| Barnes | John Frederick Evelyn | | | Of Petermaritzburg, Natal, and of the Victoria Club, PMB, was born in Company Kilkenny, Jan 21, 1851. He is the son of F P Barnes, CE, and of Matilda, daughter of Reverend Leo. Armstrong, of Listerlyn, Company Kilkenny, and was educated privately and at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1871, having completed his term of pupillage, as also his second or senior Freshman year in Trinity College, Dublin, he began his career as an engineer under the County Surveyor of Antrim. In 1872, and for six years subsequently, he held the post of engineer and surveyor on the Irish estates of the Duke of Abercorn, also practising privately. He engineered the Flood Protection works on the Mourne at Strabane, the Strabane Waterworks, as also large sub-soil drainage and plantation schemes under the Public Works Loans Act. The land troubles of 1877-8 caused him to turn his attention to other fields of labour, with the result that in Feb, 1880, he landed in Natal, passed the examination, and obtained the licence to practise as a Government Land Surveyor in that Colony. In 1882 Mr Barnes was appointed Bore Engineer of Durban, and held that post for six years. He carried out the Umbilo Waterworks, many town improvements, and constructed over thirty miles of Streets and footpaths. At the Natal Exhibition of 1883 he was awarded a silver medal for specialities in concrete work, and prior to his entering the service of the Natal Govt, the Corporation voted him a bonus of £500 as a token of appreciation of his services. In Jan, 1888, he received the appointment of Assistant Colonial Engineer and Surveyor-General of Natal, and throughout the six years following he held frequent appointments as Acting Colonial Engineer, with seats on the Executive and Legislative Councils of the Colony. With the first responsible Govt, of Natal, Mr Barnes was entrusted with the charge of the Public Works Department That appointment he still holds under the title of Chief Engineer Public Works Department Throughout the Boer War his department lent valuable assistance to the military co-operating with the GOC lines of communication, the RE, the RAMC, and other branches of the service. His department raised and supervised a Pioneer Corps of Artisans for the building of bridges, forts, buildings, and such like; a Native Labour Corps of 3,000 Kaffirs for unskilled work, and an Indian Ambulance Corps of 1,200 Indian coolie stretcher-hearer. For these services Mr Barnes and the staff of his department were thanked publicly, and in despatches by Lord Roberts and by General Buller, while, on the recommendation of Governor Sir Henry McCullum, General Hildyard, and the Natal Ministry, of which Colonel Sir A H Hime was Premier, he received the Order of CMG at the hands of HRH the Duke of York. In 1904 he attended the St Louis Exposition as Commissioner for Natal, as a result of which the Natal Govt, published his Notes of a Visit Paid to the World's Fair, 1904. He married, in 1879, Mary Sanbach, daughter of E E Graves. | Unknown |
