Allan Quartermaine
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Sir Allan Quartermaine | |
|---|---|
| Born | 9 November 1888 London, England |
| Died | 17 October 1978 (aged 89) |
| Education | Highgate School, University College London |
| Engineering career | |
| Discipline | Civil |
| Institutions | Institution of Civil Engineers (president) |
Sir Allan Stephen Quartermaine, CBE, MC (9 November 1888 – 17 October 1978) was a British civil engineer.[1] He started his career in the Hertfordshire county surveyor's office and served in the Royal Engineers during the First World War, constructing railways in the Middle East and being awarded the Military Cross. After the war he continued to work for local authorities before joining the Great Western Railway (GWR), where he became chief engineer by 1940. During the Second World War he served as Director-General of Aircraft Production Factories before returning to the GWR to construct military railway facilities. After the war he refused a position on the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission as he disagreed with nationalisation of the railways. Despite this he transferred to become chief engineer of the Western Region of British Railways in 1948 and later served as an adviser to British Rail on modernisation. Quartermaine served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers for 1951–52 and was knighted in 1956.
Allan Stephen Quartermaine was born in London on 9 November 1888 and, after attending Highgate School,[2] was awarded a first class honours Bachelor of Science degree in engineering at University College London, where he was a Chadwick Scholar and later a Fellow (appointed 1938).[2][3] He started his engineering career in the office of the Hertfordshire county surveyor in 1908.[4][5]
Quartermaine served as a commissioned officer in the Royal Engineers during the First World War and worked to develop railway facilities for the troops in Egypt and Palestine.[6] It was while carrying out this work that he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry on 3 June 1918, at which point he was serving as a temporary captain.[7] Quartermaine was promoted to acting major on 24 May 1919, a rank he relinquished on 15 June 1919.[8][9]
After the war Quartermaine returned to the Hertfordshire County Council Surveyor’s Department and later worked for Teesside's Bridge and Engineering Department. Afterwards he joined the staff of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and rose to become assistant chief engineer.[10] He was appointed the GWR's chief assistant engineer at Gloucester in 1920.[11] He worked on a large number of tunnels, bridges and viaducts for the railway and was promoted to deputy chief engineer in 1929.[12]
Throughout this time Quartermaine remained liable for recall to the British Army as he was a captain of the Royal Engineers (Transportation) in the Supplementary Reserve of Officers, being promoted to major in that unit on 19 November 1924.[13] Quartermaine resigned from the Supplementary Reserve on 1 January 1926, transferring immediately to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers while retaining his rank and association with the Royal Engineers.[14][15] He reached the age limit (50) for recall to the British Army on 9 November 1938 and as of that date ceased to be a member of the reserves.[16]