Francis Gassiot Houghton
Francis Gassiot Houghton (1858-1897)
1897 Obituary [1]
FRANCIS GASSIOT HOUGHTON was born in Kennington, London, in February 1858.
In 1875 he was engaged on general engineering work at the Crossness Main Drainage Works of the Metropolitan Board of Works, now the London County Council, under the late Sir Joseph W. Bazalgette, C.B.; ho also supervised as assistant superintendent the construction, testing, and erection of large engines, rotary and centrifugal pumps, boilers, and electric-light installation.
In 1884-5 he designed machinery for the manufacture of manganate of soda, which was largely used for the disinfection of sewage, and thereby reduced the price from about £20 to less than £10 per ton.
From 1888 to 1893 he frequently acted as superintendent at these works.
In 1893 he left the employment of the London County Council, and commenced business on his own account in Westminster as consulting engineer.
At the end of 1896 he went to Johannesburg, but in consequence of the unsettled state of affairs he returned in March 1897, and resumed his former business.
His death occurred accidentally by being washed off a yacht near Southend at the mouth of the Thames, on 4th September 1897, at the age of thirty-nine.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1892.