Alfred Samuel Preston
Alfred Samuel Preston (1884-1944)
1943/44 Obituary [1]
Alfred Samuel Preston was born in 1884.
He was apprenticed with Bucknell, Monroe and Rogers, Ltd., General and Electrical Engineers.
In 1909 he joined Brazil, Straker and Co., Ltd., employed on testing, and as racing mechanic and demonstrator on the Continent and South America. In 1913 he became Superintendent of the Repair Department.
He served in the Forces from 1914 to 1919, and then rejoined his old firm as Superintendent of Light Car Experimental Department.
In 1921 he was appointed Branch Motor Engineer to the Anglo-American Oil Company, Ltd., at Exeter.
He died on 17th October, 1944, at the age of 60.
He was elected an Associate Member in 1927.
1946 Obituary [2]
Captain ALFRED SAMUEL PRESTON, whose death occurred on 17th October 1944, at the age of sixty, was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1917. He served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Brecknell, Munro and Rodgers, of Bristol, from 1898 to 1901, and with Messrs. R. Chapman and Company, ships' engineers, Avonmouth, for a further few months. He then joined the Army and was stationed in India for seven years.
On his return to England he was employed as a racing mechanic with Messrs. Brazil Straker, Ltd. (later the Cosmos Engineering Company, Ltd.), at Bristol, being subsequently placed in charge of tests and finally he was made foreman of the repair department. In 1915 he received a commission in the Royal Army Service Corps and served in France as officer in charge of workshops.
After his demobilization in 1919 with the rank of captain he returned to Messrs. Brazil, Straker and Company as superintendent of aero-engine tests. Later he occupied the same position in the experimental department and was closely concerned with the production of an air-cooled radial-engined light car. Captain Preston's final appointment was that of engineer in charge of the motor department of the Anglo-American Oil Company's branch at Exeter, which he held from 1920 until his retirement on account of ill health after eighteen years' service.