Edward Banfield (

Ilfracombe Ilfracombe ( ) is a seaside resort and civil parish on the North Devon coast, England, with a small harbour surrounded by cliffs. The parish stretches along the coast from the 'Coastguard Cottages' in Hele Bay toward the east and along t ...

, North Devon, 9 February 1837 – London, 6 July 1872) was an English

railroad engineer A train driver, engine driver, engineman or locomotive driver, commonly known as an engineer or railroad engineer in the United States and Canada, and also as a locomotive handler, locomotive operator, train operator, or motorman, is a pers ...

who drove the first locomotive (''La Porteña'') through

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, in 1857 as part of the

Buenos Aires Western Railway The Buenos Aires Western Railway (BAWR) (in Spanish: Ferrocarril Oeste de Buenos Aires), inaugurated in the city of Buenos Aires on 29 August 1857, was the first railway built in Argentina and the start of the extensive rail network which was ...

. He was the first General Manager of the British-owned

Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway The Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway (BAGS) ( es, Ferrocarril del Sud) was one of the ''Big Four'' broad gauge, , British-owned companies that built and operated railway networks in Argentina. The company was founded by Edward Lumb in 1862 ...

between 1865 and 1872, founded in Argentina by Edward Lund in 1862. Banfield died in 1872, and the Southern Railway named the actual train station in his honour in 1873. The town of Banfield in Buenos Aires Province, which grew up till becoming a city, inherited that name. The professional Argentine football club

Club Atlético Banfield Club Atlético Banfield is an Argentine sports club based in the Banfield district of Greater Buenos Aires. It was founded on 21 January 1896, by the British–origin inhabitants of that city (mostly English, and some Scots and Irish). The club ...

with headquarters there, also carries his name. In 1872, he felt ill, and ended as General Manager, returning to London with his wife Elizabeth, and their daughter also named Elizabeth, born in 1871 in Argentina. He died in London that same year and his daughter on 5 February 1874, age 2. Both are buried in Cornwall, according to a tombstone mentioned en Cornish-L Archives in Ancestry.com

References

*H.R.Stones, ''British Railways in Argentina 1860-1948'', P.E.Waters & Associates, Bromley, London, England, 1993. 1837 births 1872 deaths Argentine businesspeople Argentine people in rail transport Argentine engineers English emigrants to Argentina Place of birth missing 19th-century English businesspeople {{Argentina-business-bio-stub

See also

References