Alexander Pelham Trotter
Alexander Pelham Trotter (1857–1947), electrical engineer
1857 Born on 25 June 1857 at Woodford, Essex
Educated at Harrow, Kings College, London and Trinity College Cambridge
1879 Apprenticed to Easton and Anderson at Erith, Kent
1881 Attended the first International Electrical Exhibition in Paris, as he saw it, "the birth of electrical engineering"
1883/5 Went into partnership with W. T. Goolden as a manufacturer of electric dynamos - Goolden and Trotter. The partnership ended in 1887/8.
1890 He became editor of The Electrician
1892 Read his paper "The Distribution and Measurement of Illumination" before the Institution of Civil Engineers, in which he described the principles of photometry and methods of calculating the distribution of illumination from a number of sources. From this can be traced the understanding of illumination and its development as a branch of engineering.
1896 moved to South Africa as electrical adviser to the government of Cape Colony.
1899 returned to London and succeeded Philip Cardew as electrical adviser to the Board of Trade
1909 founder member of the Illuminating Engineering Society
1917 retired from the Board of Trade. Joined H. W. Handcock and A. H. Dykes in their consulting engineering practice
c.1920 retired from consulting.
1947 Died at Teffont, Wiltshire
1947 Obituary [1]
See Also
Sources of Information
- Biography, ODNB