Thomas Robert Smith
Thomas Robert Smith (1870-1928), of Leicester Corporation
1928 Obituary [1]
THOMAS ROBERT SMITH was born at Shareshill, Wolverhampton, on the 15th March, 1870, and received his early education at Trent College.
He served his apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer and was first engaged with the Electric Construction Co. of Wolverhampton. He next joined, for a number of years, Messrs. J. G. Statter and Messrs. Chamberlain and Hookham.
In 1904 he went to Leicester on being appointed chief electrical engineer to the tramways undertaking.
In 1911, when the Electricity Committee was formed to take charge of the whole of the electricity supply in the city, he was made city electrical engineer. He was responsible for the erection and equipment of the Freemen's Meadow generating station, the present capacity of which is 41 750 kW. In 1904 the capital expenditure on the undertaking was £245 000, and by the time of his death in March 1928 it had increased to £1 846 000.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1901 and a Member in 1921, and in 1924-25 he served as Chairman of the East Midland Sub-Centre.