whaea newsletter no. 2 autumn 2018 whaea newsletter€¦ · engines, larger steam vessels and...

WHAEA Newsletter No. 2 Autumn 2018

Copyright © WH Allen Engineering Association PAGE 1 OF 17

WHAEA NEWSLETTER UPDATE ON WHAT IS HAPPENING IN WHAEA

Allen 12VS37G From 1924 Company Brochure Queens Works Entrance 2002

THE 2nd WHAEA NEWSLETTER IS HERE This second newsletter brings

you a summary of the latest

activities of WHAEA and some

of the enquiries and

discussions that have been

going on behind the scenes.

We hope you enjoy reading it.

YOUR NEWS & VIEWS

There were several items that

WHAEA received from

members recalling memories

and sharing pictures from their

time at WHA or of Allen

products. Please send any

comments or news items to:

[email protected]

THE WHAEA FACEBOOK GROUP The WHAEA Facebook Group now has approx. 40 members and it is growing into a forum for everyone to share past and present experiences and memories of Queens Works. Some of the stories and comments in this Newsletter are from the Facebook Group.

APE Allen Open Day 1993 with 2 brand new Maestro Service Vans on Display. Spotted in the pictures are John Green, Peter Elliott, Brian Stapleton, Cam Newland

& Di Towers (Holland) & Paul Grant.



Also pictured with HRH Prince Philip is Training Superintendent Mr TC Jones

IN THIS ISSUE Page

GDPR, Facebook & Website 2

Queens Park Lecture Slides 3

A 3S27 – “Still Going Strong” 3

WHAEA Secretary – Association Update 4

The Australian Connection 5

APE Malaysia 6

WHAEA New Members & Deaths 7

A Request for Spares 8

Memories of APE International 9

A 1926 Semi-Diesel from Jordan’s Mill 10

2 Allen Diesels Discovered in South Africa 11

The WHAEA AGM – 6th October 2018 12

More AGM Photos 13

The Association of Past & Present Pupils 1955 14

An 1897 Allen Conqueror Pump in Holland 15

WH Allen Engine at Forncett Museum 16

The Bryant Family at WH Allen 17

A 57 year old Rolex Watch

Memories of the Queens Engineering Works Site

More WH Allen Machinery Auction Pictures

Coming Soon “Made in Bedford” DVD A joint project between the Higgins

Museum, Bedford and the charity

Bedford Creative Arts, it features

interviews with many ex Allen

employees shortly after the closure

of Queens Engineering Works and

recalls their fond memories of

working at Allens, the factory, the

people and the social life.

The interview transcripts are also

available and these are being

converted into booklets so

members can see the detailed

recollections.

You can read more about the video

and the interviews of page 4.

1959 Royal Visit The WHAEA Facebook Group

posted some pictures of the

1959 visit of Prince Philip. The

picture to the far right caused

some amusement as it

featured an apprentice David Allen.

Member David Wheewall said he

recognised David Allen as he was his brother in

law – both were apprentices at Bedford at that time

and David Allen remembered the picture well when

it was sent to him!

NEWSLETTER CONTRIBUTORS

Many thanks to all those who have provided pictures, stories and information for this WHAEA

Newsletter. In particular I would like to thank Leo Guilliano, Trevor Owen, George Everson,

John Curtis, James Samuel, Tim Slack, Bill Starling, John Kitchenman, Jon Lougee, David

Bryant and Alan Ferrier for their input.

If you have any items you would like included in a future Newsletter please contact:

Robin Monico (WHAEA Secretary) via email at [email protected].



PAUL & MAURICE NICHOLSON – QUEENS PARK LECTURE SLIDES

Paul and Maurice Nicholson have given a series of talks about the Queen’s Park area in Bedford over the years; three of them focused on W H Allen. They have kindly given WHAEA copies of the presentations they used. Below are links to .pdf versions of their talk material which gives a colourful history of WH Allen.

