Maurice McClean Bidder
Lieut-Col Maurice McClean Bidder (c1879-1934), director of Kitson and Co
son of George Parker Bidder (1836-1896)
1934 Obituary [1]
Lt.-Col. MAURICE MCCLEAN BIDDER, D.S.O., was for many years connected with Messrs. Kitson and Company as a director and later as managing director.
He was the son of George P. Bidder, Q.C., and grandson of George Parker Bidder, the famous "Calculating Boy," who was associated with Robert Stephenson and other engineers on railway construction, and who in later life became President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
He received his education at St. Paul's School from 1892 to 1897, when he entered the Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill.
In 1900 he became a pupil to Messrs. Kitson and Company at the Airedale Foundry, and in the following year he joined the Midland Railway as a pupil under Mr. G. McDonald.
He was appointed in 1902 superintendent of the Royal Survey Department, Siam, and was engaged in Government work in that country for four years.
On his return to England he went into private practice in Westminster as a consulting civil engineer in partnership with his cousin, Capt. W. N. McClean, M.I.Mech.E.
In 1912 he joined Messrs. Kitson and Company as a director and six years later was appointed assistant managing director. He became managing director to the firm in 1922, and held this position until 1928.
He was an authority on gas production and distribution and was for several years chairman of the Danish Gas Company.
At the outbreak of the War he held the rank of Major in the Royal Engineers. He served in Egypt, Gallipoli, and Palestine, and in 1917 he was awarded the D.S.O. and promoted to the rank of brevet Lieutenant-Colonel.
His death took place as the result of a street motoring accident on 26th August 1934, in his fifty-sixth year.
He had been a Member of the Institution since 1921 and was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.