Horace William Clarke
Horace William Clarke (1883-1963), Managing Director of James Booth and Co; also MD of John Wilkes, Sons and Mapplebeck
1911 Horace William Clarke 26, assistant metallurgist at Royal Arsenal, lived in Plumstead, with Nellie Theresa Maud Clarke 24, Olive Doreen Clarke 1[1]
1939 Horace W Clarke, managing director of a non-ferrous metal company, lived in Birmingham with Nellie T Clarke, Olive D Clarke, Denis H Clarke[2]
1963 Obituary[3]
"THE aluminium industry has lost one of its leading members with the death of Sir Horace Clarke which occurred on Monday, July 29.
Horace William Clarke, who was born on January 6, 1883, and educated at Woolwich Polytechnic and Goldsmiths' College, University of London, became interested, in metallurgy when training as an engineer at the Royal Ordnance Factory at Woolwich. Thus began a lifelong association with the aluminium industry, of which he helped to lay the foundations. Clarke worked on the development of the alloy Duralumin at the works of James Booth, and was concerned with the production of the strong aluminium alloys used in the construction of the first all-metal aeroplane, the "Silver Streak" built by Short Brothers in 1921. The second world war justified Clarke's faith in the alloys, and he served in various positions on many bodies concerned with their production and use. He became Director, Control of Fabricated Light Alloys (Aluminium and Magnesium), Ministry of Aircraft Production, from 1939-43, and was a founder president of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Federation and of the Aluminium Development Association. Among his many other posts was chairman of the Wrought Light Alloys Association, vice-president 1942-45 of the Institute of Metals.
He was mainly responsible for persuading the non-ferrous metals industry to endow a Chair of Industrial Metallurgy at Birmingham University, and in 1948 the University gave Sir Horace an honorary degree of Doctor of Science. Sir Horace, who was awarded a knighthood in 1956, was managing director of James Booth and Co. Ltd., now James Booth Aluminium Ltd., from 1922 to 1958 and also chairman from 1953."