Samuel Swinton Jacob

Sir Samuel Swinton Jacob, (14 January 1841 – 4 December 1917), known as Sir Swinton Jacob, (of the Bombay Artillery and a member of a distinguished military family) and Jane Swinton, granddaughter of Captain Samuel Swinton RN. He was educated at Cheam School and then at the East India Company Military College at Addiscombe where he was one of the last cohort of graduates in 1858 before the college was taken over by the government.

Career Jacob was commissioned into the Bombay Artillery in 1858, qualifying five years later as a surveyor and engineer. After initial service with the Bombay Staff Corps in the Public Works Department, and a brief spell with the Aden Field Force in 1865–6, he was appointed in 1867 as chief engineer of the state of Jaipur in Rajasthan, India. He was to spend the remainder of his working life in this position until he retired at the age of 71. and to colonel on 26 February 1889. During the summer of 1902, he accompanied the Maharaja of Jaipur as a political officer during a visit to the United Kingdom to attend the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. The coronation was originally scheduled for late June, but was postponed until 16 August 1902 when the King fell ill, prolonging their stay in London.

Later career Among his honours were the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal for Public Service on 9 November 1901. In the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902 (the original date for the subsequently postponed coronation of King Edward VII), Jacob was made a Knight Commander of the Indian Empire (KCIE).

He had no sooner retired to England in 1911 then he was recruited by the secretary of state for India to assist Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker in the design of New Delhi. Failing health soon forced him to withdraw from the assignment.

Notable buildings All Saint's Church, Jaipur. Designed by Jacob and opened for worship at Christmas 1876. Albert Hall Museum, Jaipur. Also called the Government Central Museum. Located on Ram Niwas Bagh, it was built between 1880 and 1887 after the original design by Frederick de Fabeck, for which the then Prince of Wales had laid the foundation stone in 1876, was abandoned. Maharaja Ram Singh initially wanted the building to be a town hall, but his successor, Sawai Madho Singh, decided it should be a museum for the art of Jaipur. Jaipur Gate, 1886 (with Thomas Holbein Hendley). The "exotic" structure of Indian teak was carved in Shekhawati and transported to London for an exhibition. In 1926 it was moved to Hove, East Sussex, where it still stands outside Hove Museum of Creativity. Jubilee Buildings, Jodhpur, 1887–96. The Delhi State Election Commission's Office on Lothian Road near Kashmiri Gate in Delhi. Built 1890 to 1891, two-storey building housed St. Stephen's College, Delhi from 1891 till 1941, when it shifted to its present campus. Bikaner House, Mount Abu. Built 1893 as a summer residence for the Maharaja of Bikaner. It has now been converted into the Palace Hotel. Laxmi Niwas Palace, Bikaner. Built 1896–1902 and then extended from 1902 until 1926 into the Lalgarh Palace. Umed Bhawan Palace, Kota. Built in 1904. Now houses a WelcomHeritage hotel. King George Medical College, Lucknow. Built 1905. Now called the King George Medical University. Peshawar Museum, Peshawar. Built 1907 as Victoria Memorial Hall. Rambagh Palace, designed by Jacob in 1905, built 1909–16 by Chiman Lal and Bhola Nath. Daly College, Indore, 1912.

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