Sir Charlton Harrison
Encyclopedia
Sir Charlton Scott Cholmeley Harrison, KCIE, 1881-1951, was a British Civil Engineer who spent his career from 1902 until 1933 in British India. He was the Chief Engineer in overall charge of the construction of the Sukkur Barrage, completed in 1931.
, British West Indies
, 18 May 1881, the second of three sons of the Hon James Harrison, JP, Custos of St Thomas in the East, Jamaica, and his second wife, Caroline, née Page, in her third marriage. He was married to Violet Muriel Monamy Buckell, second daughter of Dr E.H.Buckell, JP, Chichester, England, on 25 Nov 1905 in the Cathedral of St. Thomas, Bombay, India. They had three sons.
at Cooper's Hill, Surrey, England, from 1899 to 1902, Harrison entered the Indian Service of Engineers as Assistant Engineer, Bombay Presidency, and served in Belgaum
, 1902-06; Assistant on Construction of Irrigation Works, Nasik District, 1906-09; Executive Engineer Nasik District, 1909-10; Executive Engineer Irrigation Canals Construction, Nasik and Ahmadnagar
District, 1911-1919; arbitrator in irrigation dispute between Jamnagar
and Porbandar
States, 1916; Superintending Engineer, Special Duty, Sind
, 1921-1923; Chief Engineer, Sukkur Barrage, 1923-1931; Chief Engineer, Public Works Department, Bombay Presidency, and Chief Engineer in Sind, 1931-1933. He was knighted in 1932.
Charlton Harrison's major life's work consisted in overseeing the immense project known as the Sukkur (Lloyd) Barrage, as Chief Engineer, during the years from 1923 until its completion in 1931. It was brought in on schedule and within its target budget.
The Sukkur
The idea of a barrage at Sukkur
, which is now in Pakistan
, was first conceived by Lieutenant J.G Fife in about 1855, but a complete scheme was not made for another sixty years. Arnold Musto, a British engineer, was then appointed to develop the project. His plans were submitted to the Government of Bombay, and in April 1923 the Secretary of State for India
sanctioned the project at an estimated cost of Rs 200 million. Charlton Harrison was appointed Chief Engineer, effectively Chief Executive, of the project, in recognition of his prior executive experience and demonstrated leadership and management skills. Work started in January 1925 and was completed by 31 December 1931. A unanimous resolution of the District Local Board was passed that the barrage be named after Sir George Lloyd, later Lord Lloyd, the Governor of Bombay in 1923, who had taken an active interest in the scheme. See George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd.
This was the world's largest civil engineering project during the first 50 years of the 20th century. It is still the largest irrigation system in the world. The barrage enables water to flow through what was originally a network of canals 6,166 miles (9,923 km) long, with more than 5 million acres (20,000 km²) of irrigated land. The retaining wall has 66 spans, each 60 feet (18 m) wide. Each span has a gate weighing 50 tons.
Reports on the extent of this project tend to vary somewhat. One site, (http://www.rohri.net/sukkur-barrage.htm) describes the Sukkur Barrage as "the pride of Pakistan’s irrigation system. It is the largest system of its kind in the world. It is the backbone of the economy of the entire country, providing, through its network of canals, irrigation to an area of 7.63 million acres, approximately 25 percent of the total canal-irrigated area of the country." Another report states: "The 5,001 feet (1,524 m) long barrage is made of yellow stone and steel and can water nearly 10 million acres (40,000 km2) of farmland through its seven large canals. Some of the canals are larger than the Suez Canal."
A contemporary U.S. report in 1932 stated that "Besides two dams which are, respectively, the largest and the second highest in the world, the project includes a network of canals and spillways 6,000 miles long. On it 77,000 men were employed for nine years. It cost $75,000,000 and will irrigate a rainless desert area as big as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Delaware together. Statisticians figured that the masonry in the Lloyd dam would build a wall six feet high, 15 inches thick and 520 miles long. It should provide farm work for an additional 2,500,000 people." However, the rest of this report of the inaugural ceremony, which appeared in Time Magazine, is mistaken in its details concerning the personalities involved.
The report, which appeared on Jan 25th, 1932, stated: "Immediately after the ceremony Lord Willingdon announced that a knighthood had been awarded to the British designer of the project: Charlton Scott Cholmeley Harrison. Undoubtedly the Lloyd Barrage will do more for the people of northwestern India than anything St. Gandhi has been able to think of, but all its waters could not quench Nationalist pride. India seethed with the news that A. A. Musto, native engineer in charge of construction who spent seven hot summers by the dam site, designed much special machinery, was not rewarded at all." This assertion is a remarkable travesty of the truth.
