Santiago Bevans


James Bevans was an English engineer, who was hired by the Argentine government to take over the water system of Buenos Aires in 1822.

Biography

James Bevans was born in London, England, son of John Bevans and Mary Moline. He arrived in the port of Buenos Aires on 2 November 1822, in company of his second wife Priscilla Bright and family from both marriages. He had been hired by Bernardino Rivadavia, to whom he presented a project for the port of the city, which consisted of a dock of thirty-three acres. That same year he finished the work of gas lighting of the Plaza de la Victoria.
His daughter María Bevans Bright, who married Charles Henri Pellegrini, were the parents of the future Argentine president Carlos Pellegrini.