Samuel Joyce
Professor Samuel Joyce (c1864-1906)
1907 Obituary [1]
PROFESSOR SAMUEL JOYCE died at Bombay on August 11th, 1906, being at the time of his death 42 years of age.
He was educated at High Barnet Grammer School, and on leaving school found employment at Messrs. Paterson & Cooper's Works, at Dalston, where, after two years' general training, he became Manager of the Instrument Department. He assisted in the design of some of the first electromagnetic instruments, and later, brought out the dead-beat electromagnet instruments bearing his name, which enabled the large currents then coming into use for electro-magnetic purposes to be measured with accuracy.
In 1891 he left Paterson & Cooper's to become lecturer in electrical engineering at the Whitworth Institute in Manchester, which soon after was merged in the Manchester Municipal Technical School. As a teacher he was eminently successful, and his lectures and practical classes were extremely popular.
In 1897, feeling that he was losing touch with the practical world, he took a position as Manager of the Edison & Swan Company's Works at Broadheath, near Manchester, and Chief Engineer to the Altrincham Electric Supply Company. When the works at Broadheath were closed he was transferred to a position of increased responsibility at the Ponder's End Works of the Company.
In 1902 he proceeded to Bombay to resume his work as lecturer, having been appointed to the Chair of Physics and Electrical Engineering at the Victoria Jubilee Technical Institute, a position which he filled until his death.
Professor Joyce was the author of a paper on "Electrical Measuring Instruments," for which he obtained the Miller Prize of the Students' Section of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Later, in Manchester, he published his book of "Examples in Electrical Engineering," which is widely used as a standard work by students and; teachers.
He also took an active part in the foundation of the Northern Society of Electrical Engineers, of which he was Secretary at the time of its fusion with the Institution of Electrical Engineers, and he acted as Hon. Secretary of the Manchester Local Section during the first year of its existence.
While in Bombay he founded, with two others, the Indian Electrical, Mechanical and Textile News, a monthly magazine devoted to the technical side of these subjects, which enjoys a prominent position among the technical papers of India. He had numerous interests outside his profession, among which were archaeology and the ancient languages of the East.
He became an Associate of the Institution in 1885, and a full Member in 1898.