In Memoriam of Kenneth Sturge

1933-2011

Kenneth Sturge was born on the 10th September 1933. He graduated from QRC in 1951 with a Grade 1 in Senior Certificate and entered Survey School in October of that same year. Some of the persons in that intake included Paul Williams, Carl Williams, Neville Aqui and Percy Farrell. He represented Trinidad in Water Polo in the 1950's.

Ken was initially unsuccessful with the RICS Intermediate exams and had to withdraw from the school. He gained employment as a 2nd class Clerk in the civil service in June 1954 and then became an Assistant Forest surveyor in 1959 and eventually transferred to the Water Division as an Engineering Surveyor in December 1961.

In the late sixties he resigned his job and left for England to pursue his studies with a view to passing his RICS exams which were a prerequisite for getting a cadastral licence at that time. He eventually returned to Trinidad in 1971 and got his licence in November 1971. He worked at the Lands and Surveys Division in the Mapping and Control Section until he resigned in August 1980 when he got an opportunity to move to PLIPDECO as their Chief Surveyor, a job which he held until 1984 when he went into full private practice. Interestingly, he was David Neale's boss when David worked at PLIPDECO as a technician in the early 80's. Those were challenging years as the massive reclamation that expanded the estate was going on so he was intimately involved in that aspect of the work.

He appeared in court on many occasions as a professional witness in several court cases as his practice wound down in the last decade or so.

Ken Sturge succumbed to a lengthy battle with cancer and was cremated on Friday 17 June 2011.