Edmund Alfred Pontifex
Edmund Alfred Pontifex (1828-1909)
1828 Born in Battersea, son of Edmund Pontifex
Trained in mechanical engineering by his father
1849 Admitted to the Company of Armourers and Braziers in the City of London by reason of patrimony[1]
1855 Married Harriet Holdsworth
1856 Patent to Edmund Alfred Pontifex, of Pontifex and Wood of Shoe Lane, chemical manufacturer, for improvement in manufacture of tartaric acid, citric acid and salts[2]
1856 Birth of son Edmund Lionel Pontifex
1857 Birth of son Reginald Holdsworth Pontifex
1859 Patent Edmund Alfred Pontifex, of Pontifex and Wood of Shoe Lane, engineers and coppersmiths, on external surface condensers[3]
1861 Edmund Alfred Pontifex, manufacturer of machinery and chemical products, employer of (unclear) hundred hands, fellow of the Chemical Society. He was living in Paddington with his wife Harriett Ann 25, Edmund Lionel 4, and Reginald H 3[4]
1865 Proposal to become an associate of the Inst Civil Engineers; had been the manager of Pontifex and Wood of Shoe Lane and Wandsworth for 12 years.[5]
1871 Copper and lead merchant; living in Paddington[6]
1901 Civil engineer; living in Hammersmith[7]
1909 Died in Droxford[8]
1909 Obituary [9]
EDMUND ALFRED PONTIFEX, born near London on the 11th January, 1828, died at Bishops Waltham on the 12th October, 1909, aged 81.
Having gained practical experience, especially in the metallurgical and chemical branch of the profession, with Messrs. Pontifex and Wood, he became identified with mining enterprise in 1863, when he joined the board of directors of the Cape Copper Mining Company, of which he was Chairman for 43 years.
He was also Chairman for many years of the Pahang Corporation, the English Crown Spelter Company and the Briton-ferry Chemical Company, and was associated with the direction of other similar undertakings.
Mr. Pontifex was elected an Associate of The Institution on the 23rd May, 1865, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 30th April, 1889.