John Alexander Henderson
John Alexander Henderson (1883-1948), railway engineer.
1883 Born in East Dulwich, son of Alexander Henderson, South American merchant, and grandson of Alexander Henderson of Clerkenwell, a compositor.
Joined Livesey, Son and Henderson - the similarity of name with one of the partners seems to have been a coincidence.
1952 Obituary [1]
"Eng. Lt.-Cdr. JOHN ALEXANDER HENDERSON, R.N., B.Sc., had considerable experience as a railway engineer in various parts of the world and had seen service in the Royal Navy, both afloat and ashore throughout the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars. He was educated at Dulwich College and Glasgow University, where he was Kirk Prizeman, and graduated B.Sc. (Eng.) in 1906. He received his practical training with Robey and Company, Ltd., Lincoln, from 1906 to 1910, and spent the next two years in the office of Messrs. Livesey, Son and Henderson, London, consulting engineers, as junior draughtsman and assistant engineer. After acting in the latter capacity on surveys and construction for a Brazilian Railway Company he joined the Royal Navy in 1914 as an engine-room artificer. He received rapid promotion rising to the rank of engineer lieutenant commander and becoming senior engineer in the battleship H.M.S. King George V.
On demobilization in 1919 he began a series of journeys abroad, going first to South America, where he was for a time engineer with the Antofagasta and Bolivia Railway. His next appointment was that of resident engineer in charge of the construction and equipment of workshops and a power station for the Nigerian Railways. In 1923 he joined the staff of the Anatolian Railway and carried out inspection of railways in Turkey. In 1925 he was employed on engineering work in North Spain and in the years following at Beira in East Africa. He retired from active engineering work in the late 1920's. He volunteered for service with the Royal Navy early in the 1939-45 war and was appointed to the Admiralty, being subsequently granted the temporary rank of engineer-commander, with the charge of works and depots. Commander Henderson, whose death in his sixty-fifth year occurred on 4th July 1948, was elected a Member of the Institution in 1924. He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers."