George Owen Donovan
George Owen Donovan (1869 - 1961)
1961 Obituary.[1]
The death occurred at Leamington Spa on the 6th July 1961 of George Owen Donovan at the age of 91.
Like his father, who died in the service of The Electrical Review in 1892, he spent the whole of his life in the electrical industry. At an early age he was employed by the Jablochkoff Electric Light Co., London, and while there assisted in the installation of the illuminations for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887.
After periods with Blakey, Emmott and Co., Halifax, with Crompton and Co., with Newington Priddle and Co. and with Mr. A. W. Schater, he was appointed assistant works manager in 1896 of Verity's Ltd., Birmingham, later becoming works manager. In 1906, he founded the firm of Donovan and Co., Birmingham, in which he was joined by his brother Walter. The firm was later incorporated as The Donovan Electrical Co. Ltd.
He was a founder member of the Electrical Wholesalers' Federation, of which he was a past-president, and was one of the early members of the Birmingham Electric Club, being president in 1910. He was also the club's senior honorary life vice-president. He was an active Freemason.
He is survived by three sons, two connected with the company as chairman and director and secretary and the other an orthopaedic surgeon in Birmingham.
He joined The Institution as a Member in 1903. He served on the South Midland Centre Committee from 1940 to 1943.