David Evans (1839-1905) of Bolckow, Vaughan and Co
1905 Obituary [1]
DAVID EVENS was born at Aberdare on 17th October 1839.
His engineering training was obtained at the Aberdare Iron Works, where he succeeded his father in 1866 as blast-furnace manager.
In 1870 he became blast-furnace, forge, and mill manager at the Rhymney Iron Works, and in 1875 he accepted the post of works manager of the Ebbw Vale Iron and Steel Co.'s blast-furnaces, forges, and mills.
He returned to the Rhymney Works to take up the general managership in 1878; and from 1885 to 1891 he was general manager of the Barrow Haematite Iron and Steel Works.
In 1891 he became general manager of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Co., Middlesbrough, where, under his wise management, through periods of good and bad times, the firm enjoyed continued prosperity.
That he was a successful manager of men is evidenced by the fact that no stoppage or strike occurred during the thirteen years of his management.
He greatly interested himself in promoting the social welfare of the employees. He was a Justice of the Peace for Monmouthshire and for the North Riding of Yorkshire, Chairman of the Urban District Council of Eston, a Member of the Tees Port Sanitary Authority, a Director of the Cleveland Salt Co., and of the New Cransley Iron and Steel Co. He was a Past-President of the Cleveland Ironmasters' Association, a Vice-President of the Institution of Cleveland Engineers, a Member of Council of the Iron and Steel Institute and of the British Iron Trade Association.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1884, and was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Institution of Naval Architects, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and the representative of the Steelmakers of England and Wales on Lloyd's Committee.
His death took place at Saltburn-by-the-Sea on 8th August 1905, in his sixty-sixth year, after a long illness.
Obituary 1905 [2]
. . . the late general manager of Bolckow, Vaughan and Co. . . born at Aberdare, Glamorganshire, in 1841, his father being manager of the Aberdare Ironworks, belonging to Mr. Richard Fothergill. There Mr. Evans received his practical training . . . in 1866, when in his twenty-fifth year, he succeeded his father as blast furnace manager at Aberdare. In 1870 he became manager of the blast furnaces, forges, and mills at Rhymney, Mon., where he remained until 1875. . . .
1905 Obituary [3]
DAVID EVANS died on August 8, 1905, at his residence at Saltburn-by-the-Sea, at the age of sixty-four, after a long illness. He occupied a prominent position in the metallurgical industries of the North of England, and was generally recognised as a leading authority in the trade. He was born at Aberdare, Glamorganshire, in 1841, his father having been manager of the Aberdare ironworks. In 1866, when in his twenty-fifth year, he succeeded his father as blast-furnace manager, and in 1870 he became manager of the blast-furnaces, forges, and mills at Rhymney, Mon., where he remained until 1875.
He was then appointed works manager of the Ebbw Vale Iron and Steel Company's establishment, which included blast-furnaces and rolling-mills. In 1878 he returned to Rhymney, and occupied the post of resident manager for seven years, when in 1885 he was appointed general manager of the Barrow Haematite Iron and Steel Company. In 1891 the directors of Bolckow, Vaughan & Co. offered him the general managership of their works, which he accepted, and for thirteen years he occupied that post, until ill-health compelled him to relinquish the position in October 1964. He had the oversight of ironstone mines producing over 2,000,000 tons of Cleveland ironstone per annum; twenty-five blast-furnaces, making nearly 750,000 tons of Cleveland basic, haematite, and spiegel iron per year; steel works making 1000 tons of finished steel per day in the form of rails, sleepers, plates, &c.; nineteen collieries raising about 2,000,000 tons of coal per annum; coking plant, limestone quarries, engineering shops, foundries, &c., and a force of over 13,500 men at its various mines and works. Under his management the concern was very successfully carried on.
In addition to his duties as general manager of the firm of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan & Co., he occupied several public and private offices, being chairman of the Eston Urban District Council, a member of the Tees Port Sanitary Authority, a member of the Tees Conservancy Commission, and a Justice of the Peace for Monmouthshire and for the North Riding of Yorkshire. He was a past-president of the Cleveland Ironmasters' Association, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and of the Institution of Naval Architects, a member of the Council of the British Iron Trade Association, a vice-president of the Cleveland Institution of Engineers, and a member of the American Institute of Civil Engineers. During the whole of his thirteen years' management of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan and Co.'s works and mines it is noteworthy that not a single strike occurred, which is a testimony to the high esteem in which he was held by the whole of his workmen. He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1873, and became a member of Council in 1893. He acted as representative of the Institute on the Committee of Lloyd's Registry of Shipping.