The facts are that Arnold Albert Musto, who was also knighted, was not a "native engineer" in any sense. Musto
is an Italian and English surname; and he was the son of J.J.Musto of London. Arnold Musto was born in 1883, and married Margaret McCausland of Magherafelt
, County Londonderry
, Northern Ireland
, in 1922. After training in England he entered the Public Works Department in Bombay 1907 as an assistant engineer. He then served in Mesopotamia
1916-18, and as controller of munitions in Karachi
Jan-May 1918. "The future of Sind: Sukkur barrage scheme", by A. A. Musto, was published by the Times Press in 1923. Musto, not Harrison, was the "designer" of the project; whereas Harrison was in overall administrative charge, and had also "spent seven hot summers by the dam site".
In "The Unsung", 1945, Maud Diver wrote of their joint achievement as follows: "In Mr Arnold Musto the Bombay PWD produced a man in every way fitted for so mighty a task. To him was given the double privilege of designing and building that mile-long dam, under the direction of Sir Charlton Harrison, Chief Engineer of the whole project. Both men were deservedly knighted for their twofold achievement; and Harrison, in particular, was blest by his assistants for his care and thought in protecting them, as far as might be, from the terrible climate of Sukkur, where the mercury often touched 120 degrees for months on end. Harrison had the wisdom and humanity to insist on proper housing of his engineers, the common comforts of electric fans and light before he would ask them to begin work; and they, in return, gave of their utmost without flagging ... and in record time they completed their seven canals."
, part of the process which eventually resulted in the Government of India Act, 1935.
In 1935 Harrison was a member of the seven man Island Committee of independent Jamaicans. This group was formed to investigate the critical situation regarding banana production and export, leading to the appointment of the Jamaica Banana Commission of 1936. The result was the conversion of the Jamaica Banana Producers Association Limited (JBPA) into a joint stock company with shares issued to members to the value of the contributions they had made to the Co-operative. Through the work of the JBPA by the following year banana exports reached an all-time high of 360,000 tons, representing more than 50% of the value of the island’s exports.
In "Towards decolonisation", a book by Richard Hart, published in 1999, Sir Charlton Harrison is incidentally described, p 153, as being, in 1942, a "white plantation owner", which is, at best, misleading, as the limited role he played in Jamaican affairs derived from his managerial experience and distinction as a civil engineer, in which "plantation ownership" played no part. There is no known record of Sir Charlton Harrison owning a plantation. The book discusses the relationships, rivalry and conflicts between popular Jamaican political organizations in the 1940s.
After World War II, in about 1947, at the request of his wife, Harrison moved to live in Streatley, Berkshire, England; and died in a nursing home at Goring-on-Thames, 3rd July 1951, having suffered a stroke approximately six months previously. His wife Violet died in 1973.
Early life and family
Charlton Harrison was born in JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, British West Indies
British West Indies
The British West Indies was a term used to describe the islands in and around the Caribbean that were part of the British Empire The term was sometimes used to include British Honduras and British Guiana, even though these territories are not geographically part of the Caribbean...
, 18 May 1881, the second of three sons of the Hon James Harrison, JP, Custos of St Thomas in the East, Jamaica, and his second wife, Caroline, née Page, in her third marriage. He was married to Violet Muriel Monamy Buckell, second daughter of Dr E.H.Buckell, JP, Chichester, England, on 25 Nov 1905 in the Cathedral of St. Thomas, Bombay, India. They had three sons.
Career in British India
After training in the Royal Indian Engineering CollegeRoyal Indian Engineering College
The Royal Indian Engineering College was a British college of Civil Engineering founded by Sir George Tomkyns Chesney in 1870. It was intended to train engineers for the Indian Public Works department. The work of the college was transferred to India in 1906....
at Cooper's Hill, Surrey, England, from 1899 to 1902, Harrison entered the Indian Service of Engineers as Assistant Engineer, Bombay Presidency, and served in Belgaum
Belgaum
Belgaum is a city and a municipal corporation in Belgaum district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is the fourth largest city of the state of Karnataka, the first three being Bangalore, Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad....
, 1902-06; Assistant on Construction of Irrigation Works, Nasik District, 1906-09; Executive Engineer Nasik District, 1909-10; Executive Engineer Irrigation Canals Construction, Nasik and Ahmadnagar
Ahmadnagar
Ahmadnagar is located in Gujranwala DistricTt, Punjab, Pakistan.-References:...
District, 1911-1919; arbitrator in irrigation dispute between Jamnagar
Jamnagar
Jamnagar is a city and a municipal corporation in Jamnagar district in the Indian state of Gujarat. The city was built up substantially by Maharaja Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji in the 1920s, when the district was known as Nawanagar. The district lies just to the south of the Gulf of Kutch and is...
and Porbandar
Porbandar
Porbandar is a coastal city in the Indian state of Gujarat, perhaps best known for being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi and Sudama...
