Alfred Brown Ernest Blackburn (1876-1953)
1953 Obituary [1]
ALFRED BROWN ERNEST BLACKBURN, C.B.E., B.Sc., who died on the 22nd September, 1953, was born at Walsall, Staffordshire, on the 8th January, 1876.
He was educated at Solihull Grammar School, Warwickshire, and at Mason University College, Birmingham.
In 1895 he entered upon a 3 years’ pupilage with Mr A. Ashton Hill, M.I.C.E., and on its completion he became a Junior Engineer with the South Staffordshire Waterworks Company.
In 1901 he joined the staff of the Sunderland and South Shields Water Company as Engineer and General Manager, and later was made a Director.
He retired in 1949, but retained his seat on the Board. Mr Blackburn served on several advisory committees, both on water engineering and mining subsidence. These included the Water Power Resources Committee (1919-1921) and the Ministry of Health Advisory Committee on Water (1922-1937).
In 1924 he gave evidence on behalf of the British Waterworks Association and the Water Companies Association before the Royal Commission on Mining Subsidence, and later prepared evidence for Birmingham Corporation in connexion with the Elan Valley works....[more]