British Columbia The elite
Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, was chosen by
Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Secretary of State for the Colonies, to transform the new
Colony of British Columbia (1858–66) into the British Empire's 'bulwark in the farthest west' and to 'found a second England on the shores of the Pacific'. It was commanded by Colonel
Richard Clement Moody, who was responsible for the foundation and settlement of
British Columbia as the
Colony of British Columbia. Richard Clement Moody was the son of
Colonel Thomas Moody ADC Kt., who was the Commander of the Royal Engineers in the
West Indies, The Columbia Detachment included several other officers who subsequently attained distinction, including
John Marshall Grant and
Henry Spencer Palmer.
Royal Albert Hall , designed by
Captain Francis Fowke RE The
Royal Albert Hall was designed by
Captain Francis Fowke and
Major-General Henry Y. D. Scott of the Royal Engineers and built by
Lucas Brothers. The designers were heavily influenced by ancient
amphitheatres, but had also been exposed to the ideas of
Gottfried Semper while he was working at the
Victoria and Albert Museum.
Indian infrastructure Much of the British colonial era infrastructure of India, of which elements survive today, was created by engineers of the three presidencies' armies and the Royal Engineers. Lieutenant (later General Sir)
Arthur Thomas Cotton (1803–99),
Madras Engineers, was responsible for the design and construction of the great irrigation works on the
river Cauvery, which watered the rice crops of
Tanjore and
Trichinopoly districts in the late 1820s. In 1838, he designed and built sea defences for
Vizagapatam. He masterminded the
Godavery Delta project where of land were irrigated and of land to the port of
Cocanada was made navigable in the 1840s. Such regard for his lasting legacy was shown when in 1983, the Indian Government erected a statue in his memory at
Dowleswaram.
Rideau Canal The construction of the
Rideau Canal was proposed shortly after the
War of 1812, when there remained a persistent threat of attack by the United States on the British colony of
Upper Canada. The initial purpose of the Rideau Canal was military, as it was intended to provide a secure supply and communications route between
Montreal and the British naval base in
Kingston, Ontario. Westward from Montreal, travel would proceed along the
Ottawa River to
Bytown (now
Ottawa), then southwest via the canal to Kingston and out into
Lake Ontario. The objective was to bypass the stretch of the
St. Lawrence River bordering
New York State, a route which would have left British supply ships vulnerable to attack or a blockade of the St. Lawrence. Construction of the canal was supervised by Lieutenant-Colonel
John By of the Royal Engineers. Directed by him, Lieutenant
William Denison, determined the strength for construction purposes of old growth timber in the vicinity of Bytown, findings commended by the
Institution of Civil Engineers in England.
Dover's Western Heights in Dover The
Western Heights of Dover are one of the most impressive fortifications in Britain. They comprise a series of forts, strong points and ditches, designed to protect the United Kingdom from invasion. They were created to augment the existing defences and protect the key port of Dover from both seaward and landward attack. First given
earthworks in 1779 against the
planned invasion that year, the high ground west of
Dover, England, now called Dover Western Heights, was properly fortified in 1804 when Lieutenant-Colonel
William Twiss was instructed to modernise the existing defences. This was part of a huge
programme of fortification in response to
Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom. To assist with the movement of troops between
Dover Castle and the town defences Twiss made his case for building the Grand Shaft in the cliff: "... the new barracks. ... are little more than 300 yards horizontally from the beach. ... and about above high-water mark, but in order to communicate with them from the centre of town, on horseback the distance is nearly a mile and a half and to walk it about three-quarters of a mile, and all the roads unavoidably pass over ground more than above the barracks, besides the footpaths are so steep and chalky that a number of accidents will unavoidably happen during the wet weather and more especially after floods. I am therefore induced to recommend the construction of a shaft, with a triple staircase ... the chief objective of which is the convenience and safety of troops ... and may eventually be useful in sending reinforcements to troops or in affording them a secure retreat." Twiss's plan was approved and building went ahead. The shaft was to be in diameter, deep with a gallery connecting the bottom of the shaft to Snargate Street, and all for under an estimated £4000. The plan entailed building two brick-lined shafts, one inside the other. In the outer would be built a triple staircase, the inner acting as a light well with "windows" cut in its outer wall to illuminate the staircases. Apparently, by March 1805 only of the connecting gallery was left to dig and it is probable that the project was completed by 1807.
