SAVILE

UNITED KINGDOM (see also List of Individuals)

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31.8.1870 Ballendrick/UK - 28.1.1953 London/UK

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The long and distinguished career of Leopold Halliday Savile was primarily concerned with dock and harbor engineering. He was educated at King's College in London. In 1896 Savile went to India to assist to the construction of railways. On his return to the UK in 1898 he was involved in dock works, from where he made his first visit to Australia in 1902, reporting on a proposed harbor in New South Wales. In 1904, he served as a deputy engineer for the construction of Alexandra Dock in Bombay, India. This major project consisted of a wet dock - 50 acres in extent - with berths for seventeen ships, and also included an entrance lock and a dry dock. Savile way appointed in 1919 civil-engineer-in-chief to the Admiralty in succession of Alexander Gibb (1872-1958). Savile took accordingly charge of all Admiralty dockyards at home and abroad. He was therefore concerned with the maintenance and construction of Admiralty works, including the outstanding Singapore Naval Base.

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On his retirement from the Admiralty in 1932, Savile became a partner of the consulting engineers Sir Alexander Gibb and Partners. During the next years, Savile was engaged with the ports of Rangoon or La Guaira, Venezuela. The Commonwealth Government of Australia decided in 1939 to construct a modern dry dock to accommodate the largest vessels such as the Queen Mary. Savile investigated a number of sites and finally recommended Sydney Harbor. His firm was instructed to design the dock and superintend the construction, a scheme that was inaugurated in 1945. The Captain Cook Dock was 340 m long and 45 m wide and then the largest of the Southern Hemisphere. Savile presided over the Institution of Civil Engineers in the session 1940-41; he presented in his presidential address the history of harbors of the ancient Mediterranean civilizations up to the time of the Romans. He was made a KCB in 1929.

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_{Anonymous (1953). Sir Leopold H. Savile. The Engineer 195: 212. P}

_{Savile, L.H. (1925). Discussion on The construction of the new entrance to Tranmere Dock. Minutes Proc. Institution of Civil Engineers 221(1): 254-268.}

_{Savile, L.H. (1928). Discussion on The dimensions of harbourand dock-approaches: Harbour breakwaters. Engineering Conference: 70-84.}

_{Savile, L.H. (1931). Discussion on Bombay harbour survey and tidal model. Minutes Proc.}

_{Institution of Civil Engineers 232(2): 80-97.}

_{Savile, L.H. (1935). Discussion on Haifa harbour, the port of Beira, and Saint John Harbour. Minutes Proc. Institution of Civil Engineers 239(1): 618-630.}