Alfred Howard Vincent Newton (13 January 1852 – 27 July 1897) was the Assistant Engineer to the Singapore Municipality from 1877 to 1896, and later Acting Deputy Executive Engineer for Waterworks of

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Early life and education

Newton was born on 13 January 1852 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as the fourth son of civil engineer William Edward Newton. He was educated at

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 won the Daniell Chemical Scholarship. After attending the school, he was articled by his father.

Career

He was employed by

Henry Young Darracott Scott Henry Young Darracott Scott RE (2 January 1822 – 16 April 1883) was an English Major-General in the Corps of Royal Engineers, best known for the construction of London's Royal Albert Hall. Early life The fourth son of Edward Scott of Plymouth, ...

to carry out experiments in connection with sewage works at

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

. He was appointed the Assistant Engineer to the Singapore Municipality in 1877. Then

Governor of the Straits Settlements The governor of the Straits Settlements was appointed by the British East India Company until 1867, when the Straits Settlements became a Crown colony. Thereafter the governor was appointed by the Colonial Office. The position existed from 1826 ...

Frederick Weld Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the sixth premier of New Zealand, and later served as Governor of Western Australia, Governor of Tasman ...

strongly supported his candidature for the post. He was made an Associate Member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

on 6 April 1880. Due to the declining health and later death of fellow municipal engineer

James MacRitchie James MacRitchie (26 September 1847 – 26 April 1895) was Municipal Engineer to the Singapore Municipal Commission from 1883 to 1895. Singapore's oldest reservoir MacRitchie Reservoir was named after him in 1922. Early life and education MacRi ...

, he had to carry on work single-handed. He erected various iron and steel bridges, water-supply buildings, public buildings and drainage and reclamation works on the island and designed bridges for private firms. He studied bridge construction and the testing of materials at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...

for six months in 1896 while on leave. In 1896, he was selected for the post of Acting Deputy Executive Engineer for Waterworks of

, after which he was succeeded by Samuel Tomlinson, who was previously the Water Engineer of Bombay. He sailed for Bombay on 25 August. He was made a full member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on 2 March 1897.

Personal life and death

Newton was married to Elizabeth Newton. They had four children. His eldest daughter, Maude, married William Joseph Mayson on 1 November 1906. It was suggested that the strain of handling the work meant for both him and MacRitchie following the latter's decline in health caused Newton's own health to deteriorate. Newton died from

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

on 27 July 1897 after having developed symptoms of cholera the day prior.

Legacy

Newton Circus, originally known as Syed Ali Road, was renamed after Newton to avoid confusion with Syed Alwi Road.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Newton, Howard 1852 births 1897 deaths Singaporean engineers Engineers from London Alumni of King's College London English civil engineers