Henry Seebohm (1832-1895), of Seebohm and Dieckstahl, Metallurgist and Engineer.
1895 Obituary [1]
HENRY SEEBOHM died at his London residence, Courtfield Gardens, South Kensington, on November 26, 1895.
Born at Bradford in 1832, he came of an old Quaker family of Scandinavian origin, and was educated at the Friends' School at York. Although immersed in business at Sheffield as a steel manufacturer, he found time to make a thorough study of ornithology. In the course of these researches he visited most of the countries of Europe to gain experience of the habits of birds, and in 1877 he visited the Yenisei valley in Siberia, where he obtained important ornithological results. On this occasion his ship was wrecked, and he built another in which he successfully returned to England by the North Cape.
His great work was his "History of British Birds and their Eggs," a volume full of original observations. He was also a diligent student of the migration of birds, and wrote, in 1888, a beautifully illustrated quarto volume on the subject. His works, as a traveller, on Siberia are among the most pleasant and interesting of writings.
In 1865 he entered into partnership with the late Mr. Dieckstahl, and started at a small establishment in Rockingham Street, Sheffield. Operations were afterwards transferred to Attercliffe and to Doctor's Fields, and in 1870 the firm's present works in the Wicker were taken.
His business interest was by no means restricted to the firm with which his name was associated. He was chairman of the directors of Joseph Rodgers & Sons, Limited, and of the Phosphor Bronze Company, Limited, and had a seat on the boards of Ruston, Proctor, & Co., Limited, and other large undertakings.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1877, and in 1884 contributed to the proceedings a monumental paper on the manufacture of crucible steel.