Robert Booth
Robert Booth (1855-1942)
1890 of Booth and Ravenshaw
1943 Obituary [1]
ROBERT BOOTH, whose death occurred on 13th April 1942, was a member of the Institution for over fifty years, having been elected in 1890. He was born at Middlesbrough in 1855 and served his apprenticeship with Messrs. Hopkins, Gilkes and Company. In 1876 he joined Messrs. Westray, Copeland and Company, of Barrow-in-Furness, as draughtsman and subsequently occupied a similar position with the Carnforth Iron Company.
In 1880 he entered the office of the late Mr. Bernard Dawson, consulting engineer, at Malvern, and was responsible for much of the earlier development of producer gas firing of industrial furnaces. In 1897 he came to London as Mr. Dawson's London manager and on the latter's death in 1900 took over the practice. He began an association with the Whitehead Iron and Steel Company, South Wales, in 1908, which lasted for over thirty years, in the first place as their London representative and from 1914 to 1919 as manager of the works while the proprietors served in the Army, during which period Mr. Booth was also appointed a director.
He then returned to London, but continued to ally himself closely with the interests of the Whitehead Iron and Steel Company, and retained his directorship until his retirement shortly before his death.