Sir Edouard Percy Cranwill Girouard

Born in Montreal, Girouard was educated at Royal Military College, Kingston, commissioned in the Royal Engineers in 1888, and appointed to the Royal Arsenal Railways at Woolwich. Charged in 1896 with construction of the Wadi Halfa-Khartoum Railway, he was later director of railways in South Africa and as high commissioner in Northern Nigeria superintended the building of the line to Kano. Governor of Northern Nigeria (1908-9), of East Africa (1909-12), and director general of munitions supply in the British government (1915-16), he also wrote several books on the strategic importance of railways.

Né à Montréal, Girouard étudia au Royal Military College de Kingston et servit dans les Royal Engineers. En 1896, il fut chargé de la construction du chemin de fer Wadi Halfa-Khartoum. Il fut par la suite directeur des chemins de fer en Afrique du Sud et Haut-commissaire au Nigéria du Nord, où il surveilla la construction de la voie de Kano. Gouverneur du Nigéria du Nord (1908-1909) et de l’Afrique de l’Est (1909- 1912), directeur général des approvisionnements en munitions du gouvernement britannique (1915-1916), il publia des ouvrages sur l’importance stratégique des chemins de fer.