John Harry Hallett
John Harry Hallett (1850-1911)
of 120 Powell's Place, Bute Docks, Cardiff.
1911 Obituary [1]
JOHN HARRY HALLETT was born at Fareham, Hants, on 2nd May 1850, and was educated at private schools in Cardiff.
He served his pupilage at the works of the Taff Vale Railway, Cardiff, under the late Mr. Joseph Tomlinson, Past-President of this Institution.
On its completion he went to sea in 1871, and in the following year became guarantee engineer to one of the steamers belonging to Messrs. Blair and Co., engine builders, of Stockton-on-Tees. He remained for several years in this position, and had charge of a great number of new engines, during which time his duties took him to all parts of the world.
Whilst in the North of England he was employed in several of the shipbuilding yards, including those of Messrs. Pearce and Lockwood, on the Tees, Messrs. Palmer, of Jarrow-on-Tyne, Messrs. Mitchell and Co., of Newcastle-on-Tyne, and Messrs. Irvine, of West Hartlepool.
Acting on the advice of Mr. Joseph Tomlinson, he started in business at Cardiff on his own account in 1879, as consulting engineer and surveyor, and shortly after, in conjunction with Mr. Joseph Tomlinson, he attended the trials of smoke abatement at South Kensington. Subsequently he conducted some extensive coal-testing experiments in connection with the South Wales steam coals.
In 1880 he was appointed Engineer Assessor to the Home Office, which position he held until his death, and during this period he was called upon to enquire into the cause of the casualty to the S.S. City of Paris, a breakdown of great magnitude.
Subsequently he was engaged in enquiries into most of the accidents of a similar nature.
In 1884 he read a Paper before this Institution at the Summer Meeting in Cardiff in 1884, on the "Causes and Remedies of Corrosion in Marine Boilers."
Shortly after this he was appointed Commissioner on Boiler Explosions to the Board of Trade, and in this capacity he held investigations into some of the largest and most important explosions in this country.
In 1896 he was called upon to investigate the condition of the machinery at the Cardiff Corporation Electric Lighting Works.
In spite of his large professional work, he found time to devote himself to local affairs. He was a member of the Shipowners' Association, and a member of the Technical Instruction Committee for the County Borough of Cardiff, surveyor to the Italian Register and to the French and Belgian underwriters, and a member of the Shipwrights' Company of London.
His death took place at his residence at Llandaff, on 10th April 1911, in his sixty-first year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1880; he was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, and of the Institution of Naval Architects.