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OBITUARY

SIR RICHARD STRACHEY

LONDON, February 13

(VnTdl Si' 1 Richaid Strachey, the cmirtnt Inch.'ii aaininistratoi, i& dead. He vi as vi his ii.net\-lirot ve;u.

L-e'i*-o"a-it-gencral Sir Richard fitrachoy, II .E . t! C 5.1.. F R S., LL D.. third son of Edwaid Strachoy, BS C, and Ji'ha. daughter of Major-general Kirkj-atrick, Indian army, was born on July 24, 1317, at Button Court, Somersetshire. He v*is educated at a private school and at Addiscombe, and in 1?36 entered the cc rr-s of Bombay Engineers, from v. hieh he vji shortly transferred to the Bengal Engineers. He was employed on irrigation works in the N.W Punjaub from IP4O, and appointed executive engineer on the Ganges Canal in 1843. He served :n the Sutlej campaign with Sir Harry SmuVs division ; was in the battJes of Ahvv.il and Sobraon, was mentioned in despatches, and received a brevet majority. In 1357 he became Under-seeretary to the Government in the Public Works Department ; and in the same year was appointed Secretary to the Government of the Central Provinces, which, during the Mutiny, were placed under Sir John Peter Grant as LieutenantGbvernor. He became consulting engineer in the Railway Department in 1858; Serieta.ry to the Government of India in the Public Works Department in 1862; and Inspector-general of Irrigation in 1866. He ■was appointed additional member cf the Governor-General's Council in 1869. He took an active part an the organisation of the Public Works Department and improvement of the system of accounts, as 3vell as in the formation of the Meteorological and Forest Departments, and originated the scheme for the decentralisation of the finances of India He also ciiginated the measures taken by the Government for carrying out railway and irrigation works on a large scale by means of borrowed capital. On leaving India, in 1871, ho was appointed Inspector-general of Railway Materials and Stores at the India Office. In 1875 he retired from Ihe army on full pay as a lieutenant-general ; and in the same year was appointed a member of the Council of India; which post he vacated in 1877, in order to pioceed to India on special duty — viz., to .arrange for the purcha.se by the Government of the East India_n railway. He was chairman of this railway and of the Assam Bengal Railway Company. He became officiating financial member cf the Council of the Governor-General in IF7B, and officiating military member thereof in 1879; he also presided over the Famine Commission which was then formed. On his return to England, in 1879, he was reappointed to the Council of India, from which post he retired in 1889. and became chairman of the East Indian Railway Company. He was appointed Grand Ccmmander of the Star of India, in 1897, and was in receipt of a good-service pension. In 1892 he was sent as a representative of the Indian Government to the Monetary Conference at Brussels, and became a member of the committee under Lord Herschel to report on tho currency of India. Lieutenant-general Strachey was employed on a scientific survey of the Himalayan province of Kumaon in 1848 and 1849, and made valuable geological and botanical researches and collections. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1854, and received one of the royal medals in 1897. He was chairman of the Meteorological Council. He was president of the Royal Geographical Society from 1887 to 1889, and was an honorary member of tho Geographical Societies of Berlin and Italy. He was appointed one of the delegates of Great Britain at ■ the International Prime Meridian Conference which was held at Washington in 1884. In 1892 he received the honorary degree of LL.D. at Cambridge. He has contributed papers to various scientific societies, and is the author of '"Lectures on Geography," aid, jointly with Sir John Stracnev, of " The Finances and Public Works of India." He married, in 1859, Jane, daughter of Sir John Peter Grant, G.C.M.G., K.C.B , of Rothiemurchus, Scotland.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19080219.2.136

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 31

Word count
Tapeke kupu
658

OBITUARY Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 31

OBITUARY Otago Witness, Issue 2814, 19 February 1908, Page 31

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