Samuel Swinton Jacob

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Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob (1841 to 1917) was an English engineer, architect and writer, active in India and best known for the numerous public buildings he designed in the Indo-Saracenic style.

He was born on 14 Jan 1841 to Colonel W. Jacob).[1] (of the Bombay Artilley), and a member of a distinguished military family. He was educated at Cheam School and then at the East India Company Military College at Addiscombe where he was one of the last batch of graduates (graduating as an engineer in 1858).[2]

He entered the Bombay Artillery in 1858, qualifying five years later as a surveyor and engineer. After initial service in the Public Works Department, and a brief spell with the Aden Field Force in 1865-6, he was appointed in 1867 as Chief Engineer of the state of Jaipur in Rajasthan, India. He was to spend the remainder of his working life in this position until he retired at the age of 71.[3]

At the time he became chief engineer and took charge of the public works department of the Jaipur it had only been in existence for 7 years having been founded in 1860. The department was responsible for the construction of everything in the state ranging from walls, outhouses, guard houses, roads, canals to major public buildings. Compared with many British officials in India he was noted for his respect for local building traditions and skills, which lead to his incorporating many Indian architectural features into his building designs. As a result he became together with F. S. Growse, Robert Fellowes Chisholm, Charles Mant, Henry Irwin, William Emerson, George Wittet and Frederick Stevens a pioneer of the Indo-Saracenic style of architecture which incorporated Indian Islamic architecture into European neo-Classical or Gothic Revivalist styles.

Among the notable buildings that he designed are:

  • The main building for St Stephens College at Kashmere Gate in Delhi. Built 1890 to 1891. [4]
  • Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur. Also called the Government Central Museum. Located on Ram Niwas Bagh, it was built between 1881 and 1886. Maharaja Ram Singh initially wanted this building to be a town hall, but his successor, Madho Singh, decided it should be a museum for the art of Jaipur and included as part of the new Ram Nivas Garden.
  • Rambagh Palace
  • Bikaner House, Mount Abu. Built 1893 as a summer residence for the Maharaja of Bikaner. This has now been converted into the Palace Hotel.
  • Lalgarh Palace, Bikaner. Built between 1896 and 1926.
  • Umed Bhawan Palace, Kota. Built in 1904.
  • King George Medical College, Lucknow. Built 1905. Now called the Chhatrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University.

He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel on 6 Feb 1885. [5] He was promoted to Colonel on 26 Feb 1889. [6]

He had no longer retired to England in 1911 then he was recruited by the Secretary of State for India to assist Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in the design of New Delhi. However failing health soon forced him to withdrawn from the assignment. [7]

He was married to Mary Brown, (daughter of Mr Robert Brown of Edinburgh) from 1874 until his death).[8]

He died at Weybridge on 4 Dec 1917.[9]

Among his honours were the: Kaisar-I-Hind for Public Service. Awarded 1901.[10]


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ The Times, 07 Dec 1917, Issue 41655. Obituary.
  2. ^ The Times, 11 Dec 1858, Issue 23174.
  3. ^ The Times, 07 Dec 1917, Issue 41655. Obituary.
  4. ^ http://www.ststephens.edu/StStephens/httpdocs/history/glimpses.htm. Retrieved 17 April 2008
  5. ^ London Gazette, 10 Feb 1885.
  6. ^ London Gazette, 26 Feb 1889.
  7. ^ The Times, 07 Dec 1917, Issue 41655. Obituary.
  8. ^ The Times, 07 Dec 1917, Issue 41655. Obituary.
  9. ^ The Times, 07 Dec 1917, Issue 41655. Obituary.
  10. ^ The Times, 9 Nov 1901, Issue 36608.

[edit] References

  • Mitchell, Shelby, Nanji, Ameeta [2007]. India Sublime – Princely Palace Hotels of Rajasthan (hardback), New York: Rizzoli, 271 pages. ISBN-13 978-0-8478-2979-9. 
  • Tillotson, Giles; Sachdev, Vibhuti [2002]. Building Jaipur: The Making of an Indian City (Hardback), First (in English), London: Reakton Books, 256 pages. ISBN 1861891377.