Julien Deby
Julien Marc Deby (c1835-1895)
1895 Obituary [1]
JULIEN MARC DEBY died near Sheffield on April 14, 1895, at the age of 60 years. In early life he was editor of the Moniteur des Interets Materiels, of Brussels, and when acting in that capacity he was invited to become local secretary of the Liege meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1873.
He was widely known in the profession in every part of the world, and few engineers have been successfully connected with so many important enterprises. At one time he was connected with the Chaudron Company in sinking shafts through wet ground by the Chaudron method, and for many years he was the foreign secretary of the Iron and Steel Institute. He had great experience in copper metallurgy, and in 1880 was appointed general manager of the Rio Tinto Copper Company's mines and works in Spain. At that time the great Company was in a very critical condition, its shares being greatly depressed. Under Mr. Deby the work and administration were reformed, and the company commenced its prosperous career - an enormous rise in the stock showing the effect of Mr. Deby's administration.
Since leaving the Rio Tinto Company Mr. Deby has reported on mines in various parts of the world; but for the past few years, his health having failed, he had retired from professional work.
He was elected a Member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1874. In 1873 he contributed a paper to the Proceedings on the rise and progress of the iron and steel industries in Belgium, and in 1875 one on the manufacture of Bessemer steel in Belgium.