James I'Anson
Scientist and Engineer of Charles I'Anson, Son and Co.
1898 Died.
1898 Obituary [1]
JAMES I'ANSON died suddenly at his residence, Fairfield House, Darlington, on March 31, 1898. Born in 1845, he was the son of Charles I'Anson, who in 1871 was Mayor of Darlington.
He received his engineering training at the shops of the North-Eastern Railway Company, and of Brassey & Co., Birkenhead.
He subsequently became a partner in the firm of Charles I'Anson & Co. of Whessoe Foundry.
He took special interest in technical education, and was last year appointed director of studies at the Darlington Technical School. He occupied himself largely in scientific, literary, and artistic pursuits. For many years he was a Fellow of the Geological Society, and also sat upon the Council of the Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland. He was a member of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers, to whose proceedings he contributed papers, as also to those of the Cleveland Institute of Engineers, the Mineralogical Society and the British Archaeological Association of Darlington. He was a Justice of the Peace for the borough, a governor of the Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, a member of the governing body of the North of England Training College, and a member of the Technical Instruction and Free Library Committee for the borough. He was a member of the Darlington Charity Organisation, and a member of the Darlington Students' School of Art. Under the University Extension Scheme he was appointed a lecturer, and under its auspices two years ago delivered an interesting course of lectures on " Light." He was a member of more than one antiquarian society, and some few years ago paid very considerable attention to early English Church history, about which he wrote some admirable papers.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1875, and in 1893, as honorary secretary of the reception committee, organised the highly successful Darlington meeting. He then contributed to the Proceedings an important paper on the Luhrig coal-washing and dry separation plant at the Randolph Pit of the North Bitchburn Coal Company, and wrote with great literary skill a special account of the industries of Darlington.
1898 Obituary [2]