Herbert William Lowden
Herbert William Lowden (c1877-1935)
1935 Obituary [1]
HERBERT WILLIAM LOWDEN devoted the greater part of his career to the development of sugar estates for various firms.
He was a native of Liverpool, and served for three years as an apprentice in the Walker Engineering Laboratories, and for a further two years with Messrs. H. and W. Grayson and Company, engineers and shipbuilders, of Liverpool.
In 1898 he joined Messrs. Laird Brothers of Birkenhead as an improver, but left a year later to go to sea as fourth engineer in a vessel owned by Messrs. Graham, Anderson and Company, of Newcastle. He continued to serve at sea in vessels owned by various firms for several years, and rose to be first engineer.
In 1909 he joined Messrs. Fawcett, Preston and Company, of Liverpool, as a draughtsman, and two years later went to Santo Domingo in connexion with an extension to a sugar factory. He then became technical representative to Messrs. Fawcett, Preston, and travelled to South Africa, Mauritius, and the Philippine Islands.
Subsequently he was appointed technical manager to sugar estates in Manila and Portuguese East Africa, and in 1917 joined Messrs. Leach's Argentine estates in a similar capacity.
From 1919 to 1924 he was technical manager and director of the La Carlota Sugar Company, in the Philippine Islands; he then spent several months in Durban as technical adviser to South African sugar interests, after which he returned to the Argentine as technical manager of Messrs. Leach's estates. He was responsible for the development of transport, including light railway construction, irrigation, sawmills, and the general engineering work of the plantation.
In 1928 he retired and lived in Buenos Aires, where his death occurred on 11th March 1935, in his fifty-eighth year.
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1928.