Sir Frederick St John Gebbie CIE (7 August 1871 – 20 March 1939) was a British

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

in India. Gebbie was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School, the University of Edinburgh and the

Royal Indian Engineering College The Royal Indian Engineering College (or RIEC) was a British college of Civil Engineering run by the India Office to train civil engineers for service in the Indian Public Works Department. It was located on the Cooper's Hill estate, near Egha ...

. He joined the

Bombay Presidency The Bombay Presidency or Bombay Province, also called Bombay and Sind (1843–1936), was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India, with its capital in the city that came up over the seven islands of Bombay. The first mainl ...

Public Works Department as an Assistant Engineer in 1893, was promoted to Executive Engineer in 1899, Superintending Engineer in 1911, and Chief Engineer in 1915, and became Secretary of the Department in 1916. He worked for many years in Sind and was one of the main proponents of the Lloyd Barrage at Sukkur, which was constructed to fertilise the region. In 1920, Gebbie was sent to Egypt to chair the Nile Projects Commission, examining River Nile irrigation. In 1921 he was appointed Inspector-General of Irrigation of the Government of India, and was instrumental in the construction of defences to prevent the town of Dera Ismail Dun being flooded by the

Indus The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayan river of South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in Western Tibet, flows northwest through the disputed region of Kashmir, ...

. His post was abolished in 1923 and he was appointed Consulting Engineer to the Government of India. He retired in 1926. Gebbie was appointed Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the

1920 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1920 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 1 January 1920 and 30 March 1920 (referred to as the 1920 civil ...

and was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1925.

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, '' The Times'', 21 March 1939 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gebbie, Frederick 1871 births 1939 deaths People from Buenos Aires Alumni of the Royal Indian Engineering College Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British civil engineers Indian civil engineers Indian Engineering Service officers Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire People educated at Edinburgh Collegiate School British expatriates in Argentina British people in colonial India Engineers in British India