Edmund Bruce Ball

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...

(21 May 1873 – 17 June 1944) was an English hydraulic engineer. He specialised in the storage and distribution of water.

Life

He was born in Thetford in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

. He was educated in Thetford and then apprenticed as an engineer to Charles Burrell & Sons in that towns. His talent won him a scholarship to study engineering at Manchester Technical School. On completion of this apprenticeship in 1895, Ball was elected a Whitworth Exhibitioner and also received a Queen’s Prizeman for Science. He had a very successful career, starting as Chief Designer for Benjamin Goodfellow & Co in Hyde, Manchester. Thereafter he served as Works Manager for Reavell & Co in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, Technical Director for San Georgio Co in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Technical Director for Samuel & Co Ltd in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

and

Manchuria Manchuria is an exonym (derived from the endo demonym " Manchu") for a historical and geographic region in Northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day Northeast China (Inner Manchuria) and parts of the Russian Far East (Outer Manc ...

, Works Manager at D Napier & Son in Acton, and Managing Director of Glenfield & Kennedy in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. His last position also gave him control of two subsidiary companies: British Pitometer and Hydrautomat. He served as President of the

Institution of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 120,000 member ...

from 1939 to 1940, Lane (1971), p. 232 the same year he was President of the

Whitworth Society The Whitworth Society was founded in 1923 by Henry Selby Hele-Shaw, then president of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Its purposes are to promote engineering in the United Kingdom, and more specifically to support all Whitworth Scholars ...

. He was also President of the Institute of Water Engineers. He was an Honorary Life Member of the

American Society of Mechanical Engineers The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...

. He died of a heart attack at his home, Eldo House, in

Monkton, Ayrshire Monkton is a small village in the parish of Monkton and Prestwick in South Ayrshire, Scotland. The town of Prestwick is around south of the village, and it borders upon Glasgow Prestwick Airport. History The village was originally known as Pr ...

in 1944.

References

1873 births 1944 deaths English engineers Hydraulic engineers Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh Anglo-Scots English mechanical engineers People from Thetford People from Monkton, South Ayrshire {{England-engineer-stub