Lionel Nelson (c1885 -1937)
1937 Obituary [1]
LIONEL NELSON was connected for practically the whole of his career with refrigeration engineering. He was born at Tomoana, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand, the youngest son of Mr. William Nelson, who was a pioneer in the freezing industry.
Mr. Nelson came to England in 1904 and entered Emmanuel College, Cambridge; in 1907 he graduated with honours in the Mechanical Sciences Tripos. He then returned to New Zealand and in the following year he joined Messrs. James J. Niven and Company, Ltd., of Wellington, and after eighteen months' experience in the drawing office he took charge of the consulting and estimating department of the firm. He became a director in 1909 and was also appointed secretary to the company in 1912. In 1913 he was made managing director and he held this position until his death, which occurred at Suva, near Wellington, on 23rd August 1937, in his fifty-second year.
Mr. Nelson was responsible for the design and installation of several important refrigerating plants, especially in connexion with dairies, also for a number of gas-driven pumping plants and electric light plants. He was elected a Graduate of the Institution in 1907 and was transferred to Associate Membership in 1913.