Paul and Maurice never worked at W H Allen but both their parents did and in fact it was where their parents met. They have been very influential in bringing the Queen’s Park community together through a project called ‘Queen’s Park Lives’. They both still live in the area.

Three presentations have been added to the WHAEA website (www.whaea.co.uk) under the Menu option “The Company”

• Queens Engineering Works – The Early Years

• Engineering in Queens Park During the First World War

• WH Allen – The Story Continues

A 3S27 DIESEL – “STILL GOING STRONG”

The members of WHAEA are predominantly ex-Allen employees but excitingly we are now starting to see some new members who have not actually worked at one of the Allen companies but share the same strong interest in preserving the heritage of Allen products and indeed either own or maintain the old engines and pumps etc.

One such example is new member Mr Tim Slack from Nottinghamshire. Tim is the proud owner of a 3S27 diesel which is installed in the Tugboat “Sheldrake” and is moored at Denver, Norfolk. The engine was delivered to the River Great Ouse Catchment Board in 1935 and operated out of Wisbeech, Cambridgeshire for many years before Tim took over ownership in 2000. Interestingly, WHAEA were aware of the sale of Sheldrake at that time and after a visit considered purchasing the boat but were unable to raise the funds. It is good to see the boat and engine in safe hands once again.

Sheldrake – Moored at Denver Norfolk 13 GRT, L11,2m, B3,1m (37.0'x10.3'x4.0') steel, 1 scr, diesel 3cyl Allen type PS27, 68bhp SHELDRAKE OF THE OUSE 1935: Built by "Rowhedge Ironworks Co Ltd" at Rowhedge/Colchester (GBR) (YN 479) 1935: delivered to "River Great Ouse Catchment Board" 19xx: To "Drake Towage Ltd" at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire (GBR), renamed SHELDRAKE (GBR flag, ON 165188) 2000: To private owner, moored at Denver, Norfolk (GBR) The 3S27 that powers Sheldrake

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1r8KOAV0BygWajbSWbORcvssfMmNrK4l_

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1A6lgWERbunaXMiFJ8ufMzSbCdhQHXuog

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mkSSPmdmadx4TibAGpkEUy7QhLXrSxOx



WHAEA SECRETARY – ASSOCIATION UPDATE

The past 6 months since the last Newsletter has again been a busy time with the introduction of GDPR. We wrote to all WHAEA members and now have approx. 170 active members who have given their consent to be kept informed by WHAEA.

There was some really encouraging feedback from the first Newsletter so thank you for all your positive comments. The WHAEA Facebook Group has had some useful discussions and several of the items in this newsletter have been taken from the Facebook comments. While contribution is still limited it does help to communicate what is happening and some of the good old memories.

We continue to update the WHAEA website from time to time and in recent weeks have provided an up to date list of all members and revised and updated the heritage pages and links to museums etc. Please do let us know if there are any updates you would like to see or any new material adding.

We receive 2 or 3 enquiries via the website each month and over the past few months the following questions were received and we endeavored to help as best we could.

The London Museum of Steam & Water asked for some advice on repair and maintenance tasks on their 3S47 Diesel and also that we revise our website to reflect the change in name of their museum (previously Kew Bridge Museum).

There was a request for more information on two W H Allen Diesel engines, a T47 2-stroke & a 3S60 4-stroke at Prickwillow Museum as part of an exercise putting together a new website which will include the history of the Ten Mile Bank Pumping Engine which at the end of it's working life used these Allen engines.

There was a request for spares for Castle Peak ‘B’ Main Circulating Water Pumps in Hong Kong. Originally supplied to China Light & Power through GEC (Manchester). The pumps have a 3000-mm delivery branch diameter (see Page 8).

