Samuel Dixon
Samuel Dixon (1849-1902) of Kendall and Gent
1902 Obituary [1]
SAMUEL DIXON was born at Marple, near Stockport, on 3rd September 1849.
Having been educated at Elnor Lane School, Whaley Bridge, he was apprenticed to the late Mr. Samuel Brooks, of Gorton, Manchester.
He remained there only a short time, and then went to Messrs. Kendall and Gent's machine-tool works at Salford. During his apprenticeship he devoted his leisure hours to study, and attended the evening classes at the Manchester Mechanics' Institute and at Owens College. As the outcome of these studies, he succeeded in securing a Whitworth Scholarship, being the first of his year. This success entitled him to a course of three years' study at Owens College, during which he matriculated, and passed the first examination for the degree of Bachelor of Science.
He then returned to Messrs. Kendall and Gent as works manager, and in 1880 became a partner.
From that time he travelled a good deal on the Continent in the interests of his firm. He attended the Paris Exhibition of 1900, where Messrs. Kendall and Gent were exhibitors, and it was there that the first symptoms of his illness appeared, which has been the indirect cause of his death.
He was President of the Manchester Association of Engineers for 1888 and 1889, and was also President for 1899, in succession to Colonel Dyer, of the Engineering Employers' Federation. He contributed in 1894 a Paper to this Institution on " Drilling Machines for Cylindrical Boiler Shells." He was keenly interested in technical education, and succeeded in establishing a continuation school at Marple; he was also a member of the Marple Urban Council from 1893.
In the autumn of 1900 his health compelled him to abstain from all active work, and in 1901 he retired from the firm, and finally consulted two specialists, who recommended a critical operation. This was successfully performed in London, but pneumonia supervened, and he gradually sank and died. His death took place in London on 17th January 1902, at the age of fifty-two.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1883.
"...announce the death, which took place on Friday last, in London, of Mr. Samuel Dixon, until recently a partner in the well-known engineering firm of Kendall and Gent, Manchester. During the whole of his career Mr. Dixon was directly associated with the engineering trade of Lancashire. Serving his apprenticeship at the works of S. S. Brooks (now known as Brooks and Doxey), he gained a Whitworth scholarship, and secured the position of head draughtsman with the firm of Kendall and Gent, a post he occupied for a number of years, subsequently becoming manager, and later one of the partners, his association with the firm extending over about thirty years. Mr. Dixon was the patentee of several important..."[More].
1902 Obituary [4]
SAMUEL DIXON died in London on January 17, 1902, after a severe operation, at the age of fifty-two years. Throughout his career he was directly associated with the engineering trade of Lancashire. Having served his apprenticeship at the works of S. S. Brooks, he gained a Whitworth Scholarship, and secured the position of head draughtsman with the firm of Kendall & Gent, a post he occupied for a number of years, subsequently becoming manager, and eventually one of the partners, his association with the firm extending over thirty years. He was the patentee of several important improvements in machine tools, and contributed several valuable papers to the Transactions of the Manchester Association of Engineers, of which society he was president in 1888. He was elected president of the Manchester section of the Engineering Trades Employers' Federation in 1899, and was also a member of the Central Executive Committee of the Federation.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1890.