John William Kidston Allsop
John William Kidston Allsop (1878-1947)
1948 Obituary [1]
"Major JOHN WILLIAM KIDSTON ALLSOP, who was born in 1878, received his technical education at the City and Guilds College and at King's College, London.
He served his apprenticeship in the workshops of the Metropolitan Railway at Neasden from 1894 to 1899, where he continued as chargeman of erectors for another year. His first appointment was that of assistant locomotive superintendent to the Cuban Central Railways, which he held for two years. After occupying a similar post in the service of the Algeciras Railway in Spain he returned to England to become assistant to the resident engineer of the Metropolitan Railway. From 1904 to 1912 he held appointments as engineer and locomotive superintendent for four light railways in Bengal and during the following two years was engineer in charge of the reconstruction of the British North Borneo State Railways. He then joined the R.N.A.S., and qualified as a pilot. Later he was transferred to the R.A.F.
On demobilization in 1919 with the rank of major, he secured a position for a short time with the Dunlop Rubber Company, Ltd., and then went into practice as a consulting engineer in London, chiefly in connection with schemes for heating and lighting as well as water supply and electrical installations. He continued in this work until 1940 when he became attached to the Air Ministry as senior production officer. In the following year he transferred to the Ministry of Works and Buildings. In 1945 he returned to the Dunlop Rubber Company, Ltd., as progress engineer and general assistant to the chief engineer at their London office until 1946, when he once again went into business on his own account. Major Allsop, whose death occurred on 13th July 1947, was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1905 and was transferred to Membership in 1919."