Frank Prior Purvis

Frank Prior Purvis (1850-1940) M.I.N.A., D.E.(Tokyo), Emeritus Professor

1867 Attended the Royal School of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, S. Kensington

1869 Whitworth Scholar

1871 Assistant to Sir E. J. Reed

Worked for 5 years with W. Froude, F.R.S., at Torquay

Worked with William Denny and Brothers, Dumbarton, for 10 years

Shipbuilding partner with Blackwood and Gordon, Port Glasgow, for 11 years

1889 'Of the four members of the new firm into whose hands has passed the Castle Shipbuilding Yard, Port-Glasgow, there is at least one man of mark in his profession as a naval architect. It is no disrespect to Mr. Blackwood to say that I refer to one of his junior partners, Mr. F. P. Purvis, who for the last dozen years or so has been the leading member of the scientific staff at Messrs. Denny’s Shipyard, Dumbarton. Previously he was assistant to the late Mr. William Froude, whose extraordinary powers as an original investigator in such matters as the forms and buoyancy of ships, &c., were in great request by the Admiralty authorities, and who was frequently engaged on Royal Commissions connected with the navy. Mr. Purvis had thus an excellent training naval architect, and the late William Denny, who profoundly admired and esteemed Mr. Froude, gladly availed himself of the opportunity of obtaining the services of his friend’s assistant when starting the scientific department at Leven Shipyard. During the years that he served Mr. Denny, as his right-hand man, Mr. Purvis carried out numerous experimental and theoretical investigations, whose results are in many cases being put into practice elsewhere. As a naval architect of high scientific attainments, Mr. Purvis is much respected in the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland and in the Institution of Naval Architects, of both of which he is a member.'

1901-1920 One of three professors of Naval Architecture in the Engineering College of the Tokyo Imperial University of Japan.

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