Henry Edward Stilgoe
Henry Edward Stilgoe (1867-1943)
C. E. for Dover.
1895-1906 Borough and Water Engr. of Dover
City engineer and Surveyor for Birmingham
1919 Appointed Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Water Board
1931 Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Water Board
1943 Obituary [1]
HENRY EDWARD STILGOE, C.B.E., was born on the 4th March 1867, and died on the 12th March 1943.
He was educated at Christ’s College, Finchley, and received his engineering training at the Crystal Palace School of Engineering, and under articles to Messrs. Kirk and Parry, public works contractors, for whom he acted as assistant engineer on the construction of the Barking and Pitsea Railway extension.
From 1887 to 1893 he was assistant to the Surveyor of the Lewisham District Board of Works, and from 1893 to 1895 engineer and surveyor to the Sandgate Local Board, Kent. During the two years at Sandgate he carried out considerable works of reconstruction of houses, sewers, and water mains necessitated by a serious landslip and rebuilt the old sea wall, which has since withstood the severest gales. The quality of his plans and the success of his works led to his obtaining, in 1928, the relatively important position of Borough Engineer, Surveyor, and Water Engineer of the neighbouring town of Dover and gave him the decided step forward which enabled him to qualify himself for his subsequent career.
In 1906 he was appointed City Engineer of Birmingham and was responsible for the preparation of large town-planning schemes, including the first town-planning scheme in England, and for an arterial road system including 52 miles of thoroughfares 120 feet wide with independent tramway tracks laid on sleepers.
During the war of 1914-1918, his offer to serve in other fields having been declined, he added to his heavy duties in Birmingham various special works and the design of a military camp, and served upon the War Office Road Stone Control Committee.
In 1919 he obtained the position of Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Water Board, where one of his first duties was to prepare a report on the future water-supplies of London, the proposals made in which were embodied in the Act obtained by the Board in 1921 authorizing a number of important extension works, including the Queen Mary reservoir and intake, trunk mains, filtration plant, and pumping-machinery. He was a pioneer in rapid filtration, which he introduced at Barn Elms in 1919....[more]