Arthur J. West

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Arthur J. West
Former Railway Office in Kg. Lumadan near Bukau. AJ West probably lived here.

Arthur J. West (born 1863 in Worcestershire , United Kingdom , † November 2, 1937 in Bexhill-on-Sea , United Kingdom ) was a British railway engineer. Under his leadership, the Labuan Line coal railway and later the North Borneo Railway from Beaufort to Weston and from Beaufort to Melalap were built.

Life

Arthur Joseph West was born in Worcestershire in 1863. Nothing is known about his youth and professional training. On the recommendation of his friend William Clarke Cowie , West was hired as chief railroad engineer on July 7, 1896 by the North Borneo Chartered Company for an annual salary of 4,800 strait dollars. Although his previous experience was limited to the construction of the narrow-gauge Labuan Line , which was a few kilometers long , with which the coal mines of Labuan had been connected to the port of Victoria Town, his contract stipulated that West would be completely independent of any control by the governor and was directly subordinate to Cowie.

Described by contemporary sources as a contentious loner with poor communication skills, West began the first section of the North Borneo Railway in 1896 from Bukau . At the same time, he let the work advance both north towards Beaufort and south to Brunei Bay . The end point of the route at Brunei Bay, selected by Cowie, turned out to be a shallow, swampy mangrove forest. Arthur J. West named the station "West City", which later became Weston .

On February 3, 1898, almost two years after the start of construction, the first rail traffic rolled on a completed section. The completion of the entire Beaufort-Weston section nevertheless took four years. From 1900 onwards, West used all his energy to continue the railway line along the Sungai Padas to Tenom and on to Melalap . Tenom was reached in 1905, Melalap a year later.

West was married to Mary Louisa of the same age; the first son of the two was born in Labuan and baptized there on November 28, 1897 by Governor Beaufort. His family stayed in Labuan during the first phase of construction of the North Borneo Railway . The couple only moved to Bukau on April 1, 1900, where they permanently moved into a house. His two sons received an academic and technical education at Cambridge and embarked on a technical career; Gilbert, the elder of the two as Assistant Chief Engineer for the British Broadcasting Company and Willie as a geologist.

West's career was closely tied to the rise of his mentor, Cowie. Shortly after Cowie's death in 1910, he was relieved of his post and left Borneo.

Arthur Joseph West died on November 2, 1937 in Bexhill-on-Sea.

literature

  • KG Tregonning: A History Of Modern Sabah (North Borneo 1881-1963) , 2nd edition, University of Malaya Press, Kuala Lumpur, 1965, reprint 1967

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Tregonning, History of Modern Sabah, page 56
  2. ^ Sabah State Archives , Kota Kinabalu: BNBCC personnel records; written agreement between the supervisory board and West dated July 7, 1896 ("Agreement letter")
  3. ↑ Stephen R. Evans, Abdul Rahman Zainal, Rod Wong Khet Ngee: The History Of Labuan, Victoria Island , pp. 16/17; Opus Publications, Kota Kinabalu, 2007, ISBN 978-983-3987-20-7
  4. ^ British North Borneo Company: Views of British North Borneo with a brief history of the Colony , London, 1899
  5. ^ British North Borneo Herald , December 16, 1897, p. 359
  6. ^ British North Borneo Herald , May 1, 1900, p. 139 ("Labuan Notes")
  7. ^ British North Borneo Herald , November 2, 1923, p. 190
  8. ↑ Tregonning, History of Modern Sabah, page 62
  9. ↑ Portsmouth Evening News, November 2, 1937 issue
  10. ↑ The Straits Times: BORNEO RAILWAY BUILDER DIES  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , November 3, 1937 issue; Accessed January 13, 2013@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / newspapers.nl.sg  

Remarks

  1. ↑ At that time, the value of the Straits dollar was pegged to the Mexican dollar and was the equivalent of 1 oz. Silver.
  2. ↑ His wife Mary Louisa survived him by 22 years and died at the age of 96 on March 12, 1959 as a result of a fall at home. Source: British National Archives , Archives of Charles Sheppard and Sons Estate Trustees , Cause of Death Investigation Ref. WEST SHE / 2/7/1199
personal data
SURNAME West, Arthur J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES West, Arthur Joseph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British railway engineer
DATE OF BIRTH 1863
PLACE OF BIRTH Worcestershire , UK
DATE OF DEATH November 2, 1937
Place of death Bexhill-on-Sea , United Kingdom