James Ashton Yates
James Ashton Yates (?-1950)
1950 Obituary [1]
"JAMES ASHTON YATES, B.Sc., retained a close connection with engineering at Manchester throughout his professional career, and had been the proprietor of Messrs. Smith and Yates, consulting engineers, for twenty-seven years.
His apprenticeship was served from 1908 to 1914 with the British Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company, Ltd., and during this period he took a part-time course at the Manchester Municipal College of Technology. After five years' active service in the ranks of the Royal Engineers in England and France he continued his education at the Manchester Victoria University, graduating B.Sc. (Tech.) in 1921. For the next two years he was assistant works manager to the Lea Recorder Company, Ltd., after which he established his business and continued in practice up to the time of his death, which occurred on 9th March 1950.
The activities of the firm included those of resident engineers to numerous engineering concerns, including Messrs. Danks, of Netherton, Ltd., and Messrs. Negretti and Zambra. During the 1939-45 war Mr. Yates was a member of the panel of the North-West Regional Fuel Efficiency Board. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1922, and transferred to Membership in 1946."