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Assistant engineers are drawn from Civilian staff or the Royal Engineers, Artillery or line Officers. They were trained at [[Roorkee]]
New officer to India spend a year at Rorkee serving with the Bengal Sappers and Miners for a year to acclimatise and become linguistically fluent.
Thomason College was a small trinaing college, with a staff of five. It offered:
*Engineering Course for potential Assistant Engineers - a two year course
*Quarter Master Course - seven month course
Appointments were town based for Military Building including architecture, or remote and rural for those chosing the Irrigation, or Railway specialities. Some became member of the Survey Dept
Those with a particular interest in architecture were encouaged to specialise there was a great demand for [[architect]]s.
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== Training==
*School of Military Engineering at Chatham, UK (1812) Colonial expansion resulted in a centralised establishment to teach civil engineering and architecture to officers destined for the colonies. *The Royal Engineering College at Cooper’s Hill, UK (1871) specifically trained Civil Engineers heading out to [[India]] to join the PWD.*Thomason College, [[Roorkee housed:]]. From around 1870 Assistant Engineers are drawn from civilian staff or the [[Royal Engineers]], Artillery or line Officers were trained at Roorkee. New Engineering Officers to India spent a year at Roorkee serving with the Bengal Sappers and Miners, to acclimatise and become linguistically fluent.
Thomason College was a small training college, with a staff of five. It offered: *Headquarters Engineering Course for potential Assistant Engineers - a two year course *Quarter Master Course - seven month course Graduates from Cooper’s Hill joined the imperial service, while those from Thomason College were destined for provincial service. Those specialising in Military Building including [[architecture]] would be based in a town, while those choosing the Irrigation, or the Railways would find themselves in a remote rural hinterland. Some students became members of the Survey Dept. Those students with a particular interest in architecture were encouraged to specialise, as there was a great demand for [[architects]]. Full-time architectural education did not start in England in1892 (King’s College) so at the Bengal Sappers time Indian Universities were formed (1860 onwards) they copied the existing Engineering Courses, and naturally PWD engineers endorsed the training of Indian engineers. Architectural critics suggested that engineers had insufficient design education that allowed them to do no more than to copy European styles. This was voiced in the 1868 Bombay Builder magazine - which went on to point out that engineers were never employed to design landmark buildings )Law Courts, Government buildings etc) in Britain. Arguably, Engineers on colonial service adversely influenced the training of Indian technicians, and this continued when Indian Universities, captivated with Modernism, offered Architecture in the run up to Independence. A result was several generations had not studied India’s rich architectural history. But the JJ School of Art [[Royal EngineersBombay]] in Bengal accepted this and looked forward, visioning the use of concrete a new material that would house India masses. *As well as Thomason College, Roorkee housed: *Headquarters for the Bengal Sappers and Royal Engineers in Bengal *Foundry
==FIBIS Resources==
Hugh Wilding, "M.I.C.E. in the branches: a family history work in progress" ''FIBIS Journal'' No 23 (Spring 2010), pages 28-38. M.I.C.E. stands for Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers. An account of researching a civil engineer in the Public Works Department. For details of how to access this article, see [[FIBIS Journals]]
*[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3VQTAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&lr=#PPP24,M1 India List & India Office List 1905] Your railway ancestor may be here.
*[http://www.archive.org/stream/indiaindianengin00medlrich#page/38/mode/2up India and Indian Engineering] by J G Medley 1873 ex Principal of Tomason College, Rorkee. Good description of the life and work of engineers in India.
===Current Books===
*''The Indian Metropolis'', Evenson, Norma. New Haven, Yale University Press, 1989.
[[Category:Occupations]]
