George Bastable Laffan
Architect and Civil Engineer
1881 'Mr. George Laffan, of Croydon, has been appointed borough surveyor of Bridgwater, at salary of £200.' [1]
1919 'Former Bridgwater Architect Dead.—-The death is reported of Mr. G. B Laffan, civil engineer, architect and surveyor of Pietermaritzburg, Natal, and formerly borough surveyor at Bridgwater. He was a prominent member the Pietermaritzburg Town Council. The late Mr. Laffan leaves a widow and five daughters.' [2]
G B Laffan was born in Cork, Ireland in 1849 and received his training as a civil engineer. He worked in England in London, in Croydon and in Twickenham where he married. At Croydon he designed and carried out a large portion of the town's drainage works of that town. At Twickenham he held the position of engineer to the District Council. He went to Natal in 1898 as Borough Engineer, Pietermaritzburg. He left in 1901 to enter into private practice in Pietermaritzburg in partnership with E. J. Wellman. He died at his home, Silver Oaks in Morcom Road in Pietermaritzburg, on 19th June, 1919. [3]