John Pearce Roe
John Pearce Roe (1852-1921), chairman and managing director of Ropeways.
son of John Phanuel Roe.
1921 Obituary[1]
Mr Roe was the son of Mr John P. Roe, a civil engineer of Consett, Durham, and was born at Bridgend, South Wales in 1852. After being educated by a private tutor, he began his engineering career in his father's works at Cardiff. In 1870 he joined the Dowlais Iron Company being employed in the drawing-office and subsequently as a general assistant engineer in connection with the company's iron and steel works and collieries.
In 1879, at the request of Mr. Menelaus of the Dowlais Company, and also of the Orconera Iron Ore Company, Mr Roe proceeded to Bilbao to investigate and install provisional means of getting the output of the mins on hoard the ships. On the completion of this work he was appointed the company's resident engineer, and in that capacity designed and carried out a large amount of work in connection with the railway, shipping appliances, river walls, dredging, and feeder transport arrangements to the main line including heavy inclined plane work.
In 1889 he commenced practice as a consulting engineer at Cardiff, and undertook contracts for transporting minerals by means of aerial ropeways in the Bilbao district. In the following year he opened offices in London, and while devoting himself particularly to the development of what is now known as the Roe System of ropeways for transporting material in mountainous countries, he eventually formed a company under the name of Ropeways Limited, which under his management and control has carried out a great number of important installations in all parts of the world. In addition to supervising the entire work of the company, he practised as a consulting engineer, advising on various engineering matters particularly in connection with the handling and transport of minerals and the like.
1921 Obituary [2]
J. PEARCE ROE died in London on September 2, 1921, at the age of sixty-nine.
He commenced his career in his father's works at Cardiff. In 1870 he went to the Dowlais Iron Co., and was engaged under the late William Menelaus and Lewis Richards, first in the drawing office and subsequently as one of the general assistant engineers.
In 1879, at the request of Mr. Menelaui, then chairman of the Orconera Iron Ore Company, he went to Bilbao, to install appliances for handling the ore. On completion of this work he was appointed resident engineer of the company, and in that capacity designed and carried out important work in connection with plant.
In 1889 he commenced practice as a consulting engineer at Cardiff. In the following year he opened offices in London, and while devoting himself particularly to the development of the Roe system of ropeways for transporting materials, he eventually formed a company under the name of Ropeways Ltd., which was under his management and control, and has carried out a great number of important installations in all parts of the world.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1889.