Joseph George Needham
Colonel Joseph George Needham (c1876-1939) of John Needham and Sons
Born the son of John Needham
1911 Living at 4 Lancaster Road Didsbury: Christopher Thomas Needham (age 44 born Salford), Iron and Steel Merchant - Employer, and Widower. With his brother Joseph George Needham (age 35 born Salford), Iron and Steel Merchant - Employer, and Single. Also his sister Elizabeth and three servants.[1]
1939 Obituary.[2]
Colonel JOSEPH GEORGE NEEDHAM, D.S.O., O.B.E., T.D., D.L., of Manchester, died on September 11,1939; he was sixty-three years of age. Colonel Needham was a well-known figure on the Manchester Royal Exchange and on the Birmingham Exchange; he was a Governing Director of Messrs. John Needham & Sons (Manchester), Ltd., iron and steel merchants.
Outside business affairs Colonel Needham’s main interest lay with the Territorial Army. As a young man he served as a Volunteer, first in the Mounted Infantry and later in the 5th battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers. Later, when the Territorial Army was formed, he transferred to the Royal Army Service Corps. When war broke out in 1914 he was in command of the 42nd (East Lancs.) Divisional Train, and in September of that year he went with the Division (the first Territorial Division to go overseas) to Egypt. For the rest of the war he served in Egypt and Palestine. He was mentioned four times in despatches, and was decorated with the D.S.O. and the O.B.E. At the time of his death he was Honorary Colonel of the 42nd (East Lancs.) Royal Army Service Corps (T.A.).
After the war, Colonel Needham did a great deal to promote the success and well-being of the Territorial Army in the Manchester area. He was a member of the East Lancashire Territorial Army and Air Force Association, and served on numerous sub-committees. He was also keenly interested in the care of ex-servicemen; he was a member of the Committee of the Barrowmore Tuberculosis Colony (a resident colony of ex-servicemen under the care of the British Red Cross Society), and also an active President of the Didsbury branch of the British Legion and of the 42nd (East Lancs.) Division Old Members’ Association.
Colonel Needham, who was also a member of the Institute of Metals, had long been associated with the Iron and Steel Institute, for he took up membership in 1908.