Alfred Ernest Wells
Alfred Ernest Wells (1857-1925)
1925 Obituary
WE regret to have to put on record the death of Mr. Alfred Ernest Wells, the deputy-chairman of Edgar Allen and Co., Ltd. Mr. Wells, who was born in 1857 at Eckington in Derbyshire, was a son of the late George Wells, of J. and G. Wells. Ltd., colliery proprietors. He was educated at the Bradford Academy, and in October, 1874, went to Samuel Osborn and Co., Ltd where he acquired an excellent commercial and works training.
By the year 1880 he was doing most of the buying for that firm, and had also direct charge of the steel foundry, and continued to carry on that work until March, 1890, when he joined the late William Edgar Allen and the present chairman, Mr. Robert Woodward, in founding the firm of Edgar Allen and Co., Ltd. In those days the foundry, which was always Mr. Wells's special care, was a very small department, and the steel was made in a gas crucible furnace. During the summer of 1890 Mr. Wells was on the Continent investigating the Robert process of steel making, and although he decided that, in its then form, it was unsuitable, he quickly saw that if certain modifications could be introduced the process had possibilities.
In connection with his researches he met the late Monsieur Tropenas, and a personal friendship was formed which only ended with that gentleman's death in 1917. The result of the co-operation between Mr. Wells and Monsieur Tropenas was the now world-famed process which bears the latter's name. The first converter was installed in the Edgar Allen foundry in 1891. It proved to be one of the best innovations undertaken by the firm, and Mr. Wells threw all his energy and enthusiasm into it, making it a great success. Always a hard worker, keen on detail and method, and quick to recognise a good thing when he saw it, he made the Tropenas process, combined with his great knowledge of steel foundry work, one of the foundations on which the success of the firm has been built.
We have received, and have pleasure in publishing the following appreciation of his career:- "There was no better-known figure in the whole Edgar Allen works than Mr. A. E. Wells, although in his latter days he did not move at the pace which earlier on in his career earned him a notorious sobriquet. The development of the Edgar Alien foundry was undoubtedly due to the energy and ability of Mr. Wells, and although much of his time was in later life taken up by the larger questions of commerce and finance, he always made a point of keeping closely in touch with everything that went on in the foundry department.
"The secrets of Mr. Wells's success were first, his thoroughness in anything he had in hand; and, secondly, his remarkable memory. He could give minute and exact particulars of incidents or transactions even after the lapse of many years. He was a good talker, full of anecdote, and one of the cheeriest companions when on a journey. "He never had much taste or time for public life, although for six years in succession he was president of the Rotherham Chamber of Commerce probably a record for the country. He was always an insatiable worker, and during the war was so keen to do everything possible to beat the Germans, that he became chairman of the Board of Management of a Shell Factory at Rotherham, which, at the close of hostilities was turning out 5000 4. 5 shells per week, and had an aggregate turnout of about 450,000. The fine results obtained at that factory were due in no small degree to Mr. Wells's intimate knowledge of human nature.
In March, 1919, Mr. Wells, then in his sixty-second year, was knocked down by a motor lorry travelling at over 30 miles an hour. That he survived at all was due solely to a magnificent constitution, and to a lifetime so full of hard work that he had no time to spare for anything else but healthy exercise. Although he made an almost complete recovery, the accident must considerably have shortened his life.
"Those who did not know him well perhaps formed the opinion that he was stern and a martinet, but in reality he was one of the kindliest men living. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace for the County Borough of Rotherham in 1919, and in that capacity did not hesitate to deal severely with those offences which were against the interests of the community at large; yet on the other hand, many a first offender or person brought before him who had been led astray, was put into the right direction by a few kindly words of counsel, and an indefinite remand for the purpose of trying again." [1]