Henry Charles Adams
Henry Charles Adams (1873-1952) M I Mech E
1909 Taken into partnership by his father Professor Henry Adams
1953 Obituary [1]
HENRY CHARLES ADAMS, who died at Orpington, Kent, on 29th February 1952, was well known for many years as a prominent consulting engineer specializing in water and drainage schemes. He was the eldest son of the late Professor Henry Adams (Member), and was born in 1873. His education was received at Cranleigh, City of London College, and Crystal Palace School of Engineering.
On the completion of his articles under his father in 1891, he held several temporary positions including that of chief assistant in the engineer's department of King's Norton and Northfield Urban District Council.
In 1895 he was appointed resident engineer at Henley-in-Arden and Evesham water works, and from 1898 to 1900 was outdoor assistant in the city engineer's office at Birmingham.
He then took up an appointment as chief engineer and managing assistant to Pritchard Green and Company, consulting engineers in the same city, being engaged chiefly upon schemes in connexion with the construction and the electrical equipment of tramways and pumping plant for sewage works.
After holding this position for nine years he became a partner in his father's consulting practice in London, with which he continued to be associated until his father retired in 1928, after which he was in practice on his own account for many years. His activities covered a very wide range and his services were called upon by the War Office as consultant in connexion with the design and supervision of camp drainage during the 1914-18 war.
From 1937 to 1944 he was engineer and manager of the Holyhead Water Works Company and he was a member of a panel of civil engineers appointed by the Home Secretary under the Reservoirs (Safety Provisions) Act, 1930, and a past-chairman of the Joint Committee on the Status of Water Engineers.
Mr. Adams was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1907 and transferred to Membership four years later. He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which awarded him the Miller Prize, and served as President of the Institution of Sanitary Engineers in 1932 and 1933. In addition he was a past-president of the Society of Engineers and of the Institution of Municipal Engineers and had served as a member of council of the Royal Sanitary Institute, besides being an honorary member of the Association of Engineers-in-Charge.
He was the author of "Sewerage of Sea Coast Towns", "Railless Traction", and "Water-works for Urban and Rural Districts", and contributed a number of articles to technical journals and societies.