John Harbottle (1867-1947)
John Harbottle (1867-1947)
1948 Obituary [1]
"JOHN HARBOTTLE, Wh.Sc., will be remembered for the valuable services that he rendered to the Institution as a Member of the South African Advisory Committee from 1925 up to the time of his death, which occurred at Cape Town on 17th March 1947, in his eighty-first year.
He received his early technical training at the Elswick Mechanics Institute and the Durham College of Science. Later he took a three years' course in engineering at Owens College, Manchester, obtaining a Whitworth Exhibition in 1888 and a Whitworth Scholarship in the following year. He served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Robert Stephenson and Company, Ltd., of Newcastle upon Tyne, from 1882 to 1887, and after further experience in the firm's drawing office occupied a similar position with Messrs. Wigham Richardson and Company, Ltd., for three years.
He then became chief draughtsman to Messrs. John Abbot and Company, Ltd., of Gateshead, with whom he remained for eight years. After acting in a similar capacity at the marine engine works of Messrs. Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson, Ltd., he went to South Africa in 1906 to take up the appointment of chief engineer and assistant general manager to Messrs. De Beers Consolidated Mines Company, Ltd. Subsequently he became consulting engineer to the Company, a position he held until his retirement in 1930. Mr. Harbottle had been a Member of the Institution since 1912."