Alfred Pemberton
Alfred Pemberton (1874-1941)
1942 Obituary [1]
ALFRED PEMBERTON, whose death occurred on 11th June 1941, was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1908 and transferred to Membership in 1914. He was born in 1874 and, after receiving his technical education at Manchester Technical School, served his apprenticeship with Mr. Benjamin Goodfellow, of Hyde, from 1891 to 1895. He then became machine shop foreman in the same firm.
Subsequently he held appointments, for brief periods, as shop foreman to the Parsons Marine Turbine Steam Company, Newcastle upon Tyne, foreman fitter to Messrs. Clarke, Chapman and Company, Ltd., and foreman turner to Mr. Robert Middleton, of Leeds. In 1901 he was appointed works manager of Mr. Robert McGower's machine tool works, at Manchester, and from 1903 to 1905 occupied a similar position with Messrs. Cowans, Ltd., of Salford. He then received an appointment as chief inspector for Messrs. Fraser and Chalmers, Ltd., of Erith, and five years later was appointed works superintendent.
During his association with the firm he carried out a considerable amount of highly important mechanical engineering work; he was responsible for the construction of turbine machinery for the first ocean-going torpedo boat destroyers, HMS Viper and HMS Cobra, which represented an immense advance in size and speed as compared with their predecessors. In 1919 Mr. Pemberton became works manager of Messrs. Mirrlees, Bickerton and Day, Ltd., of Stockport, and held that position until his retirement, on account of ill health, in 1929.