John Mackay (1822-1906)
1906 Obituary
JOHN MACKAY, who died at Hereford on the 5th February, 1906, was one of the last of that band of men who, in conjunction with the late Mr. Thomas Brassey, took an active part in the construction of railways in this country most from their commencement.
Born at Bogart, Sutherland, on the 25th October, 1822, the subject of this notice entered Mr. Brassey’s service in 1843, and was employed on the construction of railways at first in France and Belgium, and subsequently in England on the Shrewsbury and Hereford, the Shrewsbury and Crewe, and many other lines in Shropshire, North Staffordshire, and Central and South Wales.
On the death of Mr. Brassey in 1870, Mr. Mackay commenced contracting on his own account, and carried out the Waterworks of Port Elizabeth and King William’s Town in South Africa, the Government railways in Jamaica, and many other works. He also founded and worked the Titterstone quarries of the Clee Hill basalt.
Mr. Mackay took great interest in all that concerned his native country and was one of the chief promoters of the Crofters Act, He established and endowed the Bogart Educational Association, and was one of the principal supporters of the Clan Mackay Society, as well as Chief of the Gaelic Society of London. At the General Election of 1892, he contested the County of Sutherland in the Unionist interest. He was a magistrate for the City of Hereford, where he resided for some years prior to his death.
Mr. Mackay was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 14th January, 1873.
(source: 1906 Institution of Civil Engineers: Obituaries)
Reference: RAIL 578/6
Description:
Contract between John Mackay, contractor, of Swansea, and the Princetown Railway Company for the construction of the railway
Date: 1881 Jul 06
Held by: The National Archives, Kew
Former reference in its original department: GWR Deed Dept Misc 41382