John Edmund Kingsbury
John Edmund Kingsbury (1855-1948), Telephone Engineer
1948 Obituary [1]
We also regret to record the death of Mr. J. E. Kingsbury, which occurred at Snow Hill, Crawley Down, Sussex, on Thursday, November 4, at the advanced age of 93. Mr. Kingsbury was well known to the older generation of electrical engineers as a pioneer on the manufacturing side of telephone development, and in furthering the employment in this country of Dr. L. H. Baekeland’s inventions of plastic materials. He was an eloquent speaker and at one time took a leading part in the affairs of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.
John Edward Kingsbury was born at Taunton, Somersetshire, on February 27, 1855, and received his early education at schools in that town and at Archbishop Tennison’s School, London.
He entered commercial life at an early age, and in 1878 was employed for a short time in the office of Edison’s London representative. Subsequently he played a leading part as an amateur in the early experiments and demonstrations with the telephone, including the first trial with this form of communication between London and Norwich....