A request from Prickwillow Museum on details and lifting requirements/weight of a new engine they were given. It is a 2-cylinder engine at a Middle Fen Drainage Board pumping station that carries the Working No. K1/69370. Allen Diesels were kindly able to help in identifying the original contract and order date of 06 May 1937 for Lower Padnell District Drainage Board. It is an Allen 2S27 coupled to an Allen 18 inch / 16 inch Conqueror Pump, speed range 470 to 600 RPM, reverse rotation (ref. Allen standard). Weight of engine with flywheel will be 2.5 to 3.0 tons.

We were contacted by the International Stationary Steam Engine Society (ISSES) who are the leading premier UK voluntary-sector specialist group for researching/recording/'promoting' reciprocating steam engines, larger steam vessels and turbines in the UK (and abroad) and have come across many W. H. Allen products in their travels since c.1973 and advised of some of the products they located (mostly already known to WHAEA).

The granddaughter of a late WH Allen employee (Michael Wildman) asked if we had a technical archive of turbine drawings – she was interested in seeing examples of her grandfather’s draftsman work. Unfortunately we were not able to help.

A request for new S/S wear rings for RDX 500-700 and RDL 800-700 Allen Gwynnes split case pumps.

We have also been in discussion with the Higgins Museum, Bedford to transfer the interactive epicyclic gear model that used to be in the WHA Training Centre. It had been partially refurbished but will now take pride of place alongside the diesel engine model at the Higgins Museum. A series of interviews with ex-Allen employees were completed by the Higgins Museum in conjunction with the Bedford Creative Arts group. The interviews were filmed and formed the basis of a DVD entitled “Made in Bedford” featuring memories of what it was really like working at WH Allen and memories of the social aspects of life at Allen’s. We have obtained a copy of the DVD and are turning the transcripts of the interviews into booklets for WHAEA members to enjoy. We will hopefully have more news on this shortly.



THE AUSTRALIAN CONNECTION Courtesy of George Everson WH Allen & Sons Co. Ltd has a long history of products linked to Australia covering a variety of industries such as power generation, marine and agricultural. While the links go way back to the early 1900’s we still have WHAEA members living in Australia today. One such member is George Everson who was a student engineer with WHA from 1965 to 1970. George was interested to read of our efforts to start a newsletter as he had lost touch and has been unable to attend any WHAEA meetings. He has lived in Sydney since being sent there as APE General Manager in 1980 by Colin Dalton via the APE offices in Johannesburg and Dubai. However, George and his wife have a small motorhome and, since retiring in 2004, have travelled over 200,000 kms around the large country. They have found that most country towns and even tiny villages have a “rural” museum and it is surprising how many have old WH Allen, Belliss and Morcom or Crossley machines in various stages of disrepair such as pumps, diesel engines, compressors and even steam engines. In Bourke, there is an old Crossley oil engine originally installed in a Sydney power station in 1923 that is still run each day at 10am. George recalls when training being fascinated with the S37 engines being built and with the exotic names stencilled on the crankcase of the various outback towns in Australia which relied on diesel power such as Alice Springs, Katherine, Carnarvon, Exmouth and many more. One of the 12VBCS37F engines was transferred from Alice Springs to Katherine when APE commenced installing a total of 3 x 6MW dual fuel Crossley Pielsticks in Alice and the crankshaft is now on display outside the information centre in Katherine. The photos below show George with the crankshaft.

What is really amazing in this internet age is how a farmer in outback NSW or Queensland some 500 miles from a city, for example, bought a new steam engine in 1900 to drive his sheep shearing machinery or a water pump and could only use ‘snail mail’ and money transfers by sea mail, and just using a catalogue The above pictures were added to our FaceBook Group page and following some discussion allowed George Everson to make contact with former colleague and WHAEA member Trevor Owen. To complete the Australian story, I am pleased to say that during the same week as our AGM in October, George & Trevor had their own reunion in Wahroonga (a NW suburb of Sydney) and together with their wives Marilyn and Alison, had a most enjoyable meeting that they plan to repeat!

