Sir Arthur McDougall Duckham (8 July 1879 – 14 February 1932) was one of the founders of the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with over 33,000 members worldwide. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. It has offices in Rugby, London, Melbourne, Wellingto ...

, and its first president. Duckham was born in

Blackheath, London Blackheath is an area in Southeast London, straddling the border of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located northeast of Lewisham, south of Greenwich and southeast of Charing Cross, the traditional ce ...

, the second son of a Falmouth-born mechanical and civil engineer, Frederic Eliot Duckham (1841 – died 13 January 1918 in Blackheath), who had patented improvements in governors for marine engines and invented a 'Hydrostatic Weighing Machine'. His mother was Maud Mary McDougall (1849–1921), sister of John McDougall of the flour-making family, which had a mill at

Millwall Dock Millwall Dock is a dock at Millwall, London, England, located south of Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs. History The scheme was developed speculatively by a partnership of John Kelk and John Aird & Co.'The Millwall Docks: The docks', in Sur ...

. His older brother was

Alexander Duckham Alexander Duckham (11 March 1877 – 1 February 1945) was an English chemist and businessman, best known for the development of machine lubricants. The son of an engineer, after university he specialised in lubrication, working briefly for Fleming ...

, notable for the development of machine lubricants. Arthur Duckham became a trainee gas engineer, while also taking evening classes at

King's College, London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and was appointed assistant superintendent of a London

gasworks A gasworks or gas house is an industrial plant for the production of flammable gas. Many of these have been made redundant in the developed world by the use of natural gas, though they are still used for storage space. Early gasworks Coal ...

. Along with Harold Woodall he formed a company, Woodall-Duckham, which developed the continuous vertical retort for manufacturing

gas Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma). A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...

from

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

accessed 28 July 2009 He married Maud Peppercorn, daughter of

Arthur Douglas Peppercorn Arthur Douglas Peppercorn (28 February 1847 - 1926) was a London-born landscape painter who has been likened to Corot.

, and they had three children. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was involved in the supply of coal-derived chemicals for use in the manufacture of explosives, becoming Deputy Controller of Munitions Supply in 1915. He performed a number of other executive and advisor roles, notably Chairman of the Advisory Committee,

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis of ...

, which resulted in his being knighted with the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(KCB).London Gazette
9 February 1917 page 1458 He was eventually Director of Aircraft Production. He also received the

Légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

(Cross of Officer).London Gazette
22 October 1920 page 101197 After the war his business flourished, expanding into other areas of

chemical engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...

. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers (which then included all non-military engineers) in 1918, but chaired the committee which created the Institution of Chemical Engineers, and became its first president. In 1928 he led a British trade mission to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and following this received a further knighthood, GBE.London Gazette
31 May 1929 page 3675 He died 14 February 1932 at Ashtead,

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duckham, Arthur Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire Officiers of the Légion d'honneur 1879 births 1932 deaths British chemical engineers Alumni of King's College London