Derby Museum and Art Gallery – Memorial Plaque of Lieutenant Charles William North Garstin
This is the brass memorial plaque commemorating the life of Charles William North Garstin, 9th Lancers who died on 24 August 1914. The plaque was funded by his father, who had to deal with losing his little boy, and only son, who was aged just 20. There’s more about Charles at https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/1313008, so I won’t repeat that, but instead I looked up his father, Sir William Garstin.
Sir William Edmund Garstin, born on 29 January 1849, was a prominent British civil engineer whose work primarily related to public infrastructure in Egypt. He was educated at Cheltenham College and King’s College in London where he specialised in engineering. He started his career in 1872 with the Public Works Department of India, focusing on irrigation projects. In 1885, his expertise led him to Egypt, where he first served as Inspector-General of Irrigation before being promoted to Under Secretary of State for Public Works in 1892. In this role, he was instrumental in overhauling Egypt’s irrigation systems, playing a key part in the design and construction of the Aswan Low Dam which was built between 1898 and 1902. His work also extended to the barrages at Asyut and Esna. Furthermore, Garstin authored significant reports on the hydrography of the Upper Nile and initiated Egypt’s geological survey in 1896.
After his retirement in 1907, Garstin continued to contribute by serving as a British Government director of the Suez Canal Company. He died on 8 January 1925, and was cremated in London. In recognition of his work, the extinct giant snake, Gigantophis garstini, was named in his honour, which I assume he would have been pleased with unless he really didn’t like snakes. I read numerous obituaries of William, but none of them mention the death of his son in the First World War, although some made reference to his Red Cross efforts. It rather means that I’m left to ponder the quiet, profound sorrow that must have underscored his later years after such a successful career.
