Edward Barber Humble
Edward Barber Humble (1841-1873)
1875 Obituary [1]
MR. EDWARD BARBER HUMBLE began his apprenticeship to the engineering profession on the 2nd of August, 1841, when he entered the locomotive works of the Stockton and Darlington railway at Shildon, under the late Mr. John Dixon, M. Inst. C.E. During the last three years of his pupilage, which continued till 1847, he was Assistant Locomotive Superintendent.
He had determined to seek his fortunes in India, a country then beginning to attract attention as a promising field for engineers, of whom it wanted large numbers for the development of the railway system.
Pending an advantageous offer, young Humble was for two or three years employed at various mechanical engineering establishments in the north of England, where he laid in a store of’ knowledge that afterwards stood him in good stead.
In 1852 he proceeded to India for Messrs. Hunt, Bray and Emsley, contractors on the East Indian railway, and remained with them until 1857, when he was appointed Engineer to the Bengal Coal Company.
This company meeting with but indifferent success, Mr. Humble, at the end of 1858, was appointed to the Engineering staff of the East Indian railway, and continued in the service of that company until his death, which occurred, from cholera, on the 12th of September, 1873.
He was elected an Associate of the Institution of Civil Engineers on the 6th of February, 1866.