Percy Roper Roberts
Percy Roper Roberts (1871-1951)
1951 Obituary [1]
"PERCY ROPER ROBERTS, who was born in 1871, was closely associated with the design and erection of mining plant throughout his professional career. He was educated at Ipswich Grammar School and served his apprenticeship in the same town with Messrs. E. R. and F. Turner, Ltd., engineers, from 1887 to 1890, in whose employment he continued as junior draughtsman for another year.
He then went to South Africa, where he filled positions as draughtsman and engineer to various gold mines in the Johannesburg area. In 1898 he began to practise as a consulting engineer at Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, and acted in an advisory capacity for the United Excelsior and other gold mining concerns. On his return to England in 1905 he joined the staff of Messrs. Sandycroft, Ltd., makers of mining machinery, as a draughtsman, and subsequently was placed in charge of the drawing office. He relinquished this position in 1919 and became chief of the mining department of Messrs. Vickers, Ltd., with whom he remained until 1932. In 1927 he was awarded the Telford Premium by the Institution of Civil Engineers for a paper, given jointly with Mr. A. C. Anderson on "The Mechanical Parts of Large' finding Machines". Mr. Roberts had been an Associate Member of the Institution since 1899. His death occurred on 29th March 1951."