Mais, Henry Coathupe (1827 - 1916)

Summary

Henry Mais MInstCE, MIMechE, MVIE, MASCE, was the Engineer-in-Chief, Public Works, South Australia from 1867 to 1887. Under his direction most of the South Australian Government Railways and many narrow gauge mineral railways were constructed. After he moved to Victoria, in 1890, Mais helped established the Victorian Advisory Committee of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and was its Chairman for 16 years. He had a keen interest in microscopy and donated his extensive library to the Royal Society of South Australia.

Details

REPORTS:
As Engineer-in-Chief for South Australia, he was responsible for about one hundred reports published as parliamentary papers.

Reports on Railways include:
* 'Port Caroline to Border Railway' SA PP 1868-9 (40);
* 'Construction of railway' SA PP 1870-71 (77);
* 'Reports on Port Augusta Railway Scheme' SA PP 1870-71 (111);
* 'Report on economic street tramway' SA PP 1870-71 (206);
* 'Railway routes in the District of Victoria' SA PP 1872 (45);
* 'Port Augusta and Willochra Railway' SA PP 1877 (55);
* 'Reports on railway to Bordertown' SA PP 1877 (231);
* 'Purchase of railway rolling stock from New Zealand' SA PP 1878 (45);
* 'Report and estimate of cost of railway from Adelaide to Nairne' SA PP 1878 (141);
* 'Port Darwin and Pine Creek Railway' SA PP 1879 (47);
* 'Observations on railways and other subjects' SA PP 1884 (230).

Reports on Water Supply include:
* 'Proposed new waterworks reservoir' SA PP 1868-9 (41).

Reports on Bridges include:
* 'Particulars respecting Murray Bridge' SA PP 1867 (160);
* 'Report on proposed site of Murray Bridge' SA PP 1869-70 (110);
* 'Murray and Port Bridges' SA PP 1877 (254);
* 'Report on Port Bridge' SA PP 1877 (255);
* 'Timber structures - Kapunda to North-West Bend Railway' SA PP 1880 (187);

Reports on Navigation include:
* 'Report on harbor improvements' SA PP 1869-70 (125);
* 'Proposed River Murray Canal' SA PP 1874 (93);
* 'Proposed shipping pier LeFevre Peninsula' SA PP 1875 SS(4);
* 'Cost and stability of Port Adelaide Lighthouse' SA PP 1877 (79);
* 'Plan and cost of dry dock at Port Adelaide' SA PP 1885 (108).

PUBLISHED PAPERS:
* 'Report on Observations on Railways during a tour in 1883', incl. Illustrations accompanying the Report.

Chronology

- 1844

Education - Bishop's College, Bristol

- 1848

Career position - Articled to engineer William M Peniston, (assistant to I K Brunel), Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway.

1848 - 1850

Career position - Assisting engineer, Broad Street Foundry, Birmingham.

1850

Life event - Migrated to Sydney, Australia

1851 - 1853

Career position - Acting Engineer, Sydney Railway Company

1853 - 1856

Career position - Assistant Engineer, Sydney City Council

1858 - 1862

Career position - Engineer for Contractor, Cornish and Bruce. Melbourne to Bendigo Railway.

1862 - 1865

Career position - General Manager and Engineer, Melbourne and Suburban Railway Company

1865 - 1867

Career position - Engineer, Water Supply Department, Victoria

1867 - 1887

Career position - Engineer-in-Chief, Public Works, South Australia

2 Dec 1879

Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1883 -

Career event - Fellow, Royal Society of South Australia

1883

Career event - Member (MASCE), American Society of Civil Engineers

1884

Career event - Member (MIMechE), Institution of Mechanical Engineers, London

1884 - 1885

Career event - President, Royal Society of South Australia

1888

Career event - Member (MVIE), Victorian Institute of Engineers

1888 - 1912

Career position - Consulting engineer and Abitrator

1890 - 1916

Career position - Chairman, Victorian Advisory Committee, Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1912

Life event - Retired

1916

Life event - Buried, Boroondara Cemetery, Victoria

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• Cumming, D. A., Some Public Works Engineers in Victoria in the Nineteenth Century (Melbourne: University of Melbourne, Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, 1985), 59 pp. pp.20-21. Details
• Cumming, D. A.; Moxham, G. C., They built South Australia : engineers, technicians, manufacturers, contractors and their work (Adelaide: D.A. Cumming and G.C Moxham, 1986), 241 pp. pp.126-128. Details

Book Sections

• O'Neill, Sally, 'Mais, Henry Coathupe (1827-1916)' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Douglas Pike, ed., vol. 5 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1974), pp. 200-201, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mais-henry-coathupe-4140. Details

Edited Books

• Bailey, M. R.; Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Ruddock, E. C.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Swailes, T. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 2: 1830-1890 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2008), 907 pp. 'Mais, Henry Coathupe', pp.513-514. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Obituary (Henry Coathupe Mais)', Proceedings of the Victorian Institute of Engineers vol. XVI (1917), 51-54. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/24589. Details
• Mais, H. C., 'President's Address [read at the Annual Meeting 5 October 1886]', Transactions and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of South Australia, 9 (1886), 228-246, https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/84667#page/236. Details

Newspaper Articles

• 'Funeral of Professor Kernot', The Age (1909), 7, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196135626. Pall bearer. Details

Resources

• 'Obituary. Henry Coathupe Mais, 1827-1916', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1917.15793. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 4471, 1879', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details

See also

• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details