George Edgar Clarke
George Edgar Clarke (1869-1944)
1869 Born in Rock Ferry, Cheshire
1908 Associate of I Mech E
1914 Member of I Mech E. Harbour and Dock Engineer, Boston
1946 Obituary [1]
GEORGE EDGAR CLARKE, O.B.E., whose death occurred as the result of an accident in December 1944, was for over forty years chief engineer of the Boston Docks and Harbour Board.
He was born in 1869 and received his general education at Bloxham Grammar School and his technical training at Liverpool University, where he took courses in engineering. His apprenticeship was served with Messrs. A. Bleakley and Son, contractors, Birkenhead, from 1884 to 1887, and with Messrs. T. C. and J. Clarke, engineers, of Liverpool, from 1887 to 1889.
After acting as assistant to Messrs. Clarke for a further year he assisted Messrs. Wood and Brodie, engineers, until 1892. For the next five years he was employed first as resident engineer for the Gayton Sea Wall and later at Cambridge in connection with the main sewerage. After holding the position of agent and engineer to Messrs. T. Lowe and Sons, contractors, of Burton-on-Trent, from 1897 to 1900 he became district surveyor to the city of Sheffield.
In the course of his long association with the port of Boston, which he began in 1903, Mr. Clarke was responsible for various important works, including the design and erection of 30-ton coal hoists and six hydraulic cranes; the layout of railway sidings, and the improvement by dredging of the channel of the river Witham. He was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1908 and was transferred to Membership in 1914; he was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
During the war of 1914-18 he served in the R.N.V.R. with the rank of lieutenant for five years, and during the last two years of this period was Senior Naval Officer of the Wash. For his services he was awarded the O.B.E.