Charles Ernest Watson
Charles Ernest Watson (1882-1937)
1937 Obituary [1]
CHARLES ERNEST WATSON was for many years director of public works and secretary to the British Municipal Council, Shameen, China, during which time he also had supervision of the Police Department.
He was born in Hankow in 1882, and completed a five years' apprenticeship in 1903 at the Shanghai works of Messrs. S. C. Farnham and Company, Ltd., engineers and shipbuilders. After gaining further experience during two years spent at sea, he joined the Shanghai-Nanking Railway as workshop foreman. He was transferred to the Canton-Kowloon Railway in 1908, and became works manager in 1911.
In 1915 he was appointed locomotive superintendent, and in 1913 chief mechanical engineer. He was responsible for the erection of the main workshops of the company and he drove the first train from Canton to Shumchun at the official opening of the railway. Mr. Watson served on the committee appointed in connection with the Commission on Railway Technics of the Ministry of Communications, Peking, which was concerned with the standardization of materials and rolling stock for Chinese railways. His work was officially recognized in 1918, when the Ministry awarded him the Board of Communications Medal of Merit.
Mr. Watson joined Messrs. B. Christiansen and Company, of Shameen, in 1920, as manager of the engineering department, and held this position until he received his appointment with the British Municipal Council, Shameen, in 1922. He retired in 1934 and lived in Hong Kong, where his death occurred on 28th June 1937.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1919.