- [Footnote: authorities on Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia. As a young man
he was employed in India by the Department of Public Works and for a period of eleven years, 1872-1883, was engaged in the construction of the famous irrigation works there. From 1883-1893, he was employed in a similar capacity by the Egyptian Public Works and was largely responsible for the development of irrigation in the Nile Valley. In 1898, he planned and projected the Assuan Dam, which turned out to be the greatest irrigation work in the East. In 1909, Sir William Willcocks became consulting engineer to the Ottoman Ministry of Public Works, and was responsible for the construction, 1911-1913, by the British firm of Sir John Jackson, Ltd., of the famous Hindie barrage, the first step in the irrigation of the Valley of the Two Rivers.], we are now, forsooth, to pursue a policy which savours partly of 'sour grapes' and partly of 'dog-in-the-manger,' and which in either aspect will do nothing to strengthen British hands and promote British interests." Proceedings of the Central Asian Society (London), May 22, 1911, p. 19.]*
