Jiro Miyabara
Jiro Miyabara (1858-1918)
1919 Obituary [1]
Engineer Vice-Admiral Baron JIRO MIYABARA, I.J.N., was born at Surugadai, Yeddo (now Tokio), on 7th July 1858.
He entered the Naval School at Tokio in 1873, and two years later was sent to England to study marine engineering, when he took the three years' course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.
He also received practical training at the works of John Elder and Co., Glasgow, and at Barrow-in-Furness at the time when the "City of Rome" was being built.
In 1883 he returned to Japan, and became Engineer-Lieut. (Junior Grade), when he was sent again to England to order and inspect the construction of engines for two fast cruisers.
Three years later he was appointed head designer of the Yokosuka Dockyard, which position he held until 1893, when he was sent to inspect the engines for the battleships "Yoshima" and "Fuji." During this time he brought out the Miyabara water-tube boiler.
The degree of Doctor of Technology was conferred upon him in 1899, and in the following year he was promoted Engineer Rear-Admiral and Engineer-in-Chief of the Japanese Navy.
The Emperor conferred upon him in 1904 the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class, for his water-tube boiler invention, and in 1906 the Order of the Golden Kite, 3rd class, for his services during the Russo-Japanese War. In the same year he was promoted Engineer Vice-Admiral, and was created Baron in 1907.
He retired from the service in 1908, and subsequently was chosen as a Member of the House of Peers. As early as 1905 he adopted the Curtis turbine for armoured, cruisers, which had at that time only been used in merchant vessels. He started an Engineering Society on his retirement, to promote engineering knowledge among the young Japanese, and installed a small laboratory at his own expense. He rendered valuable services to the Allied muse, and was Chairman of the Council of the British Society in Japan. His death took place at his residence near Tokio, on 15th January 1918, in his sixtieth year.
He was elected a Member of this Institution in 1897.