Edward Baker Green (1822-1906)
1907 Obituary [1]
EDWARD BAKER GREEN, born on the 1st June, 1822, was educated at Colebrook House Academy, Islington, and served a pupilage of 5 years to Richard Tress, Architect and Surveyor, of London.
On completing his articles, he was employed for several years by the late Robert Stephenson, Past-President, on the Tithe and Enclosure surveys.
From 1843 to 1853 he acted as manager for his father, who was a prominent London coal merchant, and in the latter year he engaged in business on his own account as a wheelwright, smith, and contractor. He designed and erected his own works at Limehouse, and the lathes and other machine tools employed were also of his own design and marked a distinct advance on the machinery then in use.
Later he designed several other machines, including an improved planing-machine, and also perfected a system of timber-drying. He also constructed a fleet of barges, and engaged, for a short period, in lighterage work on the Thames for the Chartered Gas Co and others.
In private life, Mr. Green was an enthusiastic and devoted student of various branches of natural science. He was a member of the Microscopical Society and the Queckett Society, and in the field of microscopical research he undertook a valuable inquiry into the structure and functions of root-hairs. He was also a good geologist and field botanist and always took a keen interest in outdoor life and pursuits. His scientific attainments and personal qualities rendered him very popular in social circles, and his death on the 2nd January, 1906, at the advanced age of 83, was widely regretted.
Mr. Green was elected an Associate Member of The Institution on the 10th April, 1888.