Frederick Coates
Frederick Coates (1877-1932) of J. Coates and Co
1932 Obituary [1]
FREDERICK COATES came from a family of engineers, his father and six brothers all being in the same profession.
He was born at Gateshead in 1877, and served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Black, Hawthorn and Company and Messrs. Clarke, Chapman and Company.
From 1903 to 1906 he was a foreman engineer with Messrs. Clarke, Chapman and Company, and subsequently became engineer representative to Messrs. Rees and Wilson of Newcastle upon Tyne.
In 1908 he came to London to join his uncle, Mr. John Coates, in the firm of Messrs. John Coates and Company, consulting and inspecting engineers for the Victorian (Australia) Government.
In 1914 Mr. Coates succeeded his uncle as managing director of the firm, and held this position at the time of his death on 24th November 1932. His various responsibilities included the supervision of important contracts for locomotives, rails, and other plant in connexion with the construction of the Trans-Continental Railway of Australia, and for a large portion of the plant for the Yallourn Brown Coalfield for the State Electricity Commission of Victoria. He visited the United States and Canada and the Continent of Europe on many occasions.
Mr. Coates was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1911 and was transferred to Membership in 1914.