Dr. James Tayler Milton (1850-1933), late Chief Engineer Surveyor of Lloyd's Register of Shipping.[1]
1917 Member of the Institution of Naval Architects.[2]
1933 Obituary[3]
"THE LATE DR. J. T. MILTON.
The news of the sudden death of Dr. James Tayler Milton, at his house at Emsworth, Hampshire, on December 13, will be received with regret by naval architects and marine engineers in all parts of the world. Dr. Milton was for many years Chief Engineer Surveyor to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. He was born at Portsmouth in 1850 and received his general education mainly at Greenwich Naval School. In 1866 he became an engineer student at Portsmouth Dockyard and four years later entered upon a special course of technical training at the Royal School of Naval Architecture, which was then at South Kensington, but was transferred in 1873 to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. At the conclusion of his studies he received a first class Professional Certificate and became assistant engineer in the Royal Navy. This position he only retained for a short time, however, having been appointed Engineering Surveyor to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping in 1875. Four years later he became Assistant Chief Engineer Surveyor and continued in this capacity until 1886, when he was made manager of the St. Peter’s engine works of Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1890, however, Dr. Milton re-entered the service of Lloyd’s Register as Chief Engineer Surveyor and continued to hold this position until September 30, 1921, when he retired. For his great services to engineering the Senate of the University of Durham conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, the ceremony taking place at Durham on June 28, 1921.
Dr. Milton’s tenure of office at Lloyd’s Register coincided with a period of rapid advances in the science of marine engineering. Among these may be noted the adoption of basidsteel for ships and of highertensile steel for boilers; the introduction of quadruple-expansion engines and of steam-turbine engines, first with direct drive and subsequently with reduction gearing; the employment of water-tube boilers and the introduction of Diesel and other oil engines and of oil fuel. Dr. Milton was closely associated with all these matters and in addition to his other duties served on several committees appointed by the Government to deal with technical problems. He also made numerous contributions to the Institution of Naval Architects, which he joined as a member in 1877. In August of this latter year he read a paper on the “ Strength of Boilers ” before the autumn meeting of the Institution in Glasgow and was awarded a Gold Medal; in 1915, he became an honorary vice-president. He was also a familiar figure at the meetings of the Institute of Marine Engineers and had served on the Council as a member or as a vice-president since 1908; in 1918 he was elected president of the Institute. Dr. Milton became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on December 5, 1899, and in that same year contributed a paper on “ Water-Tube Boilers for Marine Engines ” for which he was awarded a Telford Medal and Premium. During the 1902-03 session, in collaboration with his son-in-law, Mr. (now Sir) William J. Larke, he read a contribution entitled “ The Decay of Metals,” which brought Telford Premiums to the joint authors. Dr. Milton became a member of the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in November, 1886, and of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1891; he was made an honorary member of the latter body in 1927. He was an original member of the Institute of Metals and had the distinction of presenting the first paper, on the first day, of the first meeting of the Institute, held in Birmingham on November 11, 1908 ; this bore the title “ Some Points of Interest concerning Copper and Copper Alloys.” He was a member of the Council of the Institute from 1908 to 1913, and a vice-president from 1914 to 1922. Dr. Milton was also a member of the Liverpool Engineering Society and a past-president of the Ice and Cold Storage Association."
1934 Obituary [4]
Dr. JAMES TAYLER MILTON died suddenly at his home at Emsworth, Hampshire, on December 13, 1933.
Born at Portsmouth in 1850, he received his general education mainly at Greenwich Naval School.
In 1866 he became an engineer student at Portsmouth Dockyard: four years later he took a special course of technical training at the Royal School of Naval Architecture - then at South Kensington, but transferred in 1873 to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich - at the conclusion of which he was awarded a first-class Professional Certificate and became an assistant engineer in the Royal Navy.
In 1875 he was appointed an Engineering Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping, and four years later he became Assistant Chief Engineer Surveyor.
In 1886 he took up the managership of the St. Peter's engine works of Messrs. R. & W. Hawthorne, Leslie & Co., Ltd., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but in 1890 he re-entered the service of Lloyd's Register as Chief Engineer Surveyor, which position he continued to hold until he retired on September 30, 1921.
For his great services to engineering the Senate of the University of Durham conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science on June 28, 1921. Dr. Milton's tenure of office at Lloyd's Register coincided with a period of rapid advances in the science of marine engineering. He was closely associated with all these developments, and, in addition to his other duties, served on several Government committees dealing with technical problems.
