out of which he spent about twelve months.
Mr. Forrest was then at Salamanca until the summer of 1892, when he proceeded to South Africa as an Assistant Engineer on the construction of the Beira Railway - on the staff of Sir George Bruce and Sir Charles Metcalfe, joint Consulting Engineers.
Within a few months Mr. Forrest was prostrated with African fever, and had to retire from the service of the Company. He came to England in the spring of 1893 in a very weak state of health. Rest and change partially restored him, and hopes were entertained of his ultimate recovery; but an attack of influenza, which supervened, was more than his enfeebled system could stand, and he died at Penzance on the 5th of April, 1894.
Mr. Forrest was energetic and capable as an engineer, and had great control of the men under his charge. He was an excellent Spanish scholar, and was possessed of considerable tact.
He was elected an Associate Member on the 1st of April, 1890.