States, 1916; Superintending Engineer, Special Duty, Sind
Sind Division
The Sind Division was the name of Sindh after being annexed by the Bombay Presidency province of British India in 1843 , following a British Indian conquest led by then Major-General Charles Napier. The region separated from the Bombay Presidency to become the Sind Province on 1936-04-01....
, 1921-1923; Chief Engineer, Sukkur Barrage, 1923-1931; Chief Engineer, Public Works Department, Bombay Presidency, and Chief Engineer in Sind, 1931-1933. He was knighted in 1932.
Charlton Harrison's major life's work consisted in overseeing the immense project known as the Sukkur (Lloyd) Barrage, as Chief Engineer, during the years from 1923 until its completion in 1931. It was brought in on schedule and within its target budget.
The SukkurSukkurSukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...
Barrage and Canals Construction in SindSind DivisionThe Sind Division was the name of Sindh after being annexed by the Bombay Presidency province of British India in 1843 , following a British Indian conquest led by then Major-General Charles Napier. The region separated from the Bombay Presidency to become the Sind Province on 1936-04-01....
, British India
The idea of a barrage at SukkurSukkur
Sukkur, or Sakharu , formerly Aror and Bakar, is the third largest city of Sindh province, situated on the west bank of Indus River in Pakistan in Sukkur District. However, the word Sakharu in Sindhi means "superior", which the spelling of the city's name in Sindhi suggests is the origin of the...
, which is now in Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, was first conceived by Lieutenant J.G Fife in about 1855, but a complete scheme was not made for another sixty years. Arnold Musto, a British engineer, was then appointed to develop the project. His plans were submitted to the Government of Bombay, and in April 1923 the Secretary of State for India
Secretary of State for India
The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
sanctioned the project at an estimated cost of Rs 200 million. Charlton Harrison was appointed Chief Engineer, effectively Chief Executive, of the project, in recognition of his prior executive experience and demonstrated leadership and management skills. Work started in January 1925 and was completed by 31 December 1931. A unanimous resolution of the District Local Board was passed that the barrage be named after Sir George Lloyd, later Lord Lloyd, the Governor of Bombay in 1923, who had taken an active interest in the scheme. See George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd.
This was the world's largest civil engineering project during the first 50 years of the 20th century. It is still the largest irrigation system in the world. The barrage enables water to flow through what was originally a network of canals 6,166 miles (9,923 km) long, with more than 5 million acres (20,000 km²) of irrigated land. The retaining wall has 66 spans, each 60 feet (18 m) wide. Each span has a gate weighing 50 tons.
Reports on the extent of this project tend to vary somewhat. One site, (http://www.rohri.net/sukkur-barrage.htm) describes the Sukkur Barrage as "the pride of Pakistan’s irrigation system. It is the largest system of its kind in the world. It is the backbone of the economy of the entire country, providing, through its network of canals, irrigation to an area of 7.63 million acres, approximately 25 percent of the total canal-irrigated area of the country." Another report states: "The 5,001 feet (1,524 m) long barrage is made of yellow stone and steel and can water nearly 10 million acres (40,000 km2) of farmland through its seven large canals. Some of the canals are larger than the Suez Canal."
A contemporary U.S. report in 1932 stated that "Besides two dams which are, respectively, the largest and the second highest in the world, the project includes a network of canals and spillways 6,000 miles long. On it 77,000 men were employed for nine years. It cost $75,000,000 and will irrigate a rainless desert area as big as Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Delaware together. Statisticians figured that the masonry in the Lloyd dam would build a wall six feet high, 15 inches thick and 520 miles long. It should provide farm work for an additional 2,500,000 people." However, the rest of this report of the inaugural ceremony, which appeared in Time Magazine, is mistaken in its details concerning the personalities involved.
The report, which appeared on Jan 25th, 1932, stated: "Immediately after the ceremony Lord Willingdon announced that a knighthood had been awarded to the British designer of the project: Charlton Scott Cholmeley Harrison. Undoubtedly the Lloyd Barrage will do more for the people of northwestern India than anything St. Gandhi has been able to think of, but all its waters could not quench Nationalist pride. India seethed with the news that A. A. Musto, native engineer in charge of construction who spent seven hot summers by the dam site, designed much special machinery, was not rewarded at all." This assertion is a remarkable travesty of the truth.
