Robert Dunlop Brown
Robert Dunlop Brown (1884-1957) of the Manchester Ship Canal Co
1958 Obituary [1]
MR. ROBERT DUNLOP BROWN, whose death occurred at the beginning of last week at Alderley Edge, was a former chief engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal Company. He was seventy-three.
Mr. Brown started his civil engineering career as a pupil in the Office of Public Works, Glasgow. Subsequently he worked in Canada in the Department of Railways and Canals, and for four years or so was engaged in the design and construction of the Welland Ship Canal and its associated entrance harbours.
Mr. Brown joined the Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1922, as a senior engineering assistant, and was appointed chief engineer in 1945. During his twenty-four years' service with the company, he was responsible for many development and construction works on the canal. He retired from the Manchester Ship Canal Company in 1945, since when he had practised as a consulting engineer.
Throughout the second world war, Mr. Brown rendered valuable service to the Government. He was a member of the panel of consulting engineers appointed by the War Office to design and prepare works required for the invasion of Europe. Among such works, he was particularly interested in the means of rapidly gaining control over the outrush of land water and the action of the tides through openings created by the demolition of dams and lock gates. Small working models for the study of these conditions were prepared in great secrecy at Manchester. Mr. Brown was also consulted about certain harbour operations to be carried out in the Far East.
As an experienced yachtsman his talents were put to practical use during the Normandy landing, when he served as a master on one of the small craft engaged in that operation.
Mr. Brown was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a past-chairman of its North-West Association. Among his many public services in recent years was membership of the Board of Survey which was appointed by the British Transport Commission in 1954 to investigate and report on this country's inland waterways.
1957 Obituary [2]