James Thomas Baron
1931 Obituary.[1]
JAMES THOMAS BARON, who died on the 16th July, 1931, had been intimately connected with the electrical undertaking of the Vestry of St. Pancras (St. Pancras Borough Council) since the inauguration of the electrical supply in that district. He received his education at Yorkshire College, Leeds, and served an apprenticeship as a mechanical engineer. Later he was for 9 years engaged as manager for Mr. Wilson Hartnell of Leeds, carrying out all classes of electric lighting and power installations. In July 1891 he became associated with the St. Pancras undertaking, and the electrical supply to the district was available in November of that year. From a small generating station which included eight or ten 80-kW sets, distributing to the consumer on a 110-volt, 3-wire network of bare copper strip, the undertaking developed very rapidly; a change from 110 volts to 220 volts was necessary about 1895, and in 1900 further demands necessitated generation and transmission at 5 500 volts from the King's Road station, the older station being utilized as a substation. On the retirement of the late Mr. Sydney W. Baynes in 1928, Mr. Baron was appointed chief electrical engineer. He became a Member of the Institution in 1891.