The facts are that Arnold Albert Musto, who was also knighted, was not a "native engineer" in any sense. Musto
Musto
Musto is an Italian and English surname and can refer to:* Sir Arnold Musto, born 1883, British Civil Engineer who designed the Sukkur Barrage.* Michael Musto, Italian-American writer* Glenn Musto, singer-songwriter of pop band College Fall...
is an Italian and English surname; and he was the son of J.J.Musto of London. Arnold Musto was born in 1883, and married Margaret McCausland of Magherafelt
Magherafelt
Magherafelt is a small town in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 8,372 people recorded in the 2001 Census. It is the biggest town in the south of County Londonderry and is the social, economic and political hub of the area...
, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, in 1922. After training in England he entered the Public Works Department in Bombay 1907 as an assistant engineer. He then served in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a toponym for the area of the Tigris–Euphrates river system, largely corresponding to modern-day Iraq, northeastern Syria, southeastern Turkey and southwestern Iran.Widely considered to be the cradle of civilization, Bronze Age Mesopotamia included Sumer and the...
1916-18, and as controller of munitions in Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
Jan-May 1918. "The future of Sind: Sukkur barrage scheme", by A. A. Musto, was published by the Times Press in 1923. Musto, not Harrison, was the "designer" of the project; whereas Harrison was in overall administrative charge, and had also "spent seven hot summers by the dam site".
In "The Unsung", 1945, Maud Diver wrote of their joint achievement as follows: "In Mr Arnold Musto the Bombay PWD produced a man in every way fitted for so mighty a task. To him was given the double privilege of designing and building that mile-long dam, under the direction of Sir Charlton Harrison, Chief Engineer of the whole project. Both men were deservedly knighted for their twofold achievement; and Harrison, in particular, was blest by his assistants for his care and thought in protecting them, as far as might be, from the terrible climate of Sukkur, where the mercury often touched 120 degrees for months on end. Harrison had the wisdom and humanity to insist on proper housing of his engineers, the common comforts of electric fans and light before he would ask them to begin work; and they, in return, gave of their utmost without flagging ... and in record time they completed their seven canals."
Later life and death
Charlton Harrison retired from the Indian Civil Service in 1933, and by 1935 had settled near his birthplace in Jamaica, a country in which he had spent his childhood and for which he had a deep affection. Before that, in England, he had been called to give expert evidence to the Simon CommissionSimon Commission
The Indian Statutory Commission was a group of seven British Members of Parliament that had been dispatched to India in 1927 to study constitutional reform in Britain's most important colonial dependency. It was commonly referred to as the Simon Commission after its chairman, Sir John Simon...
, part of the process which eventually resulted in the Government of India Act, 1935.
In 1935 Harrison was a member of the seven man Island Committee of independent Jamaicans. This group was formed to investigate the critical situation regarding banana production and export, leading to the appointment of the Jamaica Banana Commission of 1936. The result was the conversion of the Jamaica Banana Producers Association Limited (JBPA) into a joint stock company with shares issued to members to the value of the contributions they had made to the Co-operative. Through the work of the JBPA by the following year banana exports reached an all-time high of 360,000 tons, representing more than 50% of the value of the island’s exports.
In "Towards decolonisation", a book by Richard Hart, published in 1999, Sir Charlton Harrison is incidentally described, p 153, as being, in 1942, a "white plantation owner", which is, at best, misleading, as the limited role he played in Jamaican affairs derived from his managerial experience and distinction as a civil engineer, in which "plantation ownership" played no part. There is no known record of Sir Charlton Harrison owning a plantation. The book discusses the relationships, rivalry and conflicts between popular Jamaican political organizations in the 1940s.
After World War II, in about 1947, at the request of his wife, Harrison moved to live in Streatley, Berkshire, England; and died in a nursing home at Goring-on-Thames, 3rd July 1951, having suffered a stroke approximately six months previously. His wife Violet died in 1973.
External links
- Sukkur BarrageSukkur barrageSukkur Barrage is a barrage on the River Indus near the city of Sukkur in the Sindh province of Pakistan.Sukkur Barrage is used to control water flow in the River Indus for irrigation and flood control purposes....
and Canals, Pakistan. Formerly SindSind DivisionThe Sind Division was the name of Sindh after being annexed by the Bombay Presidency province of British India in 1843 , following a British Indian conquest led by then Major-General Charles Napier. The region separated from the Bombay Presidency to become the Sind Province on 1936-04-01....
, British India. - http://www.jpjamaica.com/History.htm
- http://www3.sympatico.ca/rjwmorrell/daily.htm
- http://www.rohri.net/sukkur-barrage.htm
- http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1934/dec/11/indian-constitutional-reform
- http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1935/apr/04/clause-233-services-recruited-by
- http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1935/may/03/new-clause-federal-irrigation-board
- http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,742985,00.html