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EAGLESOME, Sir John Egan KCMG (1868–1950), civil engineer, was born on 14 March 1868 in Belgaum, India, the son of George Eaglesome. His father worked in the Education Department of the Indian Civil Service. Educated at Thomason Civil Engineering College, Roorkee where he was awarded gold medals in Mathematics and Mechanics he was appointed to the Railway Branch of the Public Works Department in 1890. He was an Assistant Engineer on the Khojak tunnel, Afghanistan in 1892, and also worked on the Godaveri Bridge, in Madras.

After ten years' experience in India Eaglesome was appointed Director of Public Works in Northern Nigeria. The early railways in Nigeria had been surveyed and designed by **Shelford & Son on behalf of the Crown Agents. The High Commissioner, Frederick Lugand regarded this system as wasteful, and Percy **Girouard, his successor, ensured the Baro–Kano Railway was supervised and built by Eaglesome and the PWD. Eaglesome was put in charge in February 1907. A. L. Seymour, an assistant, praised the speed and cheapness of construction—using corrugated iron for stations, etc., and the line cost c. £3,915 a mile, 4% less than Frederick ***Shelford's work. Following the railway's completion Eaglesome was appointed Director of Railways and Public Works in Nigeria. In the war he was transferred to Britain, serving as Assistant Controller, non-ferrous metals, in the Ministry of Munitions from 1916, and acting as Chairman of the Northern Sub-Committee, Canal Control, April 1917—December 1919. He advised at the International Conferences in London and Paris and was honoured Officier de Legion d’Honneur in 1919. In the UK he was honoured CMG in 1905 and KCMG in 1916.