Sir Collingwood Schreiber, (December 14, 1831 – March 23, 1918) was an

English Canadian English Canadians (), or Anglo-Canadians (), refers to either Canadians of English ethnic origin and heritage or to English-speaking or Anglophone Canadians of any ethnic origin; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadians. Cana ...

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. These points are usually on the ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

and

civil servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil service personnel hired rather than elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leadership. A civil service offic ...

. He is best known for his contribution to the completion of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway () , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadian Pacific Kansas City, Canadian Pacific Ka ...

(CPR).

Biography

Schreiber was born in

Bradwell-on-Sea Bradwell-on-Sea is a village and civil parish in Essex, England; it is on the Dengie peninsula. It is located north-north-east of Southminster and is east of the county town of Chelmsford. The village is in the District of Maldon and in th ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

to the Reverend Thomas Schreiber and Sarah Bingham. His father's grandfather,

Johann Karl Schreiber Johann, typically a male given name, is the German language, German form of ''Iohannes'', which is the Latin language, Latin form of the Greek language, Greek name ''Iōánnēs'' (), itself derived from Hebrew language, Hebrew name ''Johanan (name ...

emigrated from

Swabia Swabia ; , colloquially ''Schwabenland'' or ''Ländle''; archaic English also Suabia or Svebia is a cultural, historic and linguistic region in southwestern Germany. The name is ultimately derived from the medieval Duchy of Swabia, one of ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

to England in the mid-18th century. His mother's father was rear admiral

Joseph Bingham Joseph Bingham (September 1668 – 17 August 1723) was an English scholar and divine, who wrote on ecclesiastical history. Life He was born at Wakefield in Yorkshire. He was educated at Wakefield Grammar School and University College, Ox ...

, and her grandfather was vice-admiral

Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet, of Harburn Admiral Sir William Parker, 1st Baronet (1 January 1743 – 31 October 1802), was a British naval commander. Parker served as a Royal Navy officer during the French Revolutionary Wars. Naval career William Parker's father, Augustine Parker, h ...

. Schreiber trained in England, and then emigrated to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1852, along with the rest of his family. He shortly thereafter began work as a railway engineer with the

Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway The Toronto, Hamilton and Buffalo Railway was a railway based in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton that ran in Southern Ontario from 1892 to 1987. It never reached the other two cities in its name although it had branch lines extending to Dunnville, O ...

. After four years with the firm, Schreiber left to work with Sir

Sandford Fleming Sir Sandford Fleming (January 7, 1827 – July 22, 1915) was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he immigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, ...

. After working on various private railways, in 1864 Schreiber received his first government appointment, and by 1873 he was the chief engineer for all government railways. Schreiber became intimately involved in the construction of the CPR. In June 1880, Schreiber was appointed by

Sir Charles Tupper Sir Charles Tupper, 1st Baronet (July 2, 1821 – October 30, 1915) was a Canadian Father of Confederation who served as the sixth prime minister of Canada from May 1 to July 8, 1896. As the premier of Nova Scotia from 1864 to 1867, he led ...

, who was then the

Minister of Railways and Canals The minister of transport () is a minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet. The minister is responsible for overseeing the federal government's transportation regulatory and development department, Transport Canada, the Saint Lawrence Seawa ...

, to replace Fleming as the chief engineer for the project, and by July of that same year had become

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

of all government railways in operation. He arranged financing and conducted repeated inspection tours, often with Sir

William Cornelius Van Horne Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, (February 3, 1843September 11, 1915) was an American businessman, industrialist and railroad magnate who spent most of his career in Canada. He is famous for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian Tran ...

, who was appointed CPR president in 1881. In 1887, Schreiber was a founding member of the

Canadian Society of Civil Engineers The Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) (French language, French: l'Institut canadien des ingénieurs; ICI) is a federation of fourteen engineering societies based in Canada, covering a broad range of list of engineering branches, engineering bran ...

. In 1892 he was made the deputy minister of railways and canals. In 1893, he was made a Companion of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

and, in 1916, a Knight Commander. In 1905 he took a position as consulting engineer on the western or

Grand Trunk Pacific The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National ...

division of the

National Transcontinental Railway The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic railway between Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Moncton, New Brunswick, in Canada. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway. The Grand Trunk partnership The completion o ...

". Schreiber continued in government service until his death in 1918. Despite living in an era rife with corruption, Schreiber always paid more attention to engineering than political concerns. He found a job for

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Sir

John A. Macdonald Sir John Alexander Macdonald (10 or 11January 18156June 1891) was the first prime minister of Canada, serving from 1867 to 1873 and from 1878 until his death in 1891. He was the dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, and had a political ...

's nephew, but flatly refused to promote people with influence unless their performance merited it. He repeatedly clashed with political "meddlers", and was disliked by various ministers in the Macdonald and Laurier administrations he served under. Schreiber died in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. The township of

Schreiber, Ontario Schreiber is a municipal township (Canada), township in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, located on the northernmost point of Lake Superior along Ontario Highway 17, Highway 17. The town, with a population ...

, is named after him and contains a plaque commemorating his life and achievements.

Notes

External links

* *
Ontario Plaques - Sir Collingwood Schreiber
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schreiber, Collingwood 1831 births 1918 deaths Province of Canada people Canadian engineers Canadian Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George People from Maldon District Canadian federal deputy ministers