Frederick Slessor

Frederick George Slessor (1831–1905) was a British railway engineer who worked in England, India, South Africa, and continental Europe.

Frederick George Slessor

M. Inst. C.E. ACK
Born1831
Sidmouth, Devon, England
Died(1905-10-15)15 October 1905
Somerset, England
OccupationEngineer
Known forDesigning and building railways

Early life

Slessor was born in 1831 in Sidmouth, Devon, England to Major General John Henry Slessor. He attended the Sherborne School[1] and later trained as civil engineer as a pupil of M. W. Peniston M. Inst. C.E..

Career

In December 1874, following nomination by Sir Charles Hutton Gregory, he was appointed by Cape Government Railways, first as Chief Officer of Surveys and Resident Engineer, and then as Chief Resident Engineer of the Eastern system. After 16 years' service at the Cape he retired on a pension and returned to Britain.[2][3]

Alicedale, a village in the Albany district, was named after his wife, Alice Slessor,[4] who died in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, in September 1882.[5][note 1]

Slessor died on 15 October 1905 in Somerset, England.[2]

Publications
  • Reports by Mr. Slessor, Chief Resident Engineer and Mr. Tilney, Locomotive Superintendent of the East London and Queens's Town Railway, of Trials of Coal from the Indwe and Molteno Mines. South Africa: Cape of Good Hope. 1880.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link) with J D Tilney
  • Report of His Recent Examination of the Country to be Traversed by a Junction Line Between the Midland and Eastern Railways. Cape of Good Hope (South Africa): Richards. 1886.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Notes
  1. Some sources, including Raper, state incorrectly that Alice Slessor's maiden name was Dale. The record of their marriage at St John's Church in the Parish of Paddington on 10 September 1867[6] clearly indicates that Alice's name was Malton and that she was a spinster at the time of her marriage.[7]

References
  1. Sherborne Register 1842, p. 41.
  2. "Minutes of the proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers: volume 168, issue 1907, pp. 354–355: Obituary, Frederick George Slessor, 1831-1905". ICE virtual library. Institution of Civil Engineers. 2015. ISSN 1753-7843. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
  3. "Cultural & Historical interest". Archived from the original on 26 September 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  4. Raper 1989, p. 56.
  5. Queenstown Free Press & 21 September 1882.
  6. Marriage Registers 1867.
  7. "Marriages". Exeter and Plymouth Gazette. 20 September 1867. p. 5 col F. Retrieved 27 September 2014 – via British Newspaper Archive.

See also

Guybon Atherstone

South African locomotive history

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