Henry George Graves
Henry George Graves (1864-1929), late controller of patents in India
Born at Methwold, Norfolk
1929 Obituary [1]
HENRY GEORGE GRAVES died at his home at Bedford on November 4, 1929.
Born at Methwold, Norfolk, in 1864, he was educated at Bedford Modern School; thence he went in 1881 to the Royal School of Mines, where he took the Associate degree in Mining and Metallurgy, and was a De la Becke Medallist in Mining.
In 1886 he was appointed one of the Examiners of H.M. Patent Office, London, where he remained until 1904.
From 1890 to 1903 he was Assistant Examiner in Mechanics and Mining for the Science and Art Department.
In 1904 Mr. Graves went to India; in the first instance he was lent to India by the Home Government to take the entire responsibility for the administration of the Patent Office of India. He organised the administration of Patent Acts, and was appointed temporarily a member of the Legislative Council to draft, introduce, and carry through a new Act. This was effected in 1911, and in January 1912 the Indian Patent and Designs Act, No. 2, 1911, came into force. It remains, in essence, the law to-day, although some modifications were made to meet special conditions during the war. The particular value of Mr. Graves' work was that he brought order into an office where previously there had been none. He remained in Calcutta for sixteen years.
He was for some years an active member of the Newcomen Society, and took a useful part in the discussion of papers on the history of iron-making. In addition, he was the author of a number of papers on various subjects, including one on "The Early Use of Iron in India," which was published in the No. I. volume of the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute for 1912. Reference must also be made to Mr. Graves' intimate connection with the work of the Iron and Steel Institute. For many years he held an official appointment as abstractor of technical and scientific literature for the Institute, for which work he was singularly well qualified. At the Autumn Meetings he regularly acted as an honorary member of the staff, and rendered very considerable services as voluntary assistant, but his departure to India in 1904 necessitated his withdrawal from all these activities. His interest was, however, always maintained, and on his return to England in 1920 he was again a constant attendant at the meetings.
He had been a member of the Iron and Steel Institute since 1896.