Trevor Owen & George Everson

reunion at Wahroonga NW Sydney



APE MALAYSIA Courtesy of Leo Guilliano

One of our members Leo Guilliano has kindly provided a numbers of photos from his time with APE Malaysia. The photos were taken around 1982/83 at the APE factory in Kuala Lumpar. This factory was originally set up by Norman Opie around 1975 as a joint venture with a local Engineering company call United Engineers Sdn Bhd. The company was then renamed APE-Uniteers Sdn Bhd and Guy Hawksford took over as General Manager for a couple of years up to late 1978. Leo then took over the company in May 1979 and managed the business interests there for nine years. The partners United Engineers were not contributing much to the company so Leo eventually purchased their shares on behalf of APE International Ltd who then controlled 100% of the shares. Another name change saw the company become APE- Malaysia Sdn Bhd. In the mid 1980's NEI plc purchased the APE group and the company was then re-named once again to NEI -Malaysia Sdn Bhd. NEI's policy at the time was to close or sell group companies not involved in power generation or power conversion and to close loss making companies or sell them if profitable. The Malaysia outfit was profitable at the time so a local buyer was found at the end of 1988. The product manufactured in Kuala Lumpur was the full range of Allen Gwynnes "Nimbus" end suction single stage centrifugal pumps up to 10" discharge size. These were mainly sold to the air-conditioning and firefighting industries as well to the tin extraction industry in the region of Ipoh. From the photos it can be seen that some pumps were engine or electric motor driven.

The factory produced its own foundry patterns and had all the cast iron parts cast locally and machined to the appropriate British standards. The pictures show the small test bay where the casings were pressure tested before being machined and assembled. One of the pictures show factory manager, David Newman explaining pump details to John Paterson. Other pictures show sales manager Yap Kim Loong chatting to Eric Chiappe, manager Bedford pump technical dept. Also Sandy Laird was having a look at recently primer sprayed pumps.



WHAEA NEW MEMBERS

Please join us in welcoming the following new members who have joined WHAEA since the Spring 2018

Newsletter:

Mr. Trevor Owen – Trevor was trained at Mirrlees and subsequently had 2 periods at Allens from 1979-1981 & 1986-1994 (Diesel Product Manager).

Mr. Tim Slack – Owner of 3S27 Allen Diesel and tug boat Sheldrake, moored in Norfolk

Mr. Steven Gordon – At WHA from 1977-1985, worked on press brake in the Smithshop

Mr. David Walker – At WHA from 1962-1969 Completed apprenticeship then worked in Jig & Tool drawing office.

Mr. Andy Allen – at WHA from 1978-2000.

Mr. Mohamed Malik – at WHA from 1974-1981 & 1991-1993

Mr. John Norris – at WHA from 1973-1978 in Diesel Contracts Dept.

Mr. David Arnfield – owner of W H Allen & Co Ltd inverted vertical compound steam engine built in 1911 in Bedford, it was installed secondhand in a former beam engine house for Wildspur Mills, near Holmfirth in 1949 and ran until 1970. It was removed in 2004 and is now in store at Ellenroad Engine House, Lancashire.

Mr. Bernard North - joined WH Allen’s in Bedford in September 1964 as a Student Engineer. Completed the usual training programme including the training workshop and drawing office. Spent time in Diesel Development at Bidenham Works and also a six month term at Allen Gwynnes in Lincoln. Joined Rolls-Royce Bristol 1968.

Mr. Riad Anquor – at WHA from 1979-1983 as Student Engineer.

Mr. Neville Blunt – at WHA from 1977-1984.

Mr. Chris Hall – at WHA from 1978-1984.

Mr David Jennings – at WHA from 1968 – 1976.

