Johann Auguste Diedrich Bornemann
Johann Auguste Diedrich Bornemann (1850-1923), managing director of Ruston, Proctor and Co.
1850 Born in Amsterdam.
1877 Joined Ruston, Proctor and Co
After 16 years of foreign travel he became managing director.
1919. Retired.
1923 Obituary [1]
JOHANN AUGUSTE DIEDRICH BORNEMANN, C.B.E., J.P., was born in August 1853, being a native of Amsterdam.
He left school at fourteen and at once commenced to earn his own living, but he continued his studies in the early mornings and in the evenings, laying the foundation of that mastery of languages — he spoke at least five European languages fluently — which had been of great service to him in later years.
In July 1877 he heard that Messrs. Ruston, Proctor and Co., of Lincoln, required a foreign correspondent other than a German, and submitted his application in four languages, receiving the appointment. His capabilities having been well tested, he was sent abroad on behalf of the firm, and for sixteen years in this capacity he did excellent work.
On the death in 1896 of Mr. John Kent, managing director of the firm, he was appointed his successor, and for twenty-three years maintained that position well until his retirement in 1919, when he became an ordinary director. During that period many contracts were carried out for various Government Departments, especially during the War, when the firm devoted itself to the construction of munitions of war.
It was for these services that the King conferred on him the Companionship of the Order of the British Empire. Mr. Bornemann worked hard for many years on the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, and recently was appointed a Justice of the Peace.
His death took place suddenly in Lincoln on 23rd February 1923, in his seventieth year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1909.
1923 Obituary [2]