Asa Binns (1873-1946)
1946 Obituary [1]
"...Few engineers were better known, not only in those great branches of civil, dock and mechanical engineering that he made particularly his own, but also in a wider field. For over thirty years Mr. Binns served the Port of London, and for ten years he was the chief engineer of the Port of London Authority..." [More]
1946 Obituary [2]
ASA BINNS was born at Keighley, Yorkshire, on the 3rd October, 1873, and died at Newbury, Berkshire, on the 2nd July, 1946.
He was educated at Keighley Grammar School and at the Technical College, Keighley, and received his scientific training at the Yorkshire College, Leeds (later the University of Leeds).
After a three years’ pupilage with Messrs. Tannett, Walker & Company, of Leeds, during which he gained a Whitworth Scholarship, and two years’ experience as a draughtsman at Ipswich and at the Hull docks, he was appointed, in 1898, as a draughtsman in the Works Department of the Admiralty.
In 1901 he became chief draughtsman at H.M. Dockyard, Chatham, and in 1902 Assistant Civil Engineer in the Works Department of that dockyard; later he was placed in charge of all civil engineering work for the dockyard.
In 1906 he was appointed Resident Engineer, London and St. Katherine’s docks; in 1910 Resident Engineer, Surrey Commercial Docks; and in 1912 Resident Engineer in charge of the Royal Albert dock extension (south), which cost more than £2,000,000. An outstanding work was the construction of the King George V dock, opened in 1921.
The Port of London Authority had been constituted in 1909. In 1928 Mr. Binns succeeded the late Sir Frederick Palmer, K.C.M.G., C.I.E., Past-President I.C.E., as Chief Engineer to the Authority, and he held that position until 1938, when he retired and joined the firm of Rendel, Palmer, and Tritton as a consultant. His services were, however, retained by the Port of London Authority as Consulting Engineer.....[more]