Andrew William Blake
Andrew William Blake (c1872-1934)
1934 Obituary [1]
ANDREW WILLIAM BLAKE had been chief electrical engineer to Willesden Urban District (later Willesden Borough) Council since 1912. During this period the number of consumers rose from 3,000 to 35,000, the maximum demand from 3,000 to 22,000 kW., and the number of units sold per annum from 3,000,000 to 51,000,000.
Mr. Blake was born at Wickham Market, Suffolk, and served an apprenticeship in that town from 1889 to 1892 with Messrs. Whitmore and Binyon.
In the latter year he joined Messrs. Marshall, Sons and Company, of Gainsborough, as an improver, and remained with the firm until 1894, when he was appointed outdoor engineer to Messrs. Ransomes, Sims and Jefferies. In this capacity he was responsible for the erection and testing of power plant, including that for the first electrical supply to Ayr and the electrical plant for the printing of the Glasgow Herald. In addition he was engaged on the erection and operation of the electrical plant for the Waterloo and City Railway and for extensions of the first tube railway in London, the City and South London Railway.
He was then sent by the Crown Agents for the Colonies to East Africa and assisted in the construction of the Uganda Railway.
From 1898 to 1900 he was in charge of mechanical transport in Uganda Protectorate.
He then returned to England and was appointed engineer in charge of the electric lighting station at Monmouth. Four months later he became borough electrical engineer to the Monmouth Town Council.
In 1906 he was appointed engineer in charge of civil, mechanical, and electrical contracts to Messrs. Mills, English and Company, of Swansea, colliery equipment engineers, although his services were retained in a consultative capacity by Monmouth Town Council until 1910. He was responsible for the installation of the first 3,000-volt three-phase electric supply for underground purposes.
Mr. Blake went into business on his own account in Swansea in 1909 as a consulting mechanical and electrical engineer and was responsible for the planning of several town lighting schemes.
Three years later he took up his appointment at Willesden.
In recent years he served on several technical committees connected with the Institution of Electrical Engineers, of which he was a Member, and the British Standards Institution. He was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1905 and was transferred to Membership in 1913.
His death occurred on 20th July 1934, in his sixty-second year.