William Halcot Hingston
William Halcot Hingston (1883-1939)
1938/39 Obituary [1]
William Halcot Hingston was born in 1883 and received his technical education at Central Technical College, South Kensington.
He was an articled pupil of Baldwin Latham, Consulting Engineer, with whom he subsequently remained as Technical Assistant.
After a period of experimental automobile work, he joined the firm of D. Napier and Son as Draughtsman-Designer, and subsequently as Works Engineer.
In 1916, after a period in H.M. Forces, he was appointed Chief Technical Assistant, and subsequently Assistant Director of Munitions to the Mechanical Transport Section of the Ministry.
At the end of the War he joined the late George W. Watson in partnership as Consulting Automobile Engineer.
He died on 2nd February, 1939, at the age of 55.
He was elected a Member in 1917 and served on the Council from 1922 to 1931. He had also subsequently acted as an Hon. Auditor of the Institution.
1939 Obituary [2]
"WILLIAM HALCOT HINGSTON was a technical officer in the armaments branch of the Air Ministry at the time of his death on 2nd February 1939, an appointment he had held since 1937.
He was born at Sutton, Surrey, in 1883, and received his general education at Forest Hill House School. His technical education was obtained at the Central Technical College, South Kensington, from 1900 to 1903, when he became an articled pupil with Mr. Baldwin Latham until 1906. He remained as an assistant to Mr. Latham till 1907, and then occupied positions of resident engineer, Herne Bay Sewerage, from 1907 to 1908, and assistant surveyor, Abercarn Urban District Council, and quantity surveyor, Bushey Urban District Council, from 1908 to 1909.
In 1909 Mr. Hingston joined Messrs. D. Napier and Son, Ltd., and specially concerned himself with work in the testing laboratory. In August 1914 he joined the King's Royal Rifles. In 1915 he was appointed to be an instructor at the Hythe School of Musketry, and in 1916 he was appointed director of mechanical transport at the Ministry of Munitions. He was engaged in the development of mechanical transport and designed and supervised the production of British caterpillar tractors, tanks, and four-wheel-drive lorries. In 1918 he was appointed a member of the British War Mission to the United States in connexion with tests on engines for tanks and the production of caterpillar tractors for military use. On the termination of hostilities he set up as a consulting engineer, and he remained in practice until 1936. Mr. Hingston was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1913 and was transferred to Membership in 1917. He was also an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and served on the Council of the Institution of Automobile Engineers and on the Technical Committee of the Royal Automobile Club."