Charles Edward Mason
Charles Edward Mason (1879-1944)
1945 Obituary [1]
CHARLES EDWARD MASON was born at Malmesbury on the 19th February, 1879, and died in Johannesburg on the 4th March, 1944, survived by two daughters. After serving an apprenticeship with a firm of mechanical engineers in London, he went to South Africa at the time of the Boer War.
In 1905 he joined the staff of the Rand Water Board as Electrical Engineer, and in 1908 was appointed Superintendent of the Board's pumping station at Zwartkopjes. In 1912 he was appointed Chief Mechanical and Electrical Assistant, in which capacity he was responsible to the Chief Engineer, the late W. Ingham, M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., for the electrical and mechanical plant installed for the original Vaal River Scheme, designed at that time for the supply of 20 million gallons per day to the Witwatersrand. This scheme consisted of a barrage across the Vaal River, an intake station and main pumping station and the necessary purification works at Vereeniging, additional pumping plant at Zwartkopjes pumping station, and interconnecting pipelines between Vereeniging, Zwartkopjes and the Witwatersrand. During the War of 1914-18 he held commissioned rank in a Water Supply Company in East Africa, and later saw service with the Royal Engineers in France. In 1924 he was appointed Chief Engineer to the Board, but was obliged to retire in 1931 owing to ill-health. During his period of service, the average daily consumption from the Board's water supply undertaking increased from 2-3 million gallons to 17 million gallons.
He joined The Institution as a Member in 1919. He was a Past-President of the South African Institution of Engineers.