John Gass
John Gass (1852-1938)
1938 Obituary [1]
JOHN GASS was for thirty-two years superintending engineer of the Tower Bridge, London. He was born in Carlisle in 1852 and served his apprenticeship from 1868 to 1873 in Gateshead on Tyne, under Mr. Thomas Nicholson, at the Park Lane Engine Works.
He then joined Messrs. Black, Hawthorn and Company, and was subsequently made a foreman. In 1884 he entered the Elswick works of Sir W. G. Armstrong, Mitchell and Company (afterwards Sir W. G. Armstrong, Whitworth and Company, Ltd.), for whom he superintended the erection of the hydraulic machinery and the armaments of H.M.S. Sans Pareil and other warships. In addition he supervised the construction and assembly of machinery for the Tower Bridge, then in course of erection.
When the bridge was opened in June 1894 Mr. Gass was appointed superintendent of machinery; four years later he was promoted to be superintending engineer, becoming in 1917 superintending engineer and bridge-master. In 1930 he retired and lived at Catford until his death, which occurred on 12th February 1938.
He was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1898 and was transferred to Membership in 1901.