George Deuchars
George Deuchars (c1860-1927)
1927 Obituary[1]
"THE LATE MR. G. DEUCHARS.
A well-known figure has been removed from railway circles in India, by the death, which occurred on Thursday, April 7, at his home at Slough, of Mr. George Deuchars, at the age of 67. After eight years at the High School, Dundee, Mr. Deuchars went to Edinburgh University in 1876, for two years’ scientific training, completing his education at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers’ Hill. His practical training consisted of a year’s work with Messrs. Easton and Anderson, of Erith, and on the Thornton and Keighley Railway. Going out to India in 1882, he was appointed assistant engineer on the Nagpur Railway survey, two years later becoming assistant engineer of the Northern Bengal State Railways, where he rose to be superintendent of works, before passing on to act as assistant engineer on the Benares-Cuttack Railway survey in November, 1884.
During the next fourteen years, until September, 1898, Air. Deuchars held various posts in the services of several of the chief railways in India, and he was largely responsible for most of the constructional work of both the Mari-Attock State Railway and also the Burma Railways, as officiating engineer-in-chief and chief engineer on these respective systems. The former work entailed some very heavy rock-cutting, as well as numerous tunnels and high viaducts, while the work on the latter was chiefly on the Mandalay-Kunlon Railway. This was 177 miles in length, with mountain grades of 1 in 25, and entailed much heavy work, including several tunnels and the Goktick Viaduct. He was appointed executive engineer of the Public Works Department of India, 3rd grade, in 1894, 2nd grade in 1895, and 1st grade in May, 1899. In 1907, Mr. Deuchars became superintending engineer to the Indian Railways, and chief engineer in 1910. In 1915, he was appointed Assistant Government Director, finally succeeding Sir Henry Burt in 1919 as Director, which position he held until his retirement in 1923, when he joined the boards of the Madras and Southern Mahratta, the East Indian and the South Indian Railways. He became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the year 1902, and was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1924."