Henry Rofe
Henry Rofe (1839-1915) of Rofe and Son
son of Henry Rofe, Senior
1852 of the Birmingham Waterworks
1915 Obituary [1]
HENRY ROFE was born in Birmingham on 15th February 1839, being the son of Henry Rofe, Engineer to the Birmingham Waterworks Co. and Professor of Engineering at Queen's College, Birmingham.
He was educated at King Edward VI School and Queen's College, Birmingham, and the Royal School of Mines, London.
In 1856 he entered his father's office, and three years later he was appointed sub-engineer to the Birmingham Waterworks Co. In March 1863 he became acting engineer, and held that position until December 1865, when he resigned.
His next appointment was as waterworks manager and engineer to the Rochdale Corporation from 1868 to 1874, when he became engineer to the Nottingham Waterworks Co., and held this post until the Waterworks Undertaking was transferred to the Corporation in 1879.
In that year he was appointed general manager to the Southport Waterworks Co., which was, in its turn, transferred to the Southport, Birkdale and West Lancashire Water Board in 1902, when he was appointed consulting engineer to the Board.
In 1885 he entered into partnership with Mr. Edward Filliter, and practised with him as a consulting engineer in Leeds and Westminster until 1887, when Mr. Filliter retired.
He practised alone until 1901, when he took his elder son, Mr. Henry J. Rofe, into partnership.
Since 1884 he had been engaged in over 150 Water Bills before Parliament, and designed and supervised the construction of works for the following corporations and companies Leeds and Liverpool Canal Co., Rochdale Corporation, Wakefield Corporation, Oswestry Corporation, Kettering Urban District Council, Newquay and District Water Co., Holyhead Waterworks Co., Newark Corporation, Felixstowe and Walton Waterworks Co., Llanelly Rural District Council, etc. in 1893 he prepared, in conjunction with Mr. H. J. Marten, a report to the Conservators of the River Thames on storage reservoirs in the Thames Basin, and gave evidence before the Royal Commission appointed in that year to inquire into the water supply of the Metropolis.
In 1905 he reported on the water supply to the Cape Peninsula. His services were frequently in requisition as arbitrator and as an engineering witness in cases dealing with oyster questions.
His death took place in London on 2nd March 1915, at the age of seventy-six.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1872. He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of other Societies.
1915 Obituary [2]