DECEASED MEMBERS

Sadly we have been advised of the deaths of the following WHAEA members during the past 6 months

Mr. Brooking Young of Hampton, Middlesex – died in 2015

Mr Eric Poole of Aylesbury, Bucks – died 19 April 2018. Eric was a Graduate Trainee at WHA and joined

the Gas Turbine Department after training. He then moved on to become the Principal Research Engineer

and latterly the Manager of the WHA Research Dept. at Biddenham. He moved on from WHA to join

Broom and Wade in High Wycombe as Chief Engineer. He was a regular attendee at WHAEA meetings

until a few years ago when he developed dementia.

Mr David Reeves of Newark, Nottinghamshire – died 5 June 2018

Mr Mike York of Australia – died July 2018. Mike was Turbine Manager, General Manager Australia and

finally General Manager Queens Engineering Works, Bedford. He retired to Australia.



A REQUEST FOR SPARES

We receive many enquiries regarding WH Allen heritage and quite often requests for spares or complete new products. Usually we are able to help by connecting people to the remaining Allen Companies such as Allen Diesels, Bedford Pumps, Weir Group or even Allen Gears which we were surprised to learn was still operating at Pershore.

One request was for a number of

replacement parts for large 3000 mm

(118 in.) pump sets. These are Castle

Peak ‘B’ Main Circulating Water Pumps

in Hong Kong. Originally supplied to

China Light & Power through GEC

(Manchester). The pumps have a 3000-

mm delivery branch diameter. We were not able to help in this instance but recommended the re-engineering

of the required nuts and bolts etc. from existing parts. Thanks to James Samuel for his advice on this enquiry

and he was particularly delighted to hear the pumps are still operational given that he commissioned the first

Castle Peak B circulating water pumps in 1983.



SOME MEMORIES OF APE INTERNATIONAL (70’s & 80’s)

Below is a photo taken during the APE Overseas Managers Conference 1980 - Courtesy of Leo Guilliano &

Trevor Owen.Taken outside the Bedford works when the overseas managers were guests of Mr Taberner that

year. You will also see some members of the pump, turbine and diesel departments in the picture.”

L to R, Ron Alder, Sam Bowen, Mike York, Graham Wooding, Trevor Owen, John Wyatt, Sid Ekers, Leo Guilliano, George

Everson, Bob Westwood, John Taberner, Roy Palmer, Umang Mathur, Les Collier, John Dalton, Michael Jackson, Chris

Smith, Prabhu Shankar and David Pangbourne

A photo of APE International Ltd Bedford 1978. Courtesy of Leo Guilliano

L to R Prabhu Shankar, Ralph Coombs, Mike York, Franko Cavallini, David Pangbourne, ???, John Wyatt, George

Everson, Chris Smith, Agar Lockwood, Umang Mathur, Ted Najdek, Leo Guilliano, Les Collier, Derek Cartledge , Colin

Dalton, Colin Ireland, Eric Smith, Don Digby, Cam Newland, John Paterson, Claude Valentine , Graham Farley

All names courtesy of Leo Guilliano & Trevor Owen.



THE STORY OF A 1926 SINGLE CYLINDER SEMI DIESEL FROM JORDON’s MILL, SANDY – Courtesy of Trevor Owen

In 1992 Trevor Owen took a phone call from a Mr Harling of

Sandy who phoned APE Allen’s, Bedford to ask for help. He and

his brother had a 1926 single cylinder semi diesel which they had

purchased secondhand in 1930 from Jordan’s Mill when the

company decided to expand and buy a two cylinder version of the

same engine. They had used the engine for corn milling before

WW2 in the building on the right, then became solders, and after

the war gave up corn milling and turned to timber sawing in the

left hand shed using a Crossley horizontal engine. He explained

that he and his brother had dismantled the engine but this was as

far as they could manage. Could Allen’s help find a home for this

engine? So Ken Edmanson (then working for IDGTE ) and Trevor

drove across to meet them at a site on London Road in Sandy.

