Colonel Sir Colin Scott-Moncrieff | |
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| Born | (1836-08-03)3 August 1836 |
| Died | 6 April 1916(1916-04-06) (aged 79) |
| Allegiance |  British Empire |
| Branch |  British Army |
| Rank | Colonel |
| Unit | Corps of Royal Engineers |
ColonelSir Colin Campbell Scott-MoncrieffKCSI KCMG (3 August 1836 – 6 April 1916) was a British engineer, soldier and civil servant, best known for repairing theNile Barrage and reorganizing the irrigation system ofEgypt in the 1880s.[1]
Scott-Moncrieff was born in 1836, the son ofRobert Scott Moncrieff. After training at theEast India Company's establishment inAddiscombe, he was commissioned into theBengal Engineers, party of the Company's private army which was soon integrated into the British army.
He arrived inIndia in 1858, and was involved in clearing-up operations after theIndian Rebellion of 1857, but was soon employed in the Indian irrigation system, becoming Chief Engineer of the Jumna Canal, then Superintending Engineer of theGanges Canal from 1869–77, and Chief Engineer ofBurma until 1883. He was appointed a Companion of theOrder of the Star of India in 1878.[2]
Retiring with the honorary rank of Colonel,[3] on his way home he was summoned to Cairo to meetLord Dufferin who offered him "the keys of the Nile" – the position of Director of Irrigation for Egypt, then still nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, but in practice controlled by the British.
His first priority was theNile Barrage, designed to retain water to irrigate the Delta, which had been built at great expense between 1843 and 1862 but soon abandoned when cracks appeared in its structure. Scott Moncrieff arranged for a trial closing of the gates allowing a limited operation, while carefully monitoring the cracks. The results were so successful in terms of improved agricultural yield that he was able to ask for, and get, a million pounds for a complete repair and strengthening of the Barrage, which was carried out between 1885 and 90. Over a period of nine years he reorganised the whole irrigation system and "was so successful in improving the whole irrigation system that Egypt, from being a bankrupt country, became comparatively flourishing".[4] For his work in Egypt he was appointed KCMG.[5]
Scott-Moncrieff returned to Britain in 1892 and served asUnder-Secretary for Scotland from 1892 to 1902.
From 1901 to 1903, at the invitation ofLord Curzon, the Viceroy, Scott-Moncrieff served as President of a Commission to investigate and report on the prospects for further developing the Indian irrigation system.[6] For this work he was promoted to a Knight Commander of the Order of the Star of India (KCSI) in the1903 Durbar Honours.[7][8]
His great-nephew wasC.K. Scott-Moncrieff, the famed first translator into English ofProust'sRemembrance of Things Past.[9]
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