Boundary Commissions Although mapping by what became the
Ordnance Survey was born out of military necessity it was soon realised that accurate maps could be also used for civil purposes. The lessons learnt from this first boundary commission were put to good use around the world where members of the Corps have determined boundaries on behalf of the British as well as foreign governments; some notable boundary commissions include: • 1839 – Canada-United States • 1858 – Canada-United States (Captain (later General Sir) John Hawkins RE) • 1856 and 1857 – Russo-Turkish (Lieutenant Colonel (later Sir)
Edward Stanton RE) • 1857 – Russo-Turkish (Colonel (later Field Marshal Sir)
Lintorn Simmons RE) • 1878 – Bulgarian • 1880 – Græco-Turkish (Major (later Major General Sir) John Ardagh RE) • 1884 – Russo-Afghan (Captain (later Colonel Sir)
Thomas Holdich RE) • 1894 – India-Afghanistan (Captain (later Colonel Sir) Thomas Holdich RE) • 1902 – Chile-Argentine (Colonel Sir Delme Radcliffe RE) • 1911 – Peru-Bolivia (Major A. J. Woodroffe RE) Much of this work continues to this day. The reform of the voting franchise brought about by the
Reform Act (1832), demanded that boundary commissions were set up. Lieutenants Dawson and
Thomas Drummond (1797–1839), Royal Engineers, were employed to gather the statistical information upon which the Bill was founded, as well as determining the boundaries and districts of boroughs. It was said that the fate of numerous boroughs fell victim to the
heliostat and the Drummond light, the instrument that Drummond invented whilst surveying in Ireland.
Abney Level An
Abney level is an instrument used in
surveying which consists of a fixed sighting tube, a movable spirit level that is connected to a pointing arm, and a protractor scale. The Abney level is an easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and when used correctly an accurate surveying tool. The Abney level was invented by Sir
William de Wiveleslie Abney (1843–1920) who was a
Royal Engineer, an English astronomer and chemist best known for his pioneering of colour photography and colour vision. Abney invented this instrument under the employment of the
Royal School of Military Engineering in Chatham, England, in the 1870s.
H.M. Dockyards The first Royal Engineers officers were posted to Bermuda from 1783, primarily to aid naval hydrographers, notably including
Thomas Hurd, with surveys required for the establishment of a base for the
North America Station (which would absorb the
Newfoundland Station in 1825, becoming the
North America and Newfoundland Station, the
Jamaica Station in 1830, becoming the
North America and West Indies Station, and was finally renamed the
America and West Indies Station in 1926, having absorbed what had been the
South East Coast of America Station and the
Pacific Station) of the Royal Navy at Bermuda and to improve or construct coastal fortifications and other defence works required to secure Bermuda as a naval base. Civilian tradesmen were initially hired to complete works, but units of the Royal Sappers and Miners were subsequently posted to the
Bermuda Garrison. The Royal Navy operated from
St. George's Town at the East End of the archipelago from 1794, with
Admiralty House, Bermuda nearby at Rose Hill and then Mount Wyndham, but the Admiralty began purchasing land at the West End in 1795, which would include
Ireland Island, for a purpose-built naval yard. Construction of the
Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda was underway there by the
American War of 1812. Lieutenant-Colonel James Robertson Arnold, Royal Engineers, a son of Brigadier General
Benedict Arnold, was posted to Bermuda (which was to be designated as an
Imperial fortress) in 1816 to oversee the construction works at the dockyard. In 1873, Captain Henry Brandreth RE was appointed Director of the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, later the
Admiralty Works Department. Following this appointment many Royal Engineer officers superintended engineering works at
Royal Navy Dockyards in various parts of the world, including the Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, home base for vessels of the
North America and West Indies Station. ; Chatham Dockyard at
Chatham Dockyard, designed by Col. G. Greene RE at
Chatham Dockyard, designed and built by the Corps
Chatham, being the home of the Corps, meant that the Royal Engineers and the
Dockyard had a close relationship since Captain Brandreth's appointment. At the Chatham Dockyard, Captain
Thomas Mould RE designed the iron roof trusses for the
covered slips, 4, 5 and 6. Slip 7 was designed by Colonel Godfrey Greene RE on his move to the Corps from the Bengal Sappers & Miners. In 1886 Major Henry Pilkington RE was appointed Superintendent of Engineering at the Dockyard, moving on to Director of Engineering at the Admiralty in 1890 and Engineer-in-Chief of Naval Loan Works, where he was responsible for the extension of all major Dockyards at home and abroad. ==Trades==