This chapter analyses the networks of the consulting engineers who dominated the market for British engineering projects in Africa in this period. It focuses on the elite segment of the profession. On those few engineers who were among – or who at least could hope to aspire to – what Queen's Magazine called the ‘Upper Ten Thousand’; that is, the roughly 10,000 people in late-Victorian society who sustained an annual income of over £10,000. The chapter demonstrates that the market for consultancy to British projects in Africa was controlled by tightly knit networks of consulting engineers based in Westminster and it analyses the ways in which the empire became an integral and constitutive part of the business platform of those select engineers. It identifies the key agents and analyses a number of shared characteristics that underpinned their networks. The strength of these networks originated from systems based on trust and patronage – elements that remained important in spite of the growing professionalization of the engineering profession that also characterized this period.

From their base in Westminster consulting engineers developed close ties with other groups with imperial interests. This chapter unravels how these connections were established and sustained over time. It argues that alliances between consulting engineers and other British imperial groups were central for the development of British imperialism in Africa in this period.