William Willcocks

Infobox Engineer


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caption = William Willcocks
name = William Willcocks
nationality = United Kingdom
birth_date = 27 September 1852
birth_place = India
death_date = 28 July 1932
death_place = Cairo, Egypt
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significant_projects = Aswan Dam
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significant_awards = Sir William Willcocks KCMG (27 September 1852, India – 28 July 1932, Cairo, Egypt) was a British civil engineer. He is remembered as a renowned irrigation engineer, having proposed the first Aswan Dam and undertaken major projects of irrigation in South Africa and Turkey.

He joined the Indian Public Works Department in 1872, and by 1883 began work with the Egyptian Public Works Department. He was serving as director general of reservoirs for Egypt when he completed his studies and plans in 1902 to construct the Aswan Dam. He left his position in Egypt by 1897, but four years later he was invited to South Africa with the end of the Anglo-Boer War. He was asked to look into the possibility of irrigation projects in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. Part of his plans were implemented. It was for this that he was granted the title of KCMG.

He later became head of irrigation for the Ottoman Turkish government, for what was then the greater area of Turkish Arabia. He drew up the first accurate maps of the region, which were subsequently a great help to British expeditionary forces in 1914 and again in 1915. In 1911 he proposed to have the water brought to the ancient area of Chaldea in Southern Mesopotamia. The Hindiya Barrage was consequently built on the River Euphrates near ancient Babylon, bringing convert|3500000|acre|km2|-2 under irrigation. ["Willcocks, Sir William." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2006.] He worked on irrigation projects in Romania shortly before the outbreak of World War I, and again as late as 1928 in Bengal, where he had received some his early training.

He died at the Anglo-American Hospital in Cairo. [cite journal | author = H. E. W. | year = 1933 | month = Jan. | title = Obituary: Sir William Willcocks | journal = The Geographical Journal | volume = 81 | issue = 1 | pages = 94–5]

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