Geoffrey Merton Gullick (1888-1952) of Mavor and Coulson
1952 Obituary [1]
We have learned with regret of the death of Mr. Geoffrey M. Gullick, which occurred in hospital at Sheffield on November 11th. Mr. Gullick, who was sixty-three, was the chief mining director of Mavor and Coulson, Ltd., Glasgow.
Geoffrey Gullick was born in London in 1888 and was educated at Dulwich College.
On leaving school he determined that mining was to be his career, and in 1906 he was articled by his uncle, who was at that time the agent at Pemberton Colliery, Lancashire.
It was actually during his pupilage that Mr. Guiiick's long association with Mavor and Coulson, Ltd., began. In 1907, that firm supplied a coal cutter to the colliery at which he was working and, from the start, he took a keen interest in its operation. In the following year he started buying a machine himself and began cutting coal by contract at a tonnage rate, an enterprise in which he succeeded by hard work and his organising ability.
By 1914, in partnership with his brother, Mr. Gullick was employing nearly 200 men in his coal cutting business.
He served in the 3rd Battalion King's (Liverpool) Regiment throughout the first world war, and in 1919 joined the staff of Mavor and Coulson, Ltd.
As head of his firm's mining department, Mr. Gullick took a prominent part in the development of machine mining methods. He made a close study of the working of coal, not only in all the British coalfields, but also in most of the coalfields of other countries. By this means Mr. Gullick acquired a knowledge which enabled him to influence the development and application of all kinds of coal cutting machinery.
In the second world war he was appointed adviser on mechanical mining and the supply of mining equipment to the Director-General of Coal Production, and subsequently became chief mechanisation adviser to the Ministry of Fuel and Power. In recognition of the services that he rendered in these important offices he was created C.B.E.
After the war, Mr. Gullick returned to Mavor and Coulson, Ltd., as chief mining director. He was also a director of Mavor and Coulson (South Africa), Ltd., and a member of the council of the Institution of Mining Engineers.