Person
Mais, Henry Coathupe (1827 - 1916)
- Born
- 14 May 1827
Westbury-on-Trym, Gloucestershire, England - Died
- 25 February 1916
South Yarra, Victoria, Australia - Occupation
- Civil engineer and Mechanical engineer
Summary
Henry Mais MInstCE, MIMechE, MVIE, MASCE, was the Engineer-in-Chief, Public Works, South Australia from 1867 to 1887. Under his direction most of the South Australian Government Railways and many narrow gauge mineral railways were constructed. After he moved to Victoria, in 1890, Mais helped established the Victorian Advisory Committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and was its Chairman for 16 years. He had a keen interest in microscopy and donated his extensive library to the Royal Society of South Australia.
Details
REPORTS:
As Engineer-in-Chief for South Australia, he was responsible for about one hundred reports published as parliamentary papers.
Reports on Railways include:
* 'Port Caroline to Border Railway' SA PP 1868-9 (40);
* 'Construction of railway' SA PP 1870-71 (77);
* 'Reports on Port Augusta Railway Scheme' SA PP 1870-71 (111);
* 'Report on economic street tramway' SA PP 1870-71 (206);
* 'Railway routes in the District of Victoria' SA PP 1872 (45);
* 'Port Augusta and Willochra Railway' SA PP 1877 (55);
* 'Reports on railway to Bordertown' SA PP 1877 (231);
* 'Purchase of railway rolling stock from New Zealand' SA PP 1878 (45);
* 'Report and estimate of cost of railway from Adelaide to Nairne' SA PP 1878 (141);
* 'Port Darwin and Pine Creek Railway' SA PP 1879 (47);
* 'Observations on railways and other subjects' SA PP 1884 (230).
Reports on Water Supply include:
* 'Proposed new waterworks reservoir' SA PP 1868-9 (41).
Reports on Bridges include:
* 'Particulars respecting Murray Bridge' SA PP 1867 (160);
* 'Report on proposed site of Murray Bridge' SA PP 1869-70 (110);
* 'Murray and Port Bridges' SA PP 1877 (254);
* 'Report on Port Bridge' SA PP 1877 (255);
* 'Timber structures - Kapunda to North-West Bend Railway' SA PP 1880 (187);
Reports on Navigation include:
* 'Report on harbor improvements' SA PP 1869-70 (125);
* 'Proposed River Murray Canal' SA PP 1874 (93);
* 'Proposed shipping pier LeFevre Peninsula' SA PP 1875 SS(4);
* 'Cost and stability of Port Adelaide Lighthouse' SA PP 1877 (79);
* 'Plan and cost of dry dock at Port Adelaide' SA PP 1885 (108).
PUBLISHED PAPERS:
* 'Report on Observations on Railways during a tour in 1883', incl. Illustrations accompanying the Report.
Chronology
- - 1844
- Education - Bishop's College, Bristol
- - 1848
- Career position - Articled to engineer William M Peniston, (assistant to I K Brunel), Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway.
- 1848 - 1850
- Career position - Assisting engineer, Broad Street Foundry, Birmingham.
- 1850
- Life event - Migrated to Sydney, Australia
- 1851 - 1853
- Career position - Acting Engineer, Sydney Railway Company
- 1853 - 1856
- Career position - Assistant Engineer, Sydney City Council
- 1858 - 1862
- Career position - Engineer for Contractor, Cornish and Bruce. Melbourne to Bendigo Railway.
- 1862 - 1865
- Career position - General Manager and Engineer, Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company
- 1865 - 1867
- Career position - Engineer, Water Supply Department, Victoria
- 1867 - 1887
- Career position - Engineer-in-Chief, Public Works, South Australia
- 2 Dec 1879
- Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1883 -
- Career event - Fellow, Royal Society of South Australia
- 1883
- Career event - Member (MASCE), American Society of Civil Engineers
- 1884
- Career event - Member (MIMechE), Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London
- 1884 - 1885
- Career event - President, Royal Society of South Australia
- 1888
- Career event - Member (MVIE), Victorian Institute of Engineers
- 1888 - 1912
- Career position - Consulting engineer and Abitrator
- 1890 - 1916
- Career position - Chairman, Victorian Advisory Committee, Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1912
- Life event - Retired
- 1916
- Life event - Buried, Boroondara Cemetery, Victoria
Related entries
Published resources
Books
- Cumming, D. A., Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1985), 59 pp. pp.20-21. Details
- Cumming, D. A.; Moxham, G. C., They built South Australia : engineers, technicians, manufacturers, contractors and their work (Adelaide: D.A. Cumming and G.C Moxham, 1986), 241 pp. pp.126-128. Details
Book Sections
- O'Neill, Sally, 'Mais, Henry Coathupe (1827-1916)' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 5: 1851 - 1890 K-Q, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1974), pp. 200-201, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mais-henry-coathupe-4140. Details
Edited Books
- Bailey, M. R.; Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Ruddock, E. C.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Swailes, T. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 2: 1830-1890 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2008), 907 pp. 'Mais, Henry Coathupe', pp.513-514. Details
Journal Articles
- 'Obituary (Henry Coathupe Mais)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. XVI (1917), 51-54. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24589. Details
- Mais, H. C., 'President's Address [read at the Annual Meeting 5 October 1886]', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of South Australia, 9 (1886), 228-246, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/84667#page/236. Details
Newspaper Articles
- 'Funeral of Professor Kernot', The Age (1909), 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196135626. Pall bearer. Details
Resources
- 'Obituary. Henry Coathupe Mais, 1827-1916', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1917.15793. Details
- Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 4471, 1879', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
See also
- Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 5 January 2022, Last modified: 9 March 2022