Egbert Barry Cornwall Hambley (2 May 1862 – 13 August 1906) was a Cornish-born mining engineer and power company executive, who worked for much of his career in North Carolina.

Early life and education

Egbert Hambley was born in

Penzance, Cornwall Penzance ( ; kw, Pennsans) is a town, civil parish and port in the Penwith district of Cornwall, United Kingdom. It is the most westerly major town in Cornwall and is about west-southwest of Plymouth and west-southwest of London. Situated ...

, the son of James Hambley (a civil engineer) and Ellen Read Hambley. He was educated at Trevath House School and the

Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...

.Brent D. Glass
"Egbert Barry Cornwall Hambley"
in William S. Powell, ed., ''Dictionary of North Carolina Biography'' (University of North Carolina Press 1988).

Career

Hambley spent three years as a young man helping to run the Gold Hill gold mines in

Rowan County, North Carolina Rowan County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of North Carolina that was formed in 1753, as part of the British Province of North Carolina. It was originally a vast territory with unlimited western boundaries, but its size w ...

, 1881–1884. After that job, he changed engineering firms, working for John Taylor & Sons at mines around the world, from Mexico to South Africa, from India to Norway. In 1887, he was back in North Carolina, as a consulting engineer, working for British interests in the state. He was managing director of the Sam Christian Hydraulic Company, and founded the Salisbury Gas and Electric Light Company. He partnered with George I. Whitney of Pittsburgh to form the Whitney Reduction Company, which had projects in several American states; the centrepiece of their efforts was a planned hydroelectric plant on the

Yadkin River The Yadkin River is one of the longest rivers in North Carolina, flowing . It rises in the northwestern portion of the state near the Blue Ridge Parkway's Thunder Hill Overlook. Several parts of the river are impounded by dams for water, po ...

, with a model town called "Whitney." Hambley's sudden death and construction delays meant the project was abandoned and the Whitney Reduction Company was dissolved by 1910. Their Yadkin dam project was taken over by a predecessor of Alcoa Power Generating Inc. and completed by

Alcoa Alcoa Corporation (an acronym for Aluminum Company of America) is a Pittsburgh-based industrial corporation. It is the world's eighth-largest producer of aluminum. Alcoa conducts operations in 10 countries. Alcoa is a major producer of primary ...

some years later at nearby

Badin, North Carolina Badin is a town located in Stanly County, North Carolina, United States. At the 2010 census, the town had a total population of 1,974. History The Badin Historic District, Doerschuk Site, Hardaway Site, Narrows Dam and Power Plant Complex, and We ...

. Hambley also owned several

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

quarries in North Carolina, which he hoped to develop into a large-scale commercial venture. He was elected a Fellow of the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in 1890.

Personal life

Egbert Hambley married Lottie Clark Coleman, from a prominent North Carolina family, in 1887. They lived on a farm, where Egbert Hambley raised prize

Jersey cows The Jersey is a British breed of small dairy cattle from Jersey, in the British Channel Islands. It is one of three Channel Island cattle breeds, the others being the Alderney – now extinct – and the Guernsey. It is highly productive – co ...

as a side interest. After 1903 they lived in an "unusually handsome" large

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

Salisbury, North Carolina Salisbury is a city in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, United States; it has been the county seat of Rowan County since 1753 when its territory extended to the Mississippi River. Located northeast of Charlotte and within its metropolita ...

, and had five children together before Egbert Hambley died suddenly from typhoid in 1906, aged 44 years. His death was pronounced "a grief to the whole South," by the ''Charlotte Observer'', "for which section he was doing more than any living man." A small collection of his papers is archived in the library at

Pfeiffer University Pfeiffer University is a private university in Misenheimer, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. History Pfeiffer originated from a home school operated by Miss Emily Prudden in the late 19th century. The schoo ...

.Guide to The E.B.C. Hambley Papers 1877 – 1977
Collection Number Mss 19988, G.A. Pfeiffer Library, Pfeiffer University.

References

External links

Egbert Barry Cornwall Hambley (1862–1906)
at Find a Grave. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hambley, Egbert 1862 births 1906 deaths People from Penzance English mining engineers American people of Cornish descent British emigrants to the United States 19th-century English businesspeople