Guilford Lindsey Molesworth

Molesworth was born in Millbrook, Hampshire, the son of John Edward Nassau Molesworth, Vicar of Rochdale. The elder Molesworth was a great-grandson of Robert Molesworth, 1st Viscount Molesworth.{{cite DNB|last1=Beeching|first1=H. C.|wstitle= Molesworth, John Edward|volume=38}} Sir Guildford's great niece was Margaret Patricia Molesworth (1904–1985), the grandmother of Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh.Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 2, 2003. pages 2721–2731.{{cite web|title=Molesworth History|url=http://molesworth.id.au/?page_id=1035|website=moleswoth.id.au| date=11 July 2017 |accessdate=6 October 2017|quote=In 1999, when I (the Right Honourable the (12th) Viscount Robert Molesworth) had the honour to be invited to Windsor Castle to represent the family at the marriage of Prince Edward to Sophie Rhys-Jones (whose paternal grandmother was Margaret Patricia Molesworth)....}}

Molesworth and his four brothers - William, solicitor John "the calculator", George and Rennell - were educated at the King's School, Canterbury where he found football "a great attraction". He then attended the College for Civil Engineers at Putney, apprenticed under Mr Dockray in the London and North Western Railway, and under Sir William Fairbairn at Manchester.{{cite book |last1=Molesworth |first1=Sir Guilford |editor1-last=Molesworth |editor1-first=E. J. |title=Life of Sir Guilford Molesworth |date=1922 |publisher=E. and F. N. Spon, London |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.30977/page/n23/mode/2up?q=trinity+college+dublin+ |access-date=22 November 2023}}

He became a chief assistant engineer of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, but soon resigned to conduct the constructions at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, during the Crimean War. He received the Watt Medal and the Manby premium in 1858 from the Institution of Civil Engineers for his paper on Conversion of Wood by Machinery. He returned to London for a number of years, worked at his profession, then went to Ceylon in 1859 and in 1862 became chief engineer of the government railways in Ceylon. From 1871 to 1889 he lived in India and was consulting engineer to the Indian government with regard to State railways. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) by Queen Victoria in 1888, the year she elevated her Indian manservant, Abdul Karim, to the position of Munshi.Great Britain. India Office {{google books|b2NPAAAAMAAJ|The India List and India Office List for 1905|page=145}}{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Miles |title=Empress |date=2018 |publisher=Yale University Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=radvDwAAQBAJ&dq=Abdul+Karim+Munshi+1888&pg=PA248 |access-date=22 November 2022}}

He received medals from the British Government for his services during the Afghan War and the Burma War, and was president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1904.

{{Citation | first = Garth | last = Watson| title = The Civils | publisher = London: Thomas Telford Ltd | page = 252

| year = 1988 | isbn = 0-7277-0392-7}}{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/indianengineerin02calcuoft#page/222/mode/1up|journal=Indian Engineering|page=222|year=1887|author=Anon.|title=Guilford L. Molesworth}}

Molesworth was consulted on a number of occasions on the suitability of adopting a narrow gauge rather than a broad one. He was generally against the narrow gauge as he regarded the cost savings as illusory. His broad gauge line to Kandy was meant to prove that the gauge was practicable in steep mountains.

He published the Molesworth's Pocket Book of Engineering Formulae. This useful little volume contained formulas and details on many engineering related subjects. The first edition was published in November 1862 and ran to over thirty editions (The twenty-eighth edition{{Cite book

|title=Molesworth's Pocket Bool of Engineering Formulae

|last=Molesworth |first=Sir Guilford L.

|publisher=E. & F.N. Spon Ltd., 57 Haymarket, London.

|year=1921

}} was published in 1921).

His other works include:

• State Railways in India (1872)
• Metrical Tables (1880; fourth edition, 1909)
• Imperialism in India (1885)
• Silver and Gold (1891)
• Our Empire under Protection and Free Trade (1902)
• Economic and Fiscal Facts and Fallacies (1909)
• Indian Railway Policy (1920)

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• {{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article16008079 |title=A GREAT ENGINEER. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=17 June 1922 |accessdate=13 July 2012 |page=8 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}

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{{s-bef|before=William Henry White}}

{{s-ttl|title=President of the Institution of Civil Engineers

|years=November 1904 – November 1905}}

{{s-aft|after=Alexander Binnie}}

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Category:1828 births

Category:1925 deaths

Category:British railway civil engineers

Category:English non-fiction writers

Category:British people of the Second Anglo-Afghan War

Category:British people of the Crimean War

Category:Presidents of the Institution of Civil Engineers

Category:Engineers from Southampton

Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire

Category:Railway officers in British India

Category:English male non-fiction writers

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