James Henry L'Estrange Johnstone
James Henry L'Estrange Johnstone (1865-1906)
1906 Obituary [1]
Major JAMES HENRY L'ESTRANOE JOHNSTONE, M.V.O., R.E., was born at Alva, Clackmannanshire, on 8th August 1865.
He was educated at Eton College and at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
On leaving the latter place in 1884, he obtained a commission in the Royal Engineers, and went to the School of Military Engineering at Chatham. This was followed by a two-years' course as a military pupil at the Elswick Works of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell and Co., on the conclusion of which he was appointed as assistant engineer, first grade, in the Military Works Department of India.
In this capacity he was stationed at Aden erecting pontoon sheers for landing heavy guns. In 1890 He became inspecting officer of Royal Engineering machinery at Malta, and in 1892 was temporarily employed in the Egyptian Works Department, in connection with the preservation of the temple of Abu Simbel.
He returned to England in 1895, on being appointed by the War Office as inspector of iron structures and railways. This position was held until 1899, when he became President of the Egyptian Railway Administration.
In 1902 he was made a Member of the Royal Victorian Order, and in the following year a Grand Officer of the Imperial Ottoman Order of Osmanieh; he was also a Justice of the Peace for Selkirkshire and Clackmannanshire.
His death took place suddenly in London, on 27th September 1906, at the age of forty-one.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1895.