Joseph Henry Hitchen
Joseph Henry Hitchen (1867-1939)
1939 Obituary [1]
"JOSEPH HENRY HITCHEN spent the latter part of his career on work of a civil engineering character and at the time of his death on 20th March 1939 he was acting as engineer for the Lewisham Council on a road contract at Bromley, Kent. He had previously been connected with various contracts of a similar kind, including the reconstruction of the English Bridge at Shrewsbury, sea defence works at Ramsgate, and road reconstruction in various parts of the country.
He was born in 1867, and attended the Holy Trinity Higher Grade School in Halifax. At the age of nineteen he was apprenticed at Messrs. John Hitchen and Son, Ltd., Hall Street Iron Works, Halifax, and at the same time attended evening classes. He then passed through the various departments of this firm, and subsequently rose to the position of managing director.
In 1907 he went to Messrs. Abbotts of Gateshead upon Tyne, but left in 1909 to go to the Gold Coast as a mining engineer. A year later he returned and joined Messrs. Crossley Brothers, Ltd., Openshaw, Manchester, with whom he stayed until the War, when he was appointed works manager for Messrs. Medways of Deptford. He was later engaged with the Ministry of Munitions, tanks section. Mr. Hitchen was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1907."