Sir Leopold Halliday Savile, KCB (31 August 1870 – 28 January 1953) was a Scottish

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 ...

. Savile was born at

Bridge of Earn Bridge of Earn ( gd, Drochaid Èireann) is a small town in Perthshire, Scotland. Often referred to simply as 'The Brig' (Scots Language, Scots for 'bridge'). The village grew up on the south bank of an important crossing of the River Earn, whose ...

Perthshire Perthshire (locally: ; gd, Siorrachd Pheairt), officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, ...

, the son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Walter Savile and Sarah Emma Stoddart. He was a great grandson of the MP Christopher Atkinson (later Savile). He was educated at

Marlborough College Marlborough College is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school) for pupils aged 13 to 18 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England. Founded in 1843 for the sons of Church ...

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 ...

. He was a pupil of Sir

John Wolfe Barry Sir John Wolfe Barry (7 December 1836 – 22 January 1918), the youngest son of famous architect Sir Charles Barry, was an English civil engineer of the late 19th and early 20th century. His most famous project is Tower Bridge over the River ...

and

Henry Marc Brunel Henry Marc Brunel (27 June 1842 – 7 October 1903) was an English civil engineer and the son of the celebrated engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and grandson of civil engineer Marc Isambard Brunel. Henry Marc Brunel was born in Westminster, Lo ...

from 1891–96. In 1931, Savile was elected a member of the

Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers The Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers was founded in England in 1771. It was the first engineering society to be formed anywhere in the world, and remains the oldest. It was originally known as the Society of Civil Engineers, being renamed fo ...

and was their president in 1948. Savile was appointed to the panel of qualified civil engineers required by the Reservoirs Act of 1930 where he was responsible for the design, construction and inspection of reservoirs. At this time he was working for

Alexander Gibb Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and partners. He served as president 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 ...

between November 1940 and November 1941. He was appointed a

Companion of the Order of the Bath Companion may refer to: Relationships Currently * Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance * A domestic partner, akin to a spouse * Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach * Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...

on 1 January 1925. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the same order on 1 March 1929. In 1904, Savile married Evelyn Stileman, daughter of Frank Stileman, consulting engineer to the Furness Railway Company. They had one daughter. After her death in 1920, he married secondly, in 1929, Lilith Savile (who was his first cousin once removed), daughter of Brigadier-General Walter Clare Savile. He died in 1953.

References

1870 births 1953 deaths People educated at Marlborough College Alumni of King's College London British civil engineers Scottish civil engineers Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers Presidents of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath {{civil-engineering-stub