James Tayler Milton
Dr. James Tayler Milton (1850-1933), late Chief Engineer Surveyor of Lloyd's Register of Shipping.[1]
1917 Member of the Institution of Naval Architects.[2]
1933 Obituary[3]
"THE LATE DR. J. T. MILTON.
The news of the sudden death of Dr. James Tayler Milton, at his house at Emsworth, Hampshire, on December 13, will be received with regret by naval architects and marine engineers in all parts of the world. Dr. Milton was for many years Chief Engineer Surveyor to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping. He was born at Portsmouth in 1850 and received his general education mainly at Greenwich Naval School. In 1866 he became an engineer student at Portsmouth Dookyard and four years later entered upon a special course of technical training at the Royal School of Naval Architecture, which was then at South Kensington, but was transferred in 1873 to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. At the conclusion of his studies he received a first class Professional Certificate and became assistant engineer in the Royal Navy. This position he only retained for a short time, however, having been appointed Engineering Surveyor to Lloyd’s Register of Shipping in 1875. Four years later he became Assistant Chief Engineer Surveyor and continued in this capacity until 1886, when he was made manager of the St. Peter’s engine works of Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited, Newcastle-upon-Tyne. In 1890, however, Dr. Milton re-entered the service of Lloyd’s Register as Chief Engineer Surveyor and continued to hold this position until September 30, 1921, when he retired. For his great services to engineering the Senate of the University of Durham conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science, the ceremony taking place at Durham on June 28, 1921.
Dr. Milton’s tenure of office at Lloyd’s Register coincided with a period of rapid advances in the science of marine engineering. Among these may be noted the adoption of basidsteel for ships and of highertensile steel for boilers; the introduction of quadruple-expansion engines and of steam-turbine engines, first with direct drive and subsequently with reduction gearing; the employment of water-tube boilers and the introduction of Diesel and other oil engines and of oil fuel. Dr. Milton was closely associated with all these matters and in addition to his other duties served on several committees appointed by the Government to deal with technical problems. He also made numerous contributions to the Institution of Naval Architects, which he joined as a member in 1877. In August of this latter year he read a paper on the “ Strength of Boilers ” before the autumn meeting of the Institution in Glasgow and was awarded a Gold Medal; in 1915, he became an honorary vice-president. He was also a familiar figure at the meetings of the Institute of Marine Engineers and had served on the Council as a member or as a vice-president since 1908; in 1918 he was elected president of the Institute. Dr. Milton became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers on December 5, 1899, and in that same year contributed a paper on “ Water-Tube Boilers for Marine Engines ” for which he was awarded a Telford Medal and Premium. During the 1902-03 session, in collaboration with his son-in-law, Mr. (now Sir) William J. Larke, he read a contribution entitled “ The Decay of Metals,” which brought Telford Premiums to the joint authors. Dr. Milton became a member of the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in November, 1886, and of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1891; he was made an honorary member of the latter body in 1927. He was an original member of the Institute of Metals and had the distinction of presenting the first paper, on the first day, of the first meeting of the Institute, held in Birmingham on November 11, 1908 ; this bore the title “ Some Points of Interest concerning Copper and Copper Alloys.” He was a member of the Council of the Institute from 1908 to 1913, and a vice-president from 1914 to 1922. Dr. Milton was also a member of the Liverpool Engineering Society and a past-president of the Ice and Cold Storage Association."
1934 Obituary [4]
Dr. JAMES TAYLER MILTON died suddenly at his home at Emsworth, Hampshire, on December 13, 1933.
Born at Portsmouth in 1850, he received his general education mainly at Greenwich Naval School.
In 1866 he became an engineer student at Portsmouth Dockyard: four years later he took a special course of technical training at the Royal School of Naval Architecture - then at South Kensington, but transferred in 1873 to the Royal Naval College, Greenwich - at the conclusion of which he was awarded a first-class Professional Certificate and became an assistant engineer in the Royal Navy.
In 1875 he was appointed an Engineering Surveyor to Lloyd's Register of Shipping, and four years later he became Assistant Chief Engineer Surveyor.
In 1886 he took up the managership of the St. Peter's engine works of Messrs. R. & W. Hawthorne, Leslie & Co., Ltd., Newcastle-upon-Tyne, but in 1890 he re-entered the service of Lloyd's Register as Chief Engineer Surveyor, which position he continued to hold until he retired on September 30, 1921.
For his great services to engineering the Senate of the University of Durham conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Science on June 28, 1921. Dr. Milton's tenure of office at Lloyd's Register coincided with a period of rapid advances in the science of marine engineering. He was closely associated with all these developments, and, in addition to his other duties, served on several Government committees dealing with technical problems.
Dr. Milton was a member of numerous technical societies and contributed valuable papers at their meetings. In 1877 he joined the Institution of Naval Architects, and in 1915 became an Honorary Vice-President; for his paper on the "Strength of Boilers" read before that Institution in 1877 he received a Gold Medal. He served on the Council of the Institute of Marine Engineers as a Member or a Vice-President since 1908, and in 1918 was elected President. The Institution of Civil Engineers, which he joined in 1899, awarded him a Telford Medal and Premium for his paper on "Water-Tube Boilers for Marine Engines," presented in that year; during the 1902-1903 session he and his son-in-law, Mr. (now Sir) William J. Larke, read a contribution on "The Decay of Metals," which brought Telford. Premiums to the joint authors. Dr. Milton joined the North-East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in 1886, and was an original member of the Institute of Metals, to which he contributed the first paper on the first day of the first meeting, held in Birmingham on November 11, 1908; he was a member of Council of that Institute from 1908 till 1913 and a Vice-President from 1914 till 1922. He was *also a member of the Liverpool Engineering Society and a Past-President of the Ice and Cold Storage Association. He became a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1891 and was elected an Honorary Member - a rare honour - in 1927.