Benjamin Irving (1876-1939)
1939 Obituary [1]
"BENJAMIN IRVING, who was chairman of the North Eastern Branch of the Institution in 1932, and who also served on the Council from 1934 to 1938, was connected with the locomotive building industry throughout his career. He was born in Glasgow in 1876 and he received his education at Hutchinson Grammar School, Glasgow, and the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College.
He served his apprenticeship in the shops of Messrs. Dubs and Company, Ltd., Glasgow, from 1893 to 1900. He then spent five years as leading draughtsman with Messrs. Sharp, Stewart and Company, Ltd., Glasgow, and in 1904 he joined the staff of Messrs. Andrew Barclay, Sons and Company, Ltd., Kilmarnock, as chief locomotive draughtsman. He was later promoted to be chief locomotive and general engineering draughtsman, and in 1919 he was appointed commercial manager of the locomotive department of Messrs. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company, Ltd., London. Two years later he became general manager of this company's locomotive department at Newcastle upon Tyne, and in 1922 he was promoted to the post of general manager of the locomotive, shell, and internal combustion engine department of this company. He held the position of managing director of the firm's Scotswood works from 1931, until the works was taken over by the Government, when he accepted a similar post with Messrs. Barclay. He subsequently became chairman of this company, and at the time of his death, on 6th October 1939, he was a director of the Standard Pulverized Fuel Company, Ltd., London, and of Messrs. Worthington-Simpson, Ltd., Newark on Trent. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1919 and was transferred to Membership in 1923."