Edmund Scott Barber (1812-1854)
1855 Obituary [1]
MR. EDMUND SCOTT BARBER was born in the year 1812, in the county of Suffolk, where he received his education; he was afterwards placed with Mr. Dixon of Furnival's Inn, London, under whom he studied architecture, and having formed an acquaintance with the late Mr. William Brunton (M. Inst. C. E.) was received into his office, studied civil engineering under his guidance, and eventually married his eldest daughter.
He took an active part with Mr. Brunton and Mr. Giles, in the parliamentary business connected with the Great Western Railway, and was shortly afterwards engaged by Mr. Brunel upon several important surveys, and subsequently was selected as Assistant Engineer on the Taff Vale railway, from Cardiff to Merthyr.
When that work was completed, he undertook, as a Mining Engineer, the management of the mining property of many influential gentlemen in the South Welsh district, and removed his office from Newbridge, Glamorganshire, to Newport, Monmouthshire, when he soon received the appointment of Mining Engineer to Sir Charles Morgan, Bart., of Tredegar Park.
In the year 1848 he was elected Surveyor to the county of Glamorgan, and it being necessary for him to live in the district he purchased Llantrissant House, to which place he removed his family.
From his extensive local knowledge and experience, he was generally referred to and engaged in matters of importance, and frequently acted as umpire in cases of arbitration. His time being thus much occupied, in the year 1852 he received into partnership Mr. Alexander Bassett, Civil and Mineral Engineer, of Cardiff.
In the early part of the year 1853, an offer being made to him by the Directors of the Eastern Archipelago Company, to proceed to Labuan, to report upon and take charge of their important coal works in that island, on the 4th of March of the same year, he left England with a staff of assistants and foremen.
During the first year of his residence in Labuan he felt little, or no ill effects from the climate, but on the 10th of July 1854, he was seized with an attack of fever, brought on by overexertion and too great anxiety for business, under the effects of which he sunk and expired, on the 22nd of the same month, in his forty-third year, leaving in England a widow and eight children, to lament his loss.
He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers, as a Member, in the year 1843, and although, in consequence of his constant residence in the country, he was rarely able to attend the meetings, he always evinced great anxiety to promote the welfare of the Society, and was ever ready to pay attention to the members, or to those who visited South Wales with introductions. from the Secretary. He was an amiable intelligent man, with great industry and perseverance, and if his life had been spared would have taken a good position in the profession.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Institution of Civil Engineers Minutes of the Proceedings