Thomas Gibson Barlow-Massicks
Thomas Gibson Barlow-Massicks (1862-1899)
1899 Obituary [1]
THOMAS GIBSON BARLOW-MASSICKS, son of Mr. Thomas Barlow-Massicks, formerly Managing Director of the Millom and Askam Hematite Iron Company, and now Chairman and Managing irector of the Lonsdale Iron Company, Whitehaven, was born on the 12th June, 1862.
His engineering career began in 1883, when he joined the firm of Messrs. John E. Swan and Brothers, metal brokers, of Middlesbrough.
Three years later he was invited by the directors of the Vulcan Steel and Forge Company to reorganize their works, a task which he carried out to their satisfaction, and in 1889 he assisted in the management of the works of the Cumberland Iron Mining and Smelting Company.
In 1890 Mr. Barlow-Massicks was engaged by the Lynx Creek Gold and Land Company as resident engineer and managing director of their works at Prescott, Arizona, U.S.A. In that capacity he laid out jointly with Mr. W. Everard Pedley, extensive hydraulic works, and surveyed and mapped out the large properties owned by the company. Unfortunately, however, his career was cut short prematurely.
In the spring of 1898 he was seriously injured by the accidental discharge of his revolver. The bullet, which had passed upwards through the left lung, could not be extracted, but there were hopes of ultimate recovery. Those hopes, however, were not realized, death taking place at the Mercy Hospital, Prescott, on the 13th April, 1899.
Mr. Barlow-Massicks had considerable inventive faculty, and took out patents for, among other things, an improved system of wagon coupling, a carriage brake, a spiral elevator, and a gold-washing machine for dealing with alluvial deposits.
He was elected an Associate Member on the 5th December, 1893.