Beaumont Pontifex
Beaumont Pontifex (1874-1950)
1874 Born in Islington, son of Ernest (a brewer[1]) and Ellen Pontifex[2], grandson of Charles Pontifex, coppersmith and engineer[3]
1911 Civil engineer working in wireless telegraphy[4]
1951 Obituary [5]
"BEAUMONT PONTIFEX was born in 1874 and educated at Dulwich College and the City and Guilds of London Central Technical College.
He began his professional career in 1895 as wireman and foreman on electrical contracts for Messrs. Laing, Wharton and Down, Ltd., and for the next fourteen years was closely associated with the electrical side of mechanical engineering.
Amongst the firms he served were the Electric Traction Company, Ltd., Messrs. Dick, Kerr and Company, Ltd., and the Brush Electrical Engineering Company, Ltd. For the former firm, as resident engineer, he was in charge of experimental work in connection with the Liverpool Overhead Railway and for the latter he held a similar position as regards the contract for the tramways at Greenock.
From 1910 to 1921 he was in the employment of Messrs. Marconi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd., and occupied the position of engineer in the heavy plant section; his duties in this respect comprised estimates, purchases, tests, construction and maintenance. During the 1914-18 war he served for four years in the R.N.V.R. rising from sub-lieutenant to the rank of lieutenant.
On leaving the Marconi Company he joined the staff of Sir John Payne Gallwey Ltd., and held the joint appointments of mechanical engineer and chief draughtsman, being responsible for the design and construction of many oil and petrol installations. The remainder of his varied career was spent in the service of the British Petroleum Company, Ltd., the Demolition and Construction Company, Ltd., and several other industrial and engineering firms, until he finally became associated with Mr. B. P. F. Deane, Westminster, consulting engineer. Mr. Pontifex had been an Associate Member of the Institution since 1904. His death occurred on 19th November 1950 in his seventy-seventh year."