John Price (1855-1906)

John Price (1855-1906)

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1906 Obituary

...Mr. John Price, the city surveyor of Birmingham...[more]

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1907 Obituary

JOHN PRICE, City Surveyor of Birmingham, died suddenly, after undergoing an operation, on the 6th March, 1906, at Burnham, Somerset.

Born on the 22nd June, 1855, the subject of this notice was educated at the Manchester Grammar School and at the Owens College, Manchester, where he gained the Ashbury exhibition in Civil Engineering.

With the exception of his first appointment, which was that of Engineer on the construction of the Hollinwood branch of the Lancashire and Yorkshire railway, Mr. Price’s career was entirely devoted to the municipal branch of the profession.

Between 1876 and 1878 he was employed as Resident Engineer on the Barrow-in-Furness main drainage works; for the next 6 years he occupied the position of Engineer and Surveyor to the Barton Sanitary Authority; and from 1884 to 1895 he acted as Engineer and Surveyor to the Toxteth Urban District Council. In the latter year, Toxteth being brought within the city boundaries of Liverpool, Mr. Price was appointed Assistant City Engineer.

In 1896 Mr. Price was selected to fill the office of City Surveyor of Birmingham in succession to the late W. S. Till. The first work of importance undertaken by Mr. Price at Birmingham was the reconstruction on modern principles of the sewerage of Edgbaston and Harborne, which he carried out with signal success.

Throughout his tenure of office Mr. Price was continuously and closely occupied with the manifold duties attaching to the Surveyorship of a large and growing city. Considerable reorganization of the staff of his department was effected, and a number of important works were put in hand. Among these may be mentioned the reconstruction of a section of the Rea main sewer; the improvement and diversion of the River Rea, near Calthorpe Park; extensive wood paving; the construction of underground lavatories; the extension of Corporation Street; and the construction of Small Heath Viaduct. To these must be added the arrangements for relaying the old tramways for electrical traction, and the commencement of new lines. All these works, with others not enumerated, required much skill and attention, and were carried out to the complete satisfaction of the Corporation.

Mr. Price was a Fellow of the Surveyors’ Institution, and was connected with various municipal societies. He also served the office of president of the Birmingham Association of Students of The Institution, taking great interest in the welfare of the younger members of the profession.

He was elected an Associate Member of The Institution on the 2nd December, 1879, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 7th December, 1897.

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