Edmund Barrow Chittenden
Edmund Barrow Chittenden (1854-1913)
1861 Living with parents Andrew (age 39 and born in London), a Farmer, and Mary Ann plus siblings at Street, Detling, Kent. [1]
1881 Visitor at 3 Woodville Terrace, Gravesend in the house of James Henry Gramshaw (a Doctor). EBC is an Agricultural Engineer. [2]
1891 Living at Swan Street, West Malling (age 36 and born at Cuckfield), Traction Engine Proprietor A & P. With wife Ellen M. (age 34) and Children Phyllis (age 7), Leslie (female) (age 5) and Ronald (age 1) plus four servants. [3]
1895. Listed as a Director of Aveling and Porter
1901 Living at New Barnes, West Malling, Kent (age 46 and born at Cuckfield, Sussex), Engine Owner and Road Contractor. With wife Constance (age 37) and child Amy M. (age 3) plus four servants [4]
1913 July 14th. Died age 58 from a motoring accident. A director of Aveling and Porter. [5]
1913 Obituary [6]
EDMUND BARROW CRITTENDEN was born at Haywards Heath on 19th August 1854, being the second son of the late Andrew Chittenden, of Maidstone.
He was educated at Sutton Valence School, near Maidstone, and by a private tutor.
Then for a short time he went to the Engine and Locomotive Works of Messrs. Robert Stephenson and Co., Newcastle-on-Tyne, where, meeting with a severe accident to his hand, he was temporarily incapacitated, and returned to Kent.
He next became articled to Messrs. Aveling and Porter, of Rochester, and went through all the shops.
In 1875 he joined his father, and shortly afterwards became partner in the firm of Chittenden, Knight and Co., at that time one of the largest owners of steam ploughing and threshing machinery, in the Kingdom. To this business he brought industry, ability, and integrity, whilst his special knowledge of this machinery, acquired in the Rochester Works, made him of great use in administering the details of a complicated business and in maintaining the machinery in efficient repair. The ploughing business was very successful, until the general depression in agriculture largely reduced the area of arable land.
About this time the firm added steam-rolling to their other operations, which brought Mr. Chittenden in contact with most of the public bodies of Kent. Having taken into partnership Mr. Percy A. Simmons, the firm still further developed their road-contracting business, and purchased some quarries.
In 1906 the business was converted into a limited company, with head offices in Maidstone, and carried out large contracts for tar macadam and bituminous road surfaces for the Kent County Council, the London County Council, and other public bodies.
For twenty years Mr. Chittenden was Honorary Secretary of the Kent Engine Users' Association, and for many years he was Chairman of the National Traction Engine Owners' and Users' Association, and a director of Messrs. Aveling and Porter. He was one of the earliest locomobile owners in 1900.
In June 1913, while being driven in a small car on the main road out of Maidstone, he was run into by a large car which was crossing from a by-road, and was terribly injured. Although it was hoped that he might recover, his death took place at his residence at West Mailing, on 14th July 1913, in his fifty-ninth year.
He was a Member of this Institution from 1886 to 1891, and from 1895 to the time of his death; and he was also a Member of the Royal Agricultural Society.