Peter Seton Hay

{{short description|New Zealand civil engineer}}

{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2017}}

Peter Seton Hay (1852–19 March 1907) was a New Zealand civil engineer and public servant. He was born in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland{{DNZB|title=Peter Seton Hay|first= Peter|last= Lowe|id=2h24|accessdate=23 April 2017}} on 12 July 1852.{{Cite web|url=http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Peter_Seton_Hay|title=Peter Seton Hay|website=www.gracesguide.co.uk|access-date=2016-06-23}}

He was brought to Dunedin in April 1860. In 1875, he joined the Public Works Department, as an engineering cadet, and was awarded a University of Otago BA in 1877 and an MA in 1878. He married Mary Clarke on 22 April 1879 and was survived by her, four sons and a daughter.{{Cite web|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/biographies/2h24/hay-peter-seton|title=Hay, Peter Seton|last=Taonga|first=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu|website=www.teara.govt.nz|language=en|access-date=2016-06-23}}

Peter Seton Hay helped build parts of the Main South Line, Central Otago, Midland and Catlins River railways, before moving to the Wellington head office in 1884. His works then included Timaru Harbour, the NIMT (with the Makōhine, Mangaweka, Hapuawhenua, Taonui, Manganui-a-te-ao and Makatote viaducts), Awatere bridge; Farewell Spit Lighthouse, Rakaia Gorge Bridge, Christchurch Exhibition towers, Motueka Harbour and reports on the hydroelectric potential of the Waikato, Waikaremoana, Mangawhero–Wanganui and Lakes Coleridge, Hāwea, Te Anau and Manapouri.

In 1906 he was promoted to engineer-in-chief, but died the next year, aged 54, of pleurisy, after several months in hospital,{{Cite news|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=EP19070320.2.38&zto=1|title=Death Of Mr. P. S. Hay.|date=1907-03-20|newspaper=Evening Post|pages=7|access-date=2016-06-23}} following exposure whilst inspecting the railway near Waiouru.

== External links ==

• {{cite web|url= https://www.engineeringnz.org/programmes/heritage/engineering-hall-fame/peter-seton-hay-18521907/ |title= Peter Seton Hay |publisher= Engineering New Zealand |date= 2023}}