James McLennan Calder (1877-1945)
1922 A.M.E.E., A.M.I.Mech.E., General Manager and Engr., Reading Corporation Tramways and Motors, Mill Lane, Reading. T. A.: " Tramways, Reading." T. N.: 33o Reading. b. 1877. Ed. Birrell's Academy and Rosebank Public Sch., Dundee. App. Lowden Brothers, Elec. and Mech. Engrs., Dundee; Cooper and Greig, Engrs. and Boiler Makers, Dundee; Asst. Engr., Thomson Line Shipping Co.; J. G. White and Co., Tramway Contractors; Supt. of Overhead Line Dept. and Asst. Engr., Ipswich Corporation Electricity and Tramways Dept.; Chief Asst. Engr., Reading Corporation Tramways; Gen. Man. and Engr., Reading Corporation Tramways and Motors; duly Authorized Officer, Coal Control Committee, Reading; Joint Hon. Sec., District Council (Area I), National Joint Industrial Council for the Tramways Industry.
1946 Obituary [1]
JAMES MCLENNAN CALDER, whose death occurred at Reading, Berks, on 30th November 1945, was for twenty-five years transport manager to the Corporation of Reading. He was born in 1877 and served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Lowdon Brothers, Dundee, from 1894 to 1899, and with Messrs. Cooper and Greig, engineers, of the same city, from 1899 to 1901.
After gaining experience for brief periods as a marine engineer and as assistant on the engineering staff of Messrs. J. G. White and Company, London, he was appointed overhead superintendent of the Ipswich Corporation tramways. In 1905 he began his long connection (which lasted forty years) with the Reading Corporation Tramways service and received his first appointment as charge engineer. He later became draughtsman and assistant engineer and chief assistant engineer. His promotion to the office of general manager and engineer took place in 1920.
Mr. Calder was widely known as an authority on passenger transport and was a past-president of the Municipal Passenger Transport Association, on whose executive council he had sat for a number of years. He had also served as hon. secretary and later as a member of a subcommittee of the National Joint Industrial Council for the tramways industry.
He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1920, and was also an Associate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.