Ernest William Cash (1875-1935)
1935 Obituary [1]
ERNEST WILLIAM CASH, M.B.E., was for several years works manager to the Skefco Ball Bearing Company, Ltd.
He was born in 1875, and became an apprentice in 1890 at the Stratford works of the Great Eastern Railway, under Mr. James Holden, M.I.Mech.E.
In 1897 he was engaged as a draughtsman by Mr. Sidney Straker, M.I.Mech.E., consulting engineer, and eight months later he went to the works of the East Anglian Cement Company, at Shepreth, Cambs., to superintend the extension of the works.
Towards the close of 1898 he left for Johannesburg, where he became a draughtsman with Messrs. H. Eckstein and Company, and was responsible for the design of mining machinery.
Three years later he returned to England and joined the British Thomson-Houston Company, Ltd., at Rugby. He laid out the plant for the firm's new works, and took charge of the tool room. He was promoted to be mechanical superintendent in 1907, with responsibility for 1,950 employees, for the methods of manufacture, and for the inspection and testing of the firm's products.
Subsequently he went into partnership with Mr. F. L. Spiers and specialized in the production of cylinders and other castings; the works were at Hampton Wick, Middlesex. The partnership was dissolved ten years later, and Mr. Cash took up the equipment and organization of a munition works at Hackney Wick for the production of 18-inch shells.
About two years later he was appointed manager of the National Repair Factory at Newport, Mon. In recognition of his work during the war, he was awarded the M.B.E. In 1919 he became engineer at a cocoa works in Hayes. Middlesex, and held this position until his appointment with the Skefco Company.
Shortly before his retirement owing to ill health, he reorganized the business of Messrs. Farr, engineers, of Luton, and acted as a director of the firm until his death, which occurred in London on 2nd June 1935.
Mr. Cash was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1900 and was transferred to Membership in 1907.