James Le Masurier
James Le Masurier (c1882-1943)
1944 Obituary [1]
Major JAMES LE MASURIER, C.B.E., R.E., ret., was educated at St. Helier's School, Jersey, and served his apprenticeship from 1891 to 1896 with Messrs. Grandin and Company, Ltd., engineers, on the conclusion of which he served at sea as marine engineer for seven years and rose to be chief engineer. In 1904 he went to the Straits Settlements to carry out the survey of a wreck and subsequently went into practice as a consulting engineer in Singapore, where he also held the post of surveyor for the New York Shipping Conference.
From 1909 to 1914 he was managing director of a firm of engineers and merchants, whilst continuing to be actively engaged on behalf of various shipping firms as surveyor. In addition he acted as technical assessor to the Supreme Court in connection with salvage and collision cases. During the war of 1914-18 he served with distinction, commanding a company of Royal Engineers from September 1914 until August 1916 when he proceeded to Mesopotamia to superintend the re-erection of river craft which previously he had dismantled for their transportation in sections. For this operation he received the thanks of the G.O.C., Straits Settlements.
In the following year he was lent by the War Office to the Ministry of Shipping for special technical and administrative service and in 1921 he was appointed British technical expert in connection with the proposed cession of German rivercraft. In the previous year he had begun to practice as a consulting engineer in London and for many years was chiefly concerned with Diesel-electrical power generation.
Major Le Masurier, whose death in his sixty-first year occurred on 8th October 1943, was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1908 and was transferred to Membership in 1912. He was also a Member of the Institution of Naval Architects.