Robert Bryson (c1901-1941)
1941 Obituary [1]
ROBERT BRYSON was chief engineer and managing director of Production-Engineering, Ltd., of London, and was engaged on production and management problems, mainly in the armament industry. At the outbreak of war in 1939 he devoted the whole of his organization to increasing aircraft production. He was killed during an air raid on 16th April 1941, and was then in his fortieth year.
He received his technical education at Rutherford Technical College, Newcastle upon Tyne, and at Cambridge University, and served his apprenticeship, from 1918 to 1923, in the foundry and metallurgical laboratory and in the machine fitting and erecting shops of Messrs. R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Ltd. He then became an improver with Messrs. Parsons' Steam Turbine Company at Wallsend for a period of three months and was subsequently employed on the design, construction, installation, and testing of Diesel engines for the North Eastern Marine Engineering Company, Ltd.
After a short appointment during 1927 as plant engineer to Messrs. Brims and Company, Ltd., at Newcastle upon Tyne, where he gained experience in pile driving and diving bell work, he joined Messrs. Hall Brothers Steamship Company, Ltd., and was appointed engineer to the 10,000-ton steamship Caduceus. In 1929, he became works manager with Messrs. J. J. Armfield and Company, Ltd., water power and general engineer, of Ringwood, Hants, and was responsible for the production of oil refining machinery for the Kellogg Company, Ltd., of New York, and for the manufacture of a range of turbine-operated coffee plantation machinery for Kenya Colony, East Africa.
From 1930 to 1933 he was engineer, and later chief engineer, to Messrs. Charles E. Bedaux, Ltd. Mr. Bryson, who was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1937, served in the Royal Engineers (Territorial Army) and held the rank of major in command of 217 Field Company. He passed through the Staff College at Camberley in 1939, and being promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in December 1940.