OBITUARY.

SIR CHARLES AUGUSTUS HARTLEY, K.C.M.G., died in London on the 20th February, 1915, at the advanced age of 90. His life-work is commemorated in the affectionate title by which he will long be remembered on the continent of Europe-"the Father of the Danube."

Born at Hedworth, Durham, in 1825, he acquired his early practical experience on railway and mining work in Scotland and harbour work at Plymouth. In 1855 he joined the Royal Engineers, and served as a captain throughout the Crimean War.

In 1856 the European Commission of the Danube was established by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, with the mission "to designate and to cause to be executed the works necessary below the Turkish town of Isaktcha, to clear the mouths of the Danube and the neighbouring parts of the sea from the sands and other impediments which obstructed them, so as to put that part of the river and the said parts of the sea in the best possible state for navigation," and at the age of 31, Charles Hartley was appointed Engineer-inChief of the Commission. At that time the depth of the Sulina mouth was generally about 9 feet, and that of the Sulina branch 8 feet, but these depths often fell to 7 feet and under.

After surveying and preparing plans and estimates for the St. George's and Sulina mouths and branches of the Danube, Hartley presented his reports in October, 1857, and though preference was given to the St. George's mouth on principle, the Sulina mouth was selected for temporary improvement by the European Commission, for reasons of expediency, so as to give speedy relief to the navigation, by increasing the depth if possible by 2 feet. The works were started on the 21st April, 1858, and finished on the 31st July, 1861. On the 3rd September the piers were inaugurated, when the depth of the entrance channel was found to be 17 feet. This unexpected and happy result put an end to the question of opening the St. George's mouth, and the Sulina piers were afterwards consolidated and rendered permanent.

On a petition of the merchants interested and the captains frequenting the river to Her Majesty's Government, and in recognition of his eminent services and success, Charles Hartley was knighted in 1862.

The depth of the entrance channel was gradually improved to 20 feet by 1872, the improvement of the Sulina branch having been started in 1857 by the construction of river works, the depth was

increased to 13 feet by 1872, when Sir Charles was appointed Consulting Engineer. The depth of the entrance channel was 20 feet in 1893, when the size of steamers frequenting the Sulina mouth had increased to such an extent that this depth was no more sufficient. In 1893 Sir Charles proposed to increase the depth to from 23 feet to 24 feet by dredging, and 24 feet were obtained by the 11th September, 1895. This depth was maintained to 1907, the depth of the Sulina branch having been increased also to 19 feet at low water by the construction of numerous works and cuttings. Steamers of 4,000 net register tons now frequent the Sulina mouth and river Danube regularly and freely, as compared with sailing vessels of up to 400 tons, on a specially low draught, which had to complete in the open roadstead, after having been lightened over every shoal in the river, before the works were started.

In 1907, after 50 years' service, Sir Charles retired on account of his age of 82, full of honours and greatly regretted. During that period, as the result of his many improvements, the Danube regime has been transformed, its use for navigation enormously increased, and the terrible shipwrecks which gave to the Sulina mouth the name of "the grave of sailors" have practically ceased. Much of this work is described in Papers 1 contributed by Sir Charles to the Institution Proceedings. He also contributed Papers on works in the Black Sea, in the United States and Canada, and on the Suez Canal, and frequently took part in discussions at The Institution. For certain of his Papers he was awarded Telford, Watt, and Stephenson medals, and Telford and Crampton premiums. He also received the Albert Gold Medal of the Society of Arts in 1913, in recognition of his eminent public services.

In Asia, Sir Charles Hartley's advice was sought by the Indian Government in respect of the improvement of the Hugli below Calcutta and of Madras harbour, and in America he was a member of the Board appointed to report on the best means of opening the South Pass of the Mississippi to navigation. In Africa he was one of the British representatives on the Commission which was established in 1884 to consider the question of widening the Suez Canal. He also reported for the Foreign Office and for other Governments on the navigation of the Scheldt, on the improvement of the port of Odessa, the improvement of the rivers Don and Dnieper, on the port of Trieste and on the harbours of Costanza, Varna and Burgas on the Black Sea.

In 1884 he was created K.C.M.G. Subsequently he was nominated by the British Government as one of the two representatives of Great Britain on the International Technical Commission of the Suez Canal and served continuously on that Commission for 22 years. He retired in 1906, and the British Government, as a mark

1 Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. xxi, p. 277, and vol. xxxvi, p. 201; vol. x1, pp. 163 and 240, vol. cxli, p. 157. 2 H

[THE INST. C.E. VOL. CC.]

of their appreciation of his services, presented him with a valuable service of plate inscribed with the Royal Arms, and a record of their satisfaction.

In 1896 Sir Charles Hartley, in conjunction with Sir John Wolfe Barry, was appointed Consulting Engineer to advise the Government of Natal on the external and internal works of improvement then in progress and contemplated at Durban Harbour, which have proved most highly successful, rendering that harbour available for the largest class of vessels. A full account of these very important operations is contained in the Institution Proceedings.1 They held the above appointment until their resignation in 1905.

Sir Charles Hartley was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 2nd December, 1856, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 1st April, 1862. He served on the Council in 1880 and 1881 and again between 1893 and 1895.

SAMUEL BARTON WORTHINGTON was born at Stockport on the 14th December, 1820, but as the family shortly afterwards removed to Manchester he was educated at private schools in that city. His long life extended over the whole period of railway development from its earliest stages. He was fond of telling how, as a boy, he watched the first train come into Manchester on the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway on the 15th September, 1830, and again how, in March, 1838, he went, on the introduction of his relative Thomas Wicksteed (then Engineer of the East London Waterworks), to a meeting of the Society of Arts, after which the possibilities of the electric telegraph were demonstrated on Wheatstone's apparatus in a large upper room on the north side of the Strand.

