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Name: MANSON, William George Mackenzie
Photo Source: Matthew McIlvenna
Birth Date: 5 July 1873 Bellie, Moray, Scotland
Death Date: 6 Dec 1906 Caracavelos, Lisboa, Portugal
First Date: 1899
Last Date: 1903
Profession: Electrical cable engineer
Area: Mombasa
General Information:
Judy Aldrick (from information given by Matthew McIlvenna) in History of the Kenya Coast July 2024, no 17: Aged just 16 he joined the Eastern Telegraph Company, where he trained as an electrical cable engineer. Fully qualified by 1897, he worked for two years in the transmission stations of Suez and Aden before being transferred to Mombasa in 1899. Manson oversaw the laying of the undersea telegraph cable connecting Mombasa to Zanzibar and was responsible for setting up the transmission station and building a new company office in Mombasa.
Once the undersea telegraphic connection had been made he then oversaw the installation of telegraph lines to connect the stations along the railway to Nairobi and Port Florence (Kisumu). The telegraph line was later extended to Malindi and Lamu. He left Mombasa in 1903 and was reassigned to the Eastern Telegraph's main relay station in Portugal. He died in 1906 aged only 33 and was buried at Fochabers, Moray, Scotland.
A keen amateur photographer he made a record of his work and life abroad in a series of albums. These lay forgotten in an attic for over a hundred years and only came to light when the old Manson home in Scotland was cleared and sold.
The Mombasa telegraph relay station was built in 1900, sited near Liwatoni creek close to Kilindini where railway equipment was being offloaded. Alongside this was a rambling rather dilapidated building, which was used as staff quarters and for storage. Manson was tasked with constructing new more modern offices for the company.