The brothers had dismantled the

single cylinder two stroke engine as

far as they could physically manage

without a crane. Each dismantled

part had been carefully preserved

and marked with some critical bits

wired in place. Trevor subsequently

made contact with a preserved

windmill somewhere east of

Bedford who were looking for a

small engine to restore their mill

where a small diesel had been

installed for days with no wind. It is

believed this worked in due course

and the engine was preserved.

One day in 2005 Trevor was standing at the entrance to

the Anson Engine Museum talking to Geoff Challinor

about the latest arrival. Upon asking about its origin he

advised that it had come from a windmill - and then

realised it was the ex Sandy engine - confirmed by the

engine number!

We are informed by Geoff Challinor that the engine is

currently (2018) in store at the Anson Engine Museum

and we look forward to it being recommissioned as

space permits.

The Anson Engine Museum can be found at:

Anson Road

Poynton

Cheshire

SK12 1TD UK

01625 874 426

http://www.enginemuseum.org/

Mr Harling of Sandy - owner of ex Jordan's Mill Semi Diesel

Inspecting the dismantled engine at Sandy

http://www.enginemuseum.org/



TWO ALLEN DIESELS DISCOVERED IN SOUTH AFRICA

An engineer from Anglo American recently contacted us after discovering two neglected Allen Diesels on a derelict

mine on the Driekop exploration camp in South Africa which has been utilised as a hub for AAP (Anglo American

Platinum) exploration activities since 2001.

According to John Kitchenman “The site is a typical mine power station and probably was originally covered by an

open-sided corrugated iron shed. The engines look like C-frame design S30. Examples can be seen at Prickwillow

and Internal Fire museums.

More recent power stations and pumping stations in South America, West Indies, India, Africa, and Indonesian

Islands were open-sided reinforced concrete buildings. It’s interesting that this has survived almost intact like some

of the UK Fenland land-drainage pumping stations and Victorian water pumping stations (fresh water and sewage)

all of which were closed buildings of brick construction. Just clean the filters, add water and oil and away you go!”

The 2 engines are S30 diesels producing

210 bhp at 500 rpm, ordered by Dowson &

Dobson Ltd of South Africa in 1936.

The nameplate shows the working number

K1/586460.



THE WHAEA AGM – 6 th OCTOBER 2018 AT THE BRITISH MOTOR MUSEUM, GAYDON WARWICKSHIRE The annual general meeting (AGM) and re-union of WHAEA members was held on the 6th October

and at the British Motor Museum. We had a record attendance of 74 people who had a great time

meeting colleagues and friends old and new. Some pictures from the event are shown below:

Group Photo of WHAEA Members at the 2018 AGM

Chairman Teresa Hemingway Welcoming all to the AGM

Honorary President David Allen presenting a surprise award of Honorary Fellow WHAEA to John Kitchenman for his outstanding work over many years in preserving WHA Heritage

Displaying the Award Certificate

As usual, all AGM photos can be

found on the Members Section of the

WHAEA website at

www.whaea.co.uk

As usual, all AGM photos can be

found on the Members Section of the

WHAEA website at

www.whaea.co.uk

AGM pictures courtesy of Alan Ferrier, Jon Lougee & Robin Monico.

http://www.whaea.co.uk/

http://www.whaea.co.uk/



MORE AGM 2018 RE-UNION PICTURES

AGM pictures courtesy of Jon Lougee



THE ASSOCIATION OF PAST AND PRESENT PUPILS OF W.H. ALLEN, SONS & Co. Ltd

The WH Allen Engineering Association has its roots in the Association of Past and Present Students which

was inaugurated way back in 1907. Below is how the 1955 AGM was reported in the Allen Magazine.



AN 1897 W.H. ALLEN CONQUEROR PUMP IN HOLLAND – Courtesy Of John Curtis & James Samuel

At the recent 2018 AGM John Curtis handed James Samuel a photocopy from a photograph of an old

WH Allen pump installed in Holland. The photo was taken by Graham Evans ex. Allen Gears. The

pump is a ‘Conqueror’ as all WHA pumps were until about 1966.

