Description

Copy of a photograph of Kaichi Watanabe’s family taken in 1907. Watanabe was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1858 and was one of the first Japanese engineers to study and work in the UK. He graduated from Glasgow University with a BSc in Civil Engineering in 1886 and then worked as an intern rising to construction foreman on the building of the Forth Bridge before returning to Japan in 1888.

This rare photograph was presented by Watanabe’s descendents to Professor Roland Paxton when on a lecture visit to Japan in 1996.