Herbert Cecil Brocklehurst
Herbert Cecil Brocklehurst (c1883-1935)
1935 Obituary [1]
HERBERT CECIL BROCKLEHURST, M.B.E., was associated with the Robert W. Hunt Company, consulting and inspecting engineers, from 1913 until his death, with the exception of the War period.
He was born in Preston, Lanes., and in 1896 commenced his apprenticeship with Messrs. T. Coulthard and Company in that town. He remained with the firm until 1904 and then turned to electrical engineering and joined Messrs. Dick, Kerr and Company, Ltd., for whom he was engaged on the design of direct-current motors and generators.
He then spent a year with the British Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company at Trafford Park, Manchester, but left in 1908 to commence a two years' course of studies at Victoria Technical School, Preston.
In 1910 he returned to Messrs. Dick, Kerr as mechanical designer and was so engaged until his appointment as representative in Manchester and Liege, Belgium, of the Robert W. Hunt Company three years later. In this capacity he supervised the installation and testing of several trunk telephone cables in England.
In addition he practised on his own account as a consulting engineer and also represented Messrs. Siemens Brothers and Company, Ltd., of Woolwich.
He was appointed in 1915 representative of the British War Office in the United States and was engaged on the inspection of munitions purchased there. In 1917 he became assistant to the director of inspection, with responsibility for the inspection of all steel, forgings, munitions, railway components, etc., supplied to the Ministry of Munitions.
Mr. Brocklehurst remained in New York until 1919 as deputy director of the British Munitions Committee and was then re-engaged by the Robert W. Hunt Company as chief engineer and technical manager of the firm's London office. In 1934 he was appointed manager, and held that position until his death, which occurred on 18th March 1935, in his fifty-third year.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1914 and was transferred to Membership in 1918.