Sir Reginald Edward Stradling (1891-1952)
1952 Obituary [1]
WE regret to have to record the death of Sit Reginald Stradling, C.B., M.I.C.E., F.R.S., which occurred, suddenly, at Shrivenham, Wiltshire, on Saturday last January 26th.
Sir Reginald, who was in his sixty-first year, had been Dean of the Military College of Science, Shrivenham, since 1949.
Reginald Edward Stradling was born at Bristol on May 12, 1891, and received his general education at the Merchant Venturers' School and Bristol Grammar School. He studied engineering at Bristol University - which later conferred upon him the degree of D.Sc. - and then, between 1912 and 1914, received practical training under Mr. A. P. I. Cotterell, M.I.C.E.
Subsequently, Reginald Stradling extended his practical experience with Messrs. Bradshaw, Gass and Hope, civil engineers and architects, of Bolton, with the Midland Counties Reinforced Concrete Company, and with Mr. Harry Jackson, M.I.C.E. (sic), who was engaged on various water supply and sewage disposal schemes.
In the first world war he held a commission in the Royal Engineers, was awarded the Military Cross, and was twice mentioned in dispatches.
In 1918 Sir Reginald went to the University of Birmingham as a lecturer in civil engineering, and during his four years in that appointment frequently assisted Professor F. C. Lea in private consulting work on structural problems.
He then became head of the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building at the Bradford Technical College, where he remained until 1924. In that year Sir Reginald was appointed Director of the Building Research Station set up by the Department of Scientific and Industr1al Research. During his fifteen years in that office the work of the station was considerably extended and many important experiments on building construction and road work were carried out under his direction.
When war broke out in 1939 Sir Reginald became chief adviser on research and experiments in the Ministry of Home Security, in which office he served until 1944, when the Ministry of Works appointed him chief scientific adviser. His many tasks in the years that followed included researches and experiments concerned with the Government's housing schemes.
For a time, at the end of the war, Sir Reginald also acted as an adviser in the civil defence section of the Home Office.
In 1949, on the death of Dr. C. H. Lander, Sir Reginald was appointed Dean of the Military College of Science. Sir Reginald's knighthood was conferred in 1945, he having previously received the honour of C.B. in 1934.
He became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1917 and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1943.
In 1942 Sir Reginald was awarded, by the Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the James Alfred Ewing Medal "for specially meritorious contributions to the science of engineering in the field of research." Sir Reginald was also an Honorary Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects and an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers.
In 1947 he was the recipient of the America Medal for Merit, an award which was made in recognition of experimental work concerned with the explosive effects of the atomic bomb.
- 1952 Obituary [2]
Sir REGINALD EDWARD STRADLING, C.B., M.C., D.Sc., Ph.D., F.R.S., who died at Sbrivenham, Berkshire, on the 26th January at the age of 60, was born at Bristol on the 12th May, 1891. He was educated in the same city at the Merchant Venturers’ School, the Grammar School, and the University where he graduated as a B.Sc. in civil engineering in 1912. The next 2 years he spent in practical training under the late A. P. I. Cotterell, and in gaining engineering experience with the Midland Counties Reinforced Concrete Company and with Messrs Bradshaw Gass and Hope of Bolton. In October 1914 he was commissioned in the Royal Engineers, with whom he served throughout the war. He was awarded the Military Cross and was twice mentioned in dispatches At the end of the war, he was appointed a lecturer in civil engineering at the University of Birmingham and while there he assisted Professor F. C. Lea in some of the latter’s work as a private consultant on structural problems. In 1922 he moved to the Bradford Technical College, where he became Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Building, and remained there until he was appointed Director of the Building Research Station in 1924. He filled that post for 15 years, during which time he developed the Station and directed many experiments in the construction of buildings and roads. The chairman of the Building Research Board later wrote, with reference to Sir Reginald Stradling’s directorship, that "the place the Station had won by 1939, and the record of its work, formed an outstanding tribute to his achievement.”
He was appointed the Chief Adviser on research and experiments to the Ministry of Home Security in 1939, and Chief Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Works in 1944. While at the Ministry of Works he was engaged upon the development of Government housing schemes, and at the end of the war he acted as adviser on civil defence to the Home Office for 3 years. Ill health obliged him to give up his full-time appointment in 1949, and he became Dean of the Military College of Science at Shrivenham.
Sir Reginald was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1934 and was knighted in 1945. He played a prominent part in the work of the Institution and among his activities in this connexion it should be mentioned that he was responsible for the major part of the experimental and theoretical investigation in the programme of research started in May 1938 by the Engineering Precautions (Air Raid) Committee of the Institution, carried out in co-operation with the Air Raid Precautions Department of the Home Office.
He was elected an Associate Member in 1917, and was transferred to the class of Member in 1928. In 1935 he was elected a Member of Council and Vice-President in 1945. He would have been nominated for the Presidential Chair had his health allowed. He was also an Associate Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and an Honorary Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was awarded the America Medal for Merit in 1947 for researches connected with atomic weapons. In 1943 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and in the same year was awarded the Ewing Medal by the Institution of Civil Engineers.
He was married in 1918 to Inda, daughter of Mr A. W. Pippard of Yeovil. He is survived by Lady Stradling and their son and daughter.