Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). He was also responsible for the straightening of the lower reaches of the Yarra River in Melbourne, Australia with the resulting district of Coode Island and the Coode Canal named for him, and the design of what became Victoria Dock. He was a member of the royal commission on metropolitan sewage discharge (1882-4), and of the international commission of the Suez Canal ; on the latter he served from 1884 till his death in 1892. After he returned from his second visit to the Australian colonies he was made a K.C.M.G. in 1886, in recognition of the distinguished services he had rendered to the empire. Coode was probably the most distinguished harbour engineer of the nineteenth century ; it would be difficult to estimate too highly the value to the trade and mutual intercourse of the different parts of the British empire, of the harbour and river improvement schemes in every part of the world for which he was responsible. He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1849, served for many years on the council, and was president from May 1889 to May 1891. He was also an active member of the Royal Colonial Institute, and sat on its council from 1881 till his death. Coode died at Brighton on 2 March 1892. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery. Family He married in 1842 Jane, daughter of William Price of Weston-super-Mare. There is a portrait of him in oil at the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a bust, the property of Mrs. Lillingston, the Vicarage, Havering-atte-Bower, near Romford. Works Coode contributed a very valuable paper to the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1852 on the 'Chesil Bank' (Proc. Inst. Civil Eng, xii. 520), and his presidential address to the civil engineers was delivered in 1889. He wrote many professional reports, chiefly on harbours, the most important of which are Table Bay (Weymouth, 1859); Whitehaven (London, 1866); on military harbours (London, 1875); Table Bay, Mossel Bay, &c. (London, 1877) ; Port Natal (London, 1877) ; Melbourne (London, 1879) ; Report on Harbours and Rivers in Queensland, Mackay (London, 1887); Townsville (London, 1887) ; Report on River Tyne Improvements (London, 1877) ; Report on tidal difficulties on Dee at Chester (Chester, 1891). References Attribution External links Coode, John, McMaster Libraries Sir John Coode's Harbour, East London harbour development, 1872–1895 1816 births 1892