Dr. Milton was a member of numerous technical societies and contributed valuable papers at their meetings. In 1877 he joined the Institution of Naval Architects, and in 1915 became an Honorary Vice-President; for his paper on the "Strength of Boilers" read before that Institution in 1877 he received a Gold Medal. He served on the Council of the Institute of Marine Engineers as a Member or a Vice-President since 1908, and in 1918 was elected President. The Institution of Civil Engineers, which he joined in 1899, awarded him a Telford Medal and Premium for his paper on "Water-Tube Boilers for Marine Engines," presented in that year; during the 1902-1903 session he and his son-in-law, Mr. (now Sir) William J. Larke, read a contribution on "The Decay of Metals," which brought Telford. Premiums to the joint authors. Dr. Milton joined the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in 1886, and was an original member of the Institute of Metals, to which he contributed the first paper on the first day of the first meeting, held in Birmingham on November 11, 1908; he was a member of Council of that Institute from 1908 till 1913 and a Vice-President from 1914 till 1922. He was *also a member of the Liverpool Engineering Society and a Past-President of the Ice and Cold Storage Association. He became a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1891 and was elected an Honorary Member - a rare honour - in 1927.
* 1933 Obituary[5]
MARINE engineers and naval architects throughout the world will learn with regret of the death of Dr. J. T. Milton, a late Chief Engineer Surveyor of Lloyd's Register of Shipping, which took place at his home at Emsworth, Hampshire, on Wednesday, December 13th. Dr. Milton, who was eighty-three years of age, was born at Portsmouth, served his apprenticeship in Portsmouth Dockyard, and studied at Greenwich College, where he was one of the outstanding students of his year. In May 1875, he joined Lloyd's Register of Shipping as an engineer surveyor, and at once took a share of the outdoor surveying work of the Society in the London district, and of the work of the Engineering Department. When he joined the Society it had no rules for engines and boilers. He it was who framed the first rules, and during his long period of service made successive revisions of them, formulating new rules as fresh problems arose. His tenure of office covered an interesting period of rapid advance and change in marine engineering practice. Some outstanding developments which he saw and advanced were the use of Siemens-Martin basic steel for boilers; the introduction of corrugated furnaces; and the coming, first, of the triple-expansion, and then of the quadruple-expansion engine with increased boiler pressures. Another important advance was the introduction of the Parsons steam turbine, first with the direct drive, and then with reduction gearing. Shortly afterwards there followed the Diesel and other oil marine engines, and the use of oil fuel for boiler firing. In all these developments Dr. Milton kept fully abreast of the advances made and formulated appropriate, Lloyd's rules. From May, 1875, to June, 1921, when he retired from the office of Chief Engineer Surveyor, which he held with honour from 1890, Dr. Milton only spent four years away from Lloyd's Register of Shipping. In 1886 he left the Society to become manager of the marine engine works of R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Co., Ltd., but he returned in 1890 to take up the position of Chief Engineer Surveyor.
He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and a recipient of the Telford Medal. In June, 1921, the University of Durham conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science. Among other offices he was a Vice-president of the Institution of Naval Architects, a Past-president of the Institute of Marine Engineers, and a member of the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders, the Institute of Metals, the Liverpool Engineering Society, and the Ice and Cold Storage Association, of which Society he was at one time a President. He served on several Government Committees, dealing with petroleum and oil fuel problems, and was a member of the Committee appointed by the Cunard Steamship Company to advise on the most desirable type of machinery for the "Lusitania" and "Mauretania."
Dr. Milton presented several important papers to the various technical institutions, among which may perhaps be mentioned that of April, 1911, on "Diesel Engines for Sea-going Vessels," read before the Institution of Naval Architects, in which he gave a valuable account of Continental progress with the Diesel engine. He was a personal friend of the late Dr. Rudolf Diesel, and was largely instrumental in putting forward his claims in this country. In April, 1914, Dr. Milton further reviewed the oil engine position in a paper read before the Institution of Naval Architects on the "Present Position of Diesel Engines for Marine Purposes." Other papers included his Lloyd's report of May, 1912, on the " Spontaneous Combustion of Coal," and several papers before the Institute of _Marine Engineers dealing with such important subjects as cast iron, brass, and other copper alloys used in marine engineering.
To few marine engineers has there been granted a more useful, varied, and honoured life. The end came suddenly and peacefully following the shock of the death of his illustrious brother, Engineer Rear-Admiral Milton, who died a few days before his brother James, also at Emsworth. The late Admiral Milton was aboard the "Calliope" at the time of the Samoan hurricane, and carried out many Admiralty trials, including some of the first in which the Admiralty put the engines from full ahead to full astern without shutting off steam.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ The Engineer 1933/12/22
- ↑ The Engineer 1917/04/06 p 317.
- ↑ Engineering 1933/12/22
- ↑ 1934 Iron and Steel Institute: Obituaries
- ↑ The Engineer 1933/12/22