Thomas Andrewes Uthwatt
Thomas Andrewes Uthwatt (1922-1972)
1972 Obituary [1]
Thomas Andrewes Uthwatt (Fellow) died on May 19. Born in 1922, he was educated at Marlborough College and Jesus College, Cambridge, graduating in 1948 with First Class Honours in Mechanical Engineering. Commissioned during the Second World War in the Royal Engineers, he served in India and Burma.
After joining Mather and Platt Ltd in 1948 as a Graduate Apprentice, he spent three years in the Food Machinery Division, Radcliffe Works, before moving to the Research Department at Park Works in 1953, which he took charge of in 1955. In 1957 he was appointed a Special Director of the Company and in 1961 a Director on the Main Board. In 1965 he became the Managing Director of the General Machinery Division, while still retaining overall responsibility for research.
He was largely responsible for the development of the revolutionary Vaporloc Continuous Open Width Bleaching Range, successfully developed by Mather and Platt Ltd, which reduces the bleaching and scouring time for textiles to -118of the previous process time. After suffering from a heart attack he was forced to retire from the rigours of line management and in order to make his services available in an advisory role, the Board took the opportunity of appointing him Group Engineering Director in 1971.
He joined the North Western Branch Committee of the Institution in 1966, being Vice-Chairman in 1969/70 and Chairman in 1970/71.