Railway bridge built by Guybon Atherstone

Guybon Damant Atherstone M. Inst. C.E. AKC (1843 - 1912), South African railway engineer.

Education

Atherstone was the son of

William Guybon Atherstone William Guybon Atherstone (1814–1898) was a medical practitioner, naturalist and geologist, one of the pioneers of South African geology and a member of the Cape Parliament. Life He arrived in South Africa with his parents as 1820 Settler ...

(medical practitioner, naturalist, geologist and MP) and was born in Grahamstown on 20 June 1843, he attended St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown and

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

where he qualified as a civil engineer.

Railway engineering

Atherstone was employed at the Cape Government Railways as an engineer from 1873 to 1896 during which he built the railway line between Alicedale and

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

. The house in which he lived during the construction is adjacent to a stone arch railway bridge which he built. On completion of the railway project Atherstone's house was converted into an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church, St. Cyprians Anglican Church, which was dedicated on 29 November 1893. This church is part of the

Diocese of Grahamstown The Diocese of Grahamstown is a diocese of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It is centred on the historic city of Makhanda in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The diocese extends to East London, in the east and Port Alfred to the ...

and is located at . Atherstone is also remembered in the naming of the Atherstone railway siding on that line, the siding is located at .

Notes and references

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Atherstone, Guybon Damant 1843 births 1912 deaths Alumni of St. Andrew's College, Grahamstown Alumni of King's College London Associates of King's College London 19th-century South African engineers South African civil engineers Railway civil engineers People from Makhanda, Eastern Cape

Education

Railway engineering

See also

Notes and references