Reginald Henry Birbeck Handcock
Reginald Henry Birbeck Handcock (1880-1917)
1917 Obituary [1]
Lieut. REGINALD HENRY BIRBECK HANDCOCK, A.O.D., was born at Stoke-on-Trent on 10th January 1880, and was educated at schools at Stoke-on-Trent, and at Newcastle-under-Lyme.
He began his apprenticeship in 1899 in the works of the North Staffordshire Railway Co., Stoke-on-Trent, and completed it with Messrs. James Simpson and Co., Ltd., Engineers, London.
In October 1902 he became Assistant Engineer at Messrs. Drake and Gorham, Ltd., Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Manchester, and in 1904 he was appointed chief draughtsman with Messrs. P. Willis, Sons and Co., Engineers, of Kingston-on-Thames.
From 1906, he was with the Western Electric Co., North Woolwich, as Assistant Engineer, and was personally responsible for the design and supervision of electric plant on various installations until he joined H.M. Forces. He received his Commission as First Lieut., in the Army Ordnance Department in November 1915, and was appointed an Inspector of Ordnance Machinery.
He left England for France in April 1916, and was in charge of a mobile light workshop until his death.
He was drowned in the Somme on the 17th February 1917, at the age of thirty-seven.
He was elected an Associate Member of this Institution in 1910.