Henry Victor
Victor, Henry Eltze, AMICE (1830-1911)
Victor came to Victoria from India in the early 1870’s and then travelled to Western Australia. He had been admitted as an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on December 3, 1867 whilst in India. He had a military background in India and then undertook irrigation and railway works. He was Divisional Engineer on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway based in Bombay before coming to Australia for health reasons.
On February 24, 1874 he was appointed Superintendent Engineer on the Geraldton to Northampton Railway. By 1877 he was practising as a consulting engineer, surveyor and architect in Perth.
Henry Victor was a regular contributor to the printed media with advocacy for harbours, rail alignments, drainage, sanitation and timber use. In 1878 he was appointed to a sanitation enquiry undertaken by the Perth Sanitary Board. He was registered as a Licensed Surveyor in Western Australia in January 1879.
He was the architect of the octagonal Glen Forrest agricultural hall built in 1897.
He had married Maria Caroline Bruce in Bombay, India, on January 21, 1854 and they had three sons and four daughters.
Henry Victor died at Claremont on February 11, 1911 aged 81 years being survived by two of his sons and four daughters. His wife, Maria predeceased him in 1909.
References:
Western Mail, 18.2.1911, p. 34.
Inquirer and Commercial News, 25.2.1874, p. 3.
Geoffrey Higham, Marble Bar to Mandurah, A history of passenger rail services in Western Australia, Rail Heritage WA, Bassendean WA, 2007
inHerit Glen Forrest Hall, Place Number 01691 (Accessed June 27, 2020)
