Harold Stringer (1883-1935)
1935 Obituary [1]
HAROLD STRINGER had a wide experience of railway construction and maintenance abroad.
He was born in Stoke on Trent in 1883 and served a three years' apprenticeship, terminating in 1905, in the workshops and offices of the North Staffordshire Railway.
He then entered Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, to study engineering, and graduated in 1908. In the same year he left for North China as assistant engineer on the construction of the Tientsin-Pukow Railway.
Four years later he joined Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, and was engaged as assistant engineer on the construction of the Benguella Railway in Portuguese West Africa.
He returned to England in 1914 and carried out a survey for Messrs. Nobel's munition works in South Wales, and was also concerned with the subsequent constructional work.
In 1915 he returned to China and was made assistant and resident engineer, in charge of the construction and maintenance of the Peking-Mukden Railway. He was also occupied for four years with the remodelling and maintenance of the locomotive works at Tongshan, which employ 4,000 men. In 1922 he was appointed resident engineer for the construction of the extension to Peipiao, involving 87 miles of railway with notable bridges and tunnels. The conversion to double track of the railway between Tongshan and Shanhaikuan, for which Mr. Stringer was also resident engineer, was completed in 1924.
A year later he joined the Shanghai Waterworks Company, Ltd., as chief assistant engineer and in 1926 he was promoted to be deputy manager and engineer-in-chief. He retained this position until his death, which occurred at sea on 20th February 1935.
Mr. Stringer was the author of several books on railway construction, particularly with reference to China, and of various contributions to the technical press.
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1931 and was also an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.