James subsequently looked up the pumpset from some old records and found the following details:

Pump Number 5424

Year: 1897 (as cast on the casing!)

Original Customer: Prince of Orange co. (Presumably, the Dutch Government)

Station Name: Medemblik

Size: 4-off 36”

Capacity: 75 m3/minute

Head: 2.5 metres (note: metric units in 1897)

Speed: 125 RPM, pulley driven (probably steam engine).

There is a note in James’ records that this pump was still running in 1955.

On looking at the Medemblik Steam Museum website, the pumping station was closed in 1975 (as the

peat had shrunk, rendering the station above the water line). However, it states that the pumps are

run occasionally (there are other pumps at the station, so not necessarily the WHA unit).

An interesting diversion for anyone travelling in Holland

http://stoommachinemuseum.nl/english/

The 1897 WHA Conqueror Pump

and other exhibits at Medemblik

Steam Museum, Holland

http://stoommachinemuseum.nl/english/



W.H. ALLEN ENGINE AT THE FORNCETT STEAM MUSEUM, NORFOLK

– Courtesy Of Bill Starling

The Forncett Steam Museum hosts an award winning collection of spectacular stationary steam

engines, hidden in the depths of the beautiful South Norfolk countryside. It includes one Allen engine

in the museum, almost the smallest exhibit. An illustration is provided below.

It originally drove a pump in the boiler house at the Westminster hospital. As it's totally enclosed it is

not run at the Forncett Museum – there is nothing to see! Most of the exhibits are large, exposed

stationary engines.

Further details can be found at:

http://www.forncettsteammuseum.co.uk/

Forncett Industrial Steam Museum

Low Road

Forncett St Mary

Norwich, NR16 1JJ

Bill Starling was a WHA Student 1965 - 1970, & in the Diesel Dept. 1970-1974.

The WHA Allen Engine at the Forncett Industrial Museum

Other Forncett Museum Exhibits –

Right – a Worthington Simpson

1937 triple expansion inverted

vertical pumping engine 600 HP

Left - one of the Tower Bridge

engines built by Vickers Armstrong

1941

http://www.forncettsteammuseum.co.uk/



THE BRYANT FAMILY AT W.H. ALLEN – Courtesy of David Bryant

One of our members, David Bryant, has kindly provided some photographs of his father Jack Bryant

who headed the Research Lab. from 1 January 1955 to his retirement in 1974. Jack succeeded Mr

R.T Rolfe OBE who was with W.H. Allen, Sons and Co. Ltd for 42 years having joined the Company in

November 1912 and was the chief metallurgist for 35 years. Mr Rolfe wrote many books on metallurgy

and the scripts were checked by Jack Bryant. Mr Rolfe’s retirement was covered in the press (see

bottom left picture).

In the photo below, which was taken in 1973 when celebrating the Queens Award to Industry, Jack

Bryant can be seen to the left of the Mayor of Bedford Graham Bates. Graham also happens to be the

cousin of our WHAEA member David Bryant. The tall gentleman to the right of Mayor Graham Bates

is the late Bedford MP Sir Trevor Skeet, who died in 2004. Further to the right (in the dog collar) can

be seen The Rev. Denis Desert, who Graham Bates still meets in Bedford from time to time. Rev.

Denis Desert was Vicar at All Saints Church, Queens Park from 1968-1989.

The picture above shows Jack Bryant on his

retirement in 1974 being presented with an

award by Sir Norman Allen. Jack was also

presented with a replica violin (shown below)

which was made in the Research Lab and is

today owned and still played by David

Bryant’s brother John. Sadly Jack Bryant

passed away just one year after retirement in

1975.

whaea newsletter no. 2 autumn 2018 whaea newsletter€¦ · engines, larger steam vessels and...

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