In September, 1836, he was articled for 6 years to Joseph Locke, who about a year before had been appointed Engineer of the Grand Junction Railway, and who shortly afterwards removed his office from Liverpool to London. The construction of the Grand Junction Line (Warrington to Birmingham) was at this time in progress, Locke's senior pupil, Alfred Jee, being the Resident Engineer at Warrington, and other Resident Engineers between Warrington and Birmingham J. E. Errington (afterwards Locke's partner), T. H. Statham, and John Gooch. On the 1st July, 1837, young Worthington rode on the first of the two locomotives which took the directors' train from Warrington to Birmingham in readiness for the formal opening of the line for traffic on the 4th July. On the opening day he rode on the footplate of the engine drawing the directors' train from Birmingham to Liverpool with Locke, who himself drove for part of the way, attaining a speed of 45 miles per hour for a short distance.

During his pupilage he was engaged upon preliminary surveying and levelling and on working drawings for many of the early

1 Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C. E., vol. exciii, p. 1.

English and Scotch railways for which Locke was Engineer, or in regard to which he was consulted, amongst others being the Grand Junction, London and Southampton, Glasgow Paisley and Greenock, Lancaster and Preston (for which he made most of the working drawings), Manchester and Sheffield, Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton, Stone and Rugeley, and Preston and Wyre. He was also employed on the sections for the alternative routes for the line between Carlisle and Glasgow, his work being mainly done on the Nithsdale route (now the Glasgow and South Western).

In the fourth year of his pupilage he accompanied Mr. Locke to France to take part in the construction of the Paris and Rouen Railway, the law for which had been passed in the previous month. He acted as one of the resident engineer assistants to Locke's second pupil, Mr. George Neumann, the chief resident engineer, until the opening of the line on the 1st May, 1843, remaining as one of the three resident district engineers on the opened line until June, 1844, when Locke recalled him to England to be resident engineer on the construction of the southern half of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. On the opening of the line in 1846 he became Engineer to the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway Company, with charge of the line and rolling stock; in 1850 the Lancaster and Preston line was also placed under his charge, and in 1854 he was appointed Engineer to the Carlisle Joint Station Committee.

It is interesting to note, as showing the variety of work which came under the control of the engineer at that time, that the book of rules and regulations to be observed by the staff of the railway was issued by Mr. Worthington in 1850 and again (revised by him) in 1855.

In 1859, the London and North Western Company having leased the Lancaster and Carlisle, the engineering department of the former was reorganized. Mr. William Baker was appointed engineer for new and Parliamentary works, and Mr. Worthington became a London and North Western officer with charge of all lines from Carlisle to the Liverpool and Manchester line.

In November, 1862, his Division was largely extended so as to include all lines (except the Cromford and High Peak) north of Crewe station, and his headquarters were removed from Lancaster to Manchester, where he remained as Engineer of the London and North Western Northern Division (the boundaries of which were varied from time to time) until his retirement from active service for that Company in June, 1886.

For some years afterwards he practised as a consulting engineer in Manchester, while from 1887 to 1896 a great part of his time and energy was devoted to the service of the City of Manchester as a member of its Corporation, where his sound common sense and ripe experience were of the greatest service to his fellow-citizens.

He was an enthusiast for his profession and, both by tradition and experience, keen on upholding the highest standard of pro

fessional conduct, and was always an advocate, both in public and in private, of the necessity of sound scientific knowledge as a basis for the more strictly technical training of an engineer. To the last he followed with interest and approval the progressive steps taken by this Institution in this direction. He was also a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

He died at Bowdon (Cheshire) after a very short illness, on the 8th February, 1915, at the age of 94.

He was elected as a Graduate on the 23rd April, 1839,1 and to Membership on the 8th January, 1861.

PATRICK MOIR BARNETT, formerly Engineer-in-Chief of the Great North of Scotland Railway, was born at Nigg, Aberdeenshire, in 1837, and died at Aberdeen on the 6th January, 1915. Trained under Messrs. Alexander Gibb and Son, he was occupied on railways in Scotland, waterworks for Tunbridge Wells and Aberdeen, and other contracts. In 1867 he was appointed Engineer to the Great North of Scotland Railway Company, a position which he retained until his retirement in 1906, a period of nearly 40 years. During his tenure of office he designed and carried out many extensions and improvements of the system under his charge, including the Spey bridge at Garmouth, the Moray Coast and Elgin lines, the main-line doubling between Aberdeen, Keith and Culter, and other works. He was a founder and first president of the Aberdeen Engineers' Association.

Mr. Barnett was elected a Member of the Institution on the 2nd December, 1879.

RICHARD EVANS WILLOUGHBY BERRINGTON, born at Wolverhampton on the 23rd December, 1855, died there on the 24th January, 1915. He received his practical training under the late Mr. Lyons Wright, Waterworks Engineer, Wolverhampton, and in 1874 was appointed Engineer to the Chepstow Water Company, whose works he reconstructed. He relinquished this post in 1884 on being appointed Deputy Borough Engineer and Surveyor of Wolverhampton, and 2 years later he was elected to the office of Borough Engineer and Surveyor. He carried out many important municipal works, including a new system of sewerage and sewagedisposal, retiring in 1894 in order to engage in private practice which he carried on in partnership with his son and Mr. G. N. Watney until his death. He was consulted by many local authorities in connection with sanitary works.

Mr. Berrington was elected an Associate Member of the Institution on the 1st December, 1885, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 16th December, 1902.

LEWIS METZLER CLEMENT, born at Niagara, Ontario, on the 12th August, 1837, died at Haywards, California, on the 29th

1 Minutes of Proceedings Inst. C.E., vol. i, p. 54.