Herbert Edgell Hunt (1847-1896)
1847 Born son of George Lewis Hunt (1817-1848), surveyor, and his wife Ann[1]
1896 Obituary [2]
HERBERT EDGELL HUNT, born on the 25th of November, 1847, was the son of Mr. George Lewis Hunt, of Westminster.
After passing through the Applied Sciences Department of King's College, London, he was from 1866 to 1870 with Mr. James B. Walton, under whom he made surveys for the Ashby and Nuneaton Railway, the Romiley, Stockport and Manchester Railway, and several smaller lines for the London and North Western and Midland Companies.
He then served for two years under Mr. William Clarke on the Whitchurch and Tattenhall Railway in Shropshire and on the Bristol and North Somerset Railway.
In May, 1872, Mr. Hunt was appointed a District Engineer, under Mr. William Lloyd, on the exploration surveys of a line across the empire of Brazil from the Atlantic Ocean to the borders of Bolivia, called the Parana and Matto Grosso Railway. He carried out about 170 miles of railway surveys and 400 miles of river surveys through dense primeval forests, a work of great hardship and privation, besides the risk to health involved in sleeping for two years under canvas in a tropical climate. He also rendered great service in the final arrangement of the plans for the Brazilian Government.
The Parana and Matto Grosso line not being carried out, Mr. Hunt devoted himself to the further development of the railway system in Brazil. He was entrusted by Dr. Magalhaes, the concessionaire of the Minas and Rio Railway, with the surveys and final location of that line.
Shortly afterwards, in 1880, this railway fell into the hands of Messrs. Waring Brothers, through Mr. Hunt. In conjunction with that firm he formed the present Minas and Rio Railway Company, raised the capital for the construction of the works, carried them out and finally opened the line for public traffic on the 14th of June, 1884. While conducting those works, Mr. Hunt - for himself and Messrs. Waring - undertook for the Government of Brazil the opening up of a portion of the Province of Espirito Santo, by surveying a very rough country from the Port of Victoria to Natividade, both in that Province, for the purpose of railway construction.
After the completion of the Minas and Rio Railway, Mr. Hunt returned to England and took no further active part in the profession.
He died on the 7th of March, 1896, at Monte Carlo, within a few days of the death of his friend, Mr. Douglas Austhwaite Stanley, in tending whom he was himself attacked by fatal illness. The two inseparable friends lie in rock-hewn tombs side by side in the cemetery of Monte Carlo.
Mr. Hunt was elected an Associate on the 2nd of March, 1875, and was subsequently placed in the class of Associate Member.