John William Hall
John William Hall (1854-1938) of the Foundry and Engine Works, Blaydon-on-Tyne, R.S.O., County Durham
1899 Set himself up as consulting engineer in Birmingham
1938 Obituary [1]
JOHN WILLIAM HALL will be remembered for his services to the Institution, in connection with the establishment of the Midland Branch. For many years before the formation of Local Branches he was local correspondent for the Birmingham district, and when the Midland Branch was formed in 1924 he became the first Honorary Secretary of the Branch.
During 1925 and 1926 he was Chairman of the Branch, and in that capacity he served on the Council of the Institution. With Mr. G. E. Folkes, M.I.Mech.E., he was also joint Honorary Local Secretary for the Birmingham Summer Meeting of the Institution in 1927. Mr. Hall was born in 1854 at Bilston, Staffs, and was apprenticed to Messrs. May and Mountain, general engineers, of Birmingham. In 1876 he joined the Lilleshall Company as a draughtsman and a year later he went into business on his own account as an engineer and ironfounder, after purchasing the Cardiff Foundry, Cardiff.
He was appointed works manager to the Blaydon Ironworks at Blaydon on Tyne in 1882, and was responsible for several extensions to the works. Six years later he became managing director of the James Bridge Steel Works of Messrs. F. H. Lloyd and Company, Ltd., at Wednesbury; while occupying this position he rebuilt the entire works, and resigned in 1899 in order to establish his own practice as a consulting engineer in Birmingham. He was responsible for the construction of the mills for the Redbourn Steel Works at Scunthorpe, Lincs, during the War.
Mr. Hall was one of the oldest members of the Institution, having been elected in 1882. He was also a past-president of the Staffordshire Iron and Steel Institute, and was joint author with Mr. F. W. Harbord, of a textbook entitled "Metallurgy of Steel." His death occurred at Solihull, near Birmingham, on 11th February 1938.