Conrad Henry Walter Grundtvig

In memoriam

CONRAD HENRY WALTER GRUNDTVIG, the eldest son of the late Frederick H. T. Grundtvig, was born at Rio de Janeiro, on the 6th February, 1861. At the age of eight he came to England for his education, and at sixteen he was entered as a student at College Rollin, Paris, where he remained nearly two years. He received practical training in the workshops of Messrs. Manlove, Alliott, Fryer and Company of Nottingham, from 1879until 1880. He then served as a pupil in the office of Messrs. Law and Chatterton for four years, and was engaged on the Devonport and Stonehouse Main Drainage, and other works. On the completion of his pupillage he was employed by Messrs. Law and Chatterton as an assistant for three years, during which time he acted as Resident Engineer for the Allington Lock on the River Medway, and for the West Malling Main Sewerage Works. In March 1888 Mr. Grundtvig was appointed Assistant Engineer on the works of the Lake Copais Reclamation Company. The duties of this position were of a most arduous and responsible nature, and he remained at Lake Copais until the day of his death, with the exception of one brief visit to England in 1889. The circumstances relating to his death are extremely sad. The lake is now practically dry, but is still covered with reeds from 9 to 20 feet in height. On the 22nd of August, 1890, Mr. Grundtvig was engaged in setting out the bed of it into kilometre squares. As there was no clear space of sufficient length to use as a base line, he decided to cut a line due north and south, right through the lake. This had been nearly completed, and Mr. Grundtvig went into the cutting with a theodolite to range a line for the men to continue working by, but after going in about two kilometres he found that he could not see on account of smoke, and the ground was so hot from a recent fire that his men with their light native shoes were unable to remain there he therefore went to see the workmen at the end of the line (about 12 kilometres from his house, from which he had started at 3 o’clock in the morning) and reached them at about 11 o’clock. Tasso Andreas, the leading man, advised Mr. Grundtvig to have something to eat and rest for a few hours, as he thought it would be impossible for him at that time to make his way through the smoke. Mr. Grundtvig, however, would not be persuaded to rest, but went on with his work and then started homewards. When Tasso and his men reached a point about 2 kilometres from the commencement of the line, they heard a shouting from the midst of the reeds, and on going to see what it was, found the two men who had been with Mr. Grundtvig. Their account was that after arriving at the place where they had given up work in the morning, they found that a fresh fire had broken out; so, being unable to proceed, and thoroughly exhausted, having had no food since 3 o’clock in the morning, they all three (Mr. Grundtvig and the two workmen) walked about 50 yards into the reeds, and scraped a hole to get water, after which they went to sleep. The workmen, waking up, found Mr. Grundtvig gone, and expecting that he had tried to push his way through the reeds to the canal, about 1,400 yards distant, went to look for him there, but could find no trace of him. It was now dusk and their eyes were very bad with smoke. As Mr. Grundtvig had not been seen by any one, although his horse was still tied up at the commencement of the line, a search was instituted on the night of the 22nd, but without success. At 4 A.M. on the following day over one hundred men commenced to explore the reeds, and eventually his body was found close to the place where the workmen had rested. He was half sitting and half lying down, in a perfectly natural position, with his theodolite in his hand. The supposition is that, after leaving the two workmen, he endeavoured to make his way to Moulki (his home), but being encountered by one of the fresh fires, he hastily retraced his steps, and, feeling exhausted, sat down to rest and was asphyxiated by the fumes of the burning reeds while he slept. This view was confirmed by the medical evidence. His body was brought to Athens on Sunday morning the 24th of August, and buried in the presence of Mr. W. H. Haggard, Charge d'affaires, and the Members of the British Legation, with other English residents, the funeral service being read by the Chaplain of H.M.S. Dreadnought." A tablet to his memory is being erected in the English Church at Athens, by the Lake Copais Company, while his local friends have intimated their intention of erecting a memorial on the spot where he died. Mr. Grundtvig was a young engineer of brilliant talents, and very fond of his profession; and those who knew him testify to the earnest and thoroughly business-like way in which he carried out all his work. He was a good photographer, and an excellent linguist. He had learned to speak Greek fluently, and at the time of his death had nearly mastered the Albanian language. Mr. Grundtvig was a lieutenant in the 1st Middlesex Engineer Volunteers, and had passed every examination open to Engineer Volunteers. He became a Student of the Institution on the 10th of February, 1880, and was elected an Associate Member on the 7th of December, 1886.

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