Thomason and Roorkee

A trip to IIT Roorkee leads to the discovery of a colonial-era engineer who has the distinction of an educational institution and a locomotive being named after him.

Recently, I went to IIT Roorkee to deliver a couple of talks. The antecedents of IIT Roorkee can be found in Roorkee College.  I discovered a monograph printed in 1851, titled, “Account of Roorkee College, Established for the Instruction of Civil Engineers, with a Scheme for its Enlargement”.  “The necessity has long been felt of some systematic training for Civil Engineers in this country.  The Western Jumna Canals were commenced in 1817... The Eastern Jumna Canal was commenced in 1822... In the Dehra Dhoon, in Rohilcund, and on the Nujjufgurh Jheel, near Delhi, works for draining and irrigation have long been maintained by the Government... Within the last 20 or 30 years, several fine roads have been constructed by the Government at public expense... Immediate measures were necessary to meet the emergency, and to provide a constant supply of well-trained, experienced Civil Engineers, who should be able to face all the difficulties which are involved in the management of large undertakings of this nature.  Out of this emergency Roorkee College had its rise.”  Thus, the College was formally established on 25th November 1847. From the Imperial Gazetteer, we learn that informally, “a class started in 1845 to train native youths in engineering”.  That was the seed.  The then Lieutenant Governor of North-Western Provinces was James Thomason and therefore, after his death, Roorkee College became Thomason College of Civil Engineering.  Later, this became IIT Roorkee and the main administrative building of IIT Roorkee is called Thomason Building.

Not surprisingly, I found students who I met didn’t know this history. Therefore, they also didn’t know the expansion proposed, as mentioned in that 1851 monograph, visualised, “The improvement and superintendence of the Village Schools in a circle of 40 or 50 miles round Roorkee... The plan is to have a few model Village Schools and an establishment of Visitors, whose duty it will be to go round villages in the tract assigned to them, examining the state of the Indigenous Schools, and advising and assisting the School Masters by instruction, books, and rewards.”  In 1935, Lieutenant Colonel E. W. C. Sandes published a book titled, “The Military Engineer in India”.  In this, he described Roorkee College as the oldest engineering college in India.  “This is the Thomason Civil Engineering College at Roorkee, actually the oldest, and certainly the most celebrated of its kind, in India.  The Thomason College owes its birth to the waters of the mighty Ganges.  Without that sacred river there would have been no Ganges Canal; and without the canal, no college.”  Perhaps one can quibble about that.  The College of Engineering in Chennai formally became a college in 1859, but the original School of Survey, which predated it, was established in 1794.

But there can be no quibbling about James Thomason being unique. I know of no other individual who has had an educational institution and a locomotive named after him/her. Colonel Proby T. Cautley, engineer who supervised construction of the Ganges Canal, wrote a report on the Ganges Canal works. In that, while describing the Solani aqueduct, he says, “The introduction of railroads and wagons relieved us from wheelbarrows and baskets, but for a long time kept us with men both for excavation and for propelling the wagons. As time advanced, horses in some measure took the place of men; and on the 22nd December, 1851, we started a locomotive, which I believe to have been the first engine of the sort that was ever used in India.”  This is indeed true.  That imported steam locomotive is the first known instance of a locomotive having been used in India.  (There is a working model in Roorkee railway station.)  At that time, Jenny Lind was famous as an opera singer.  She was at the height of her fame.  Therefore, this locomotive was initially known as Jenny Lind and carted construction material between Roorkee and Piran Kaliar.  Jenny Lind was famous in London, Thomason was famous in North-Western Provinces.  Hence, the locomotive was renamed Thomason. Unfortunately, the boiler exploded in 1852 and Thomason (the locomotive) no longer survives.

Richard Baird Smith was an engineer, in charge of the Ganges Canal works and therefore, in Roorkee.  In 1857, he was asked to move to Delhi as Chief Engineer. There is a book by Colonel Vibart describing Richard Baird Smith as “The Leader of the Delhi Heroes in 1857”.  In that, in Roorkee, before moving to Delhi, “The two companies of Sappers proved an embarrassment rather than a source of strength. They were all natives; there was reason to know that the prevailing spirit of disaffection had in some measure tainted them, and this caused much uneasiness regarding them. Baird Smith put them under command of two officers well known to them, spoke himself to the best men among them, and gave over to their charge the care of all the Thomason College buildings.

The author is chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister. 

Views are personal.