Casper Andersen - British Engineers and Africa, 1875–1914

EMPIRES IN PERSPECTIVE

TITLES IN THIS SERIES

1 Between Empire and Revolution: A Life of Sidney Bunting, 18731936
Allison Drew

2 A Wider Patriotism: Alfred Milner and the British Empire
J. Lee Thompson

3 Missionary Education and Empire in Late Colonial India, 18601920
Hayden J. A. Bellenoit

4 Transoceanic Radical, William Duane: National
Identity and Empire, 17601835
Nigel Little

5 Natural Science and the Origins of the British Empire
Sarah Irving

6 Empire of Political Thought: Indigenous Australians and the
Language of Colonial Government
Bruce Buchan

7 The English Empire in America, 16021658: Beyond Jamestown
L. H. Roper

8 India in the French Imagination: Peripheral Voices, 17541815
Kate Marsh

9 British Narratives of Exploration: Case Studies on the Self and Other
Frederic Regard (ed.)

10 Law and Imperialism: Criminality and Constitution in Colonial India and
Victorian England
Preeti Nijhar

11 Slaveholders in Jamaica: Colonial Society and Culture during the
Era of Abolition
Christer Petley

12 Australian Between Empires: Th e Life of Percy Spender
David Lowe

13 The Theatre of Empire: Frontier Performances in America, 17501860
Douglas S. Harvey

14 Anglo-Spanish Rivalry in Colonial South-East America, 16501725
Timothy Paul Grady

15 Royal Patronage, Power and Aesthetics in Princely India
Angma Dey Jhala
Forthcoming Titles

Baudin, Napoleon and the Exploration of Australia
Nicole Starbuck

FORTHCOMING TITLES

Baudin, Napoleon and the Exploration of Australia
Nicole Starbuck

BRITISH ENGINEERS AND AFRICA, 18751914

BY
Casper Andersen

First published 2011 by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited

Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Taylor & Francis 2011
Casper Andersen 2011

All rights reserved, including those of translation into foreign languages. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to in fringe.

BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Andersen, Casper.
British engineers and Africa, 18751914. (Empires in perspective)
1. Engineering Great Britain History 19th century. 2. Engineering Great Britain History 20th century. 3. Great Britain Colonies Africa History 19th century. 4. Great Britain Colonies Africa History 20th century. 5. Great Britain Foreign relations Africa. 6. Africa Foreign relations Great Britain.
I. Title II. Series
620.0094109034-dc22

ISBN-13: 978-1-84893-118-3 (hbk)

Typeset by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited

The research for this book has been funded by a scholarship from the Faculty of Humanities, University of Aarhus, and by a postdoctoral grant from Carlsberg Fondet (grant number 2009_01_0676). Th e project received additional funding from Knud Hojgaards Fond, Oticon-Fondet, and the Danish Research School for Philosophy, History of Ideas and History of Science. I wish to thank these funding bodies for the financial support that made it possible to conduct the research for this book.

In writing this book I have been fortunate to benefit from the help of colleagues, friends and family. There are some whom I would particularly like to mention. At the University of Aarhus my colleague, friend and former supervisor Peter C. Kjargaard has been a great support and over the years he has taught me what it takes to be a historian. I would also like to thank Mikkel Thorup for his motivating encouragement and solid advice. Henry Nielsen, whose inspiring teaching and writing first aroused what at the time seemed an unlikely interest in engineers and their history, has been a great help in sharpening my take on imperial engineers and it has been a pleasure for me to discuss this project with him. Several people in Aarhus have taken time to read, comment on and discuss draft chapters and their useful suggestions have helped me to improve the arguments substantially. In this respect I would like to thank especially Henning Hgh Laursen, Mats Fridlund, Stine Grumsen and Patrick Luke Cockburn.

Much of the research for this book has been carried out in Britain, a country whose people and history have become still more important to me. I am grateful to a number of people and institutions there. The professionalism, helpfulness and, indeed, kindness of the entire staff at Rhodes House Archive, Oxford, has made it a true pleasure to spend long days of research in that building. At Radcliffe Science Library in Oxford, where I was in the habit of requesting heavy, dusty engineering volumes undoubtedly kept in the most remote corner of the deposits, the librarians have also been very helpful. I have also benefited from the help of the staff at the library and archive of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London where Carol Morgan has guided me to valuable sources and where Mike Chrimes has shared generously of his profound knowledge of the history of the ICE and the British civil engineering profession in general. At the Egypt Exploration Society, Patricia Spencer has offered excellent assistance when I conducted research in the societys fascinating archive. I am also indebted to the people at the Department for the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds where I spent five inspiring months in the autumn of 2006. I would in particular like to thank Graeme Gooday for commenting on early, untidy papers of mine, for hosting more than one good party and, in particular, for sharing generously of his unsurpassed knowledge of Victorian engineers and their histories. Several scholars have found the time to discuss my ideas during my research stays in Britain. They include Jon Topham, Diane Drummond, Andrew Thompson, Andrew Cohen, Peter Cain, Christine Macleod, Eileen Magnello, Simon Schaffer, Malcom Dunkeld, Ian Phimister and in particular David Sunderland. Their advice pushed me in very different but always very useful directions. I owe a special word of thanks to Jan-Georg Deutsch at St Cross College in Oxford, where I spent five wonderful months as a visiting academic in the spring of 2008. Georg has been tremendously supportive of me and my work for the last six years. For his friendship and support I am very grateful. Ben Marsden and John Darwin provided critical and encouraging comments to the project and without their expert suggestions, criticism and ideas this book would have been a lot poorer. I am indebted also to Ian Kerr for recommending the manuscript to Pickering & Chatto. Two anonymous readers appointed by Pickering & Chatto assessed the book proposal and manuscript and I am grateful for their comments, which helped me improve the manuscript considerably. At Pickering & Chatto I would also like to thank the commissioning editor, Daire Carr, and the editorial manager, Julie Wilson, for their assistance during the publication process.