Image from http://www.memori-kedah.com.
Charles Edwin Spooner C.M.G., or better known as C. E. Spooner was the third son of Charles Easton Spooner (1818-1889) who was the Secretary and Engineer of the Festiniog Railway Company from 1856 until 1886. According to an obituary obtained from ICE (Institute of Civil Engineers, United Kingdom), CHARLES EDWIN SPOONER, C.M.G., General Manger of the Federated Malay States Railways, died at Kuala Lumpur on the 14th May, 1909. Born in 1853, he graduated in Engineering at Trinity College, Dublin, and entered the Survey Department, Ceylon, in 1876. Subsequently he was transferred to the Public Works Department, in which he served 14 years. He then joined the same service in the Straits Settlements, and after acting its State Engineer of Selangor from 1892 to 1901, was appointed in the latter year to the management of the State Railways. He received the C.M.G. in 1904. Mr. Spooner was elected an Associate Member of The Institution on the 23rd May, 1882, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 12th May, 1896.
Obituary from ICE Virtual Library
Now, this solves 2 things to me. One, why the photo of C. E. Spooner from http://www.memori-kedah.com states the year 1901 - 1909; was because Spooner had been elected to the management of the F.M.S. Railways in 1901. Secondly, this may solve the question on why buildings around Kuala Lumpur were built in Mogul fashion, I believe, must have been C. E. Spooner's idea together with R. A. J. Bidwell as Spooner was trained in Ceylon Sri Lanka. According to Ms. Yvonne Barbor (nee Hubback), her father A.B. Hubback has never been to or anywhere near India!
DID YOU KNOW?
The other road named after the memory of Charles Edwin Spooner - By The Long & Winding Road
Just as Spooner Road in Singapore is a world apart from the rest of Singapore in many ways, I recently discovered that the other road that was named after Charles Edwin Spooner that still exists is a world apart in many ways from the rest of the city it is set in. This Spooner Road, or Jalan Spooner as it is now known as, together with the Spooner Road in Singapore, were two out of three Spooner Roads that were named after Spooner who was the first General Manager of the FMS Railways (FMSR) who began his career in the Public Works Department in Selangor before his appointment to the FMSR in 1901 (the third on Federal Hill in Kuala Lumpur I discovered had been renamed as Jalan Cenderawasih). It was during his time at the PWD in Selangor that he oversaw and influenced some of the Moorish styled architectural masterpieces of Kuala Lumpur, swaying the style from the Neo Classical Renaissance style that was a standard of British government architecture in the colonies towards one that was influence by Islamic elements for the Malaysian capital. To read more please click here.
Kampung Spooner, Jalan Spooner, 30100 Ipoh Perak. There is also a Spooner Road in Singapore.
Images by Jerome Lim [The Long and Winding Road] http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com.
Images by Jerome Lim [The Long and Winding Road] http://thelongnwindingroad.wordpress.com.
I would like to thank Mr. Jerome Lim author and webmaster of the blog "The Long and Winding Road" for providing us permission to use the images and to reprint his articles on his travels. Please be informed that Mr. Jerome Lim has an extensive site on Malayan History viewed through his eyes during his travels. I was indeed impressed with the depth of his articles. If you would like to read more, please click here.
C. E. Spooner played an integral part in our Malayan History, but not much is known about him currently. It is good to note what he has done for Malaya, as the next few articles may have some relationship to him!
