Edmund Alderson Sandford Fawcett

Edmund Alderson Sandford Fawcett CB, M.Inst.C.E., (27 April 1868 – 1 April 1938)[1][2] was a British civil engineer and senior civil servant. He was secretary of the Ministry of National Service during World War I and chief engineer to the Ministry of Health from 1921 to 1930.[1]

Family and personal life

Edmund Alderson Sandford Fawcett was born at Childwick Hall, St Albans.[3] A member of the Fawcett family, his father, Edmund Alderson Fawcett, originally from Sandford Hall, Warcop in Cumberland[3] and later of Coleshill House,[4] was a land owner and entrepreneur. His mother, Jane Harrison, was from Sandford House, Richmond, Yorkshire.[3]

He married Gladys Heath, daughter of George Weller, of Amersham.[5][6] They had three sons (Hugh, Eric and John) and one daughter (Loveday). He lived for a time in Chalfont St Giles and in 1918 bought The Rosary, a house in Coleshill.[7]

In 1908, Fawcett won the Champion Cup (later the President's Cup) for croquet at the All England Club at Wimbledon,[8] and also won croquet events at Hurlingham.[5]

Fawcett died in Taunton on 1 April 1938. His funeral was held in Penn Street on 5 April 1938.[3]

Career

Fawcett practised as a civil engineer in Westminster until 1898, at which date - and at an unusually early age - he was appointed an engineering inspector at the Local Government Board,[1] taking on some of the Board's most challenging inquiries.[9] In 1911 he was appointed second deputy chief engineer to the Board and was no longer involved in public inquiries. In 1913 he became deputy chief engineer.[1]

During World War I, Fawcett worked as a special investigator for the Ministry of Munitions, later working for the Manpower Distribution Board.[3] He became secretary of the Ministry of National Service upon its formation.[1] In the 1919 New Year Honours, he was created a CB in recognition of his services at the Ministry.[10][11] In 1921 he was appointed chief engineer to the Ministry of Health,[1] which - following the Ministry of Health Act 1919 - had absorbed the Local Government Board. He retired in 1930 and became a consulting engineer in Westminster, where he mainly worked on water supply schemes.[1][12] His projects included the Amersham, Beaconsfield and District Waterworks.[13][14]

Fawcett was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, an honorary member of the Institution of Water Engineers and of the Institution of Municipal and County Engineers, a Fellow of the Royal Sanitary Institute, and a past president of the Institution of Sanitary Engineers.[1] He was elected a member of the Geological Society of London in January 1897.[15]

Publications

  • The purification of the water of swimming baths (1929), published by HMSO.[16]
  • "Rainfall and runoff", (1930) J. Inst. Munic. County Eng.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Obituary: Mr E A S Fawcett, Late Chief Engineer to Ministry of Health", The Times, 5 April 1938.
  2. ^ "Obituary Notice" (PDF). Nature. 3571: 635. 9 April 1938. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Death of Mr Sandford Fawcett". The Buckinghamshire Examiner. 8 April 1938.
  4. ^ Daily News (London) - Wednesday 23 April 1890, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000051/18900423/002/0001
  5. ^ a b Bailey, Alison (1 November 2020). "Amersham nostalgia: Family brewing dynasty". Bucks Free Press. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  6. ^ Bucks Herald - Saturday 26 April 1890, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000270/18900426/100/0008
  7. ^ "The Rosary". Coleshill in Buckinghamshire. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  8. ^ "Roll of Honour: Individual Winners". Croquet England. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  9. ^ Daily News (London) - Saturday 12 January 1901, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002296/19350226/094/0008
  10. ^ "To be Ordinary Members of the Civil Division of the Third Class or Companions of the said Most Honourable Order". Supplement to The London Gazette. Vol. 31099. 1 January 1919. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
  11. ^ Evening Mail - Wednesday 01 January 1919, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003187/19190101/094/0005
  12. ^ Penrith Observer - Tuesday 26 February 1935, https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002296/19350226/094/0008
  13. ^ "Coleshill House". Coleshill in Buckinghamshire. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  14. ^ Bailey, Alison. "History of a local landmark". Amersham Museum. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  15. ^ "Full text of "The Quarterly journal of the Geological Society of London"". Internet Archive. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  16. ^ "The purification of the water of swimming baths". WorldCat. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
  17. ^ Cited in Sumner, G. N. (April 1978). "The prediction of short-duration storm rainfall intensity maxima". Journal of Hydrology. 37 (1–2): 91–100. doi:10.1016/0022-1694(78)90098-7. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
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