Percy William Fawcett
Percy William Fawcett (1871-1938)
1938 Obituary [1]
PERCY WILLIAM FAWCETT, O.B.E., was for many years managing director of the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company, Ltd., and he was also a director of several other industrial undertakings.
He was born in 1871 and received his education from 1884 to 1886 at King's College, London. After a further year's study in Hanover, he became an apprentice in the Gainsborough works of Messrs. Marshall, Sons and Company, Ltd., where he served until 1892. He then went to Assam to superintend the installation of machinery for the tea industry, and two years later he joined Mr. W. S. Laycock, M.I.Mech.E., for whom he became assistant manager at the Victoria Street Works, Sheffield.
In 1897 he was appointed chief engineer to Messrs. Thomas Firth and Sons, Ltd., a position which he held until 1921. During this period great extensions to the works were carried out under his direction, and the Tinsley works were also erected. Mr. Fawcett was awarded the O.B.E. in 1920 for his services during the War, when he reorganized the works for increased production. He became a director of Messrs. Thomas Firth in 1922, and acted as consulting engineer to the firm, and continued as a director after the company's amalgamation with Messrs. John Brown, Ltd.
Subsequently he was made a director, and later managing director, of the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company. He was also a director of Brown Brothers and Company, Ltd., Cravens Railway Carriage and Wagon Company, Ltd., the Staveley Coal and Iron Company, Ltd., and several other local firms.
In 1937 he resigned from the board of the Park Gate Iron and Steel Company, but retained his other directorships until his death, which occurred at Hope, Sheffield, on 9th March 1938. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1895 and was transferred to Membership in 1923.