Herbert William Charles Kempton Dyson, M.I.Struct.E. (1880–1944), known professionally as H. Kempton Dyson, was an English

structural engineer Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic ...

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

, architect, editor and author who specialised in

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete (RC), also called reinforced cement concrete (RCC) and ferroconcrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having hig ...

structures. He was a founder member and the first permanent secretary of the Concrete Institute, which became the

Institution of Structural Engineers The Institution of Structural Engineers is a professional body for structural engineering based in the United Kingdom. The Institution has over 30,000 members operating in over 100 countries. The Institution provides professional accreditation ...

. He designed the

Central Bandstand, Herne Bay The Central Bandstand, known as the Bandstand, in Herne Bay, Kent, England, was designed by H. Kempton Dyson in 1924, extended with an art deco frontage in 1932, and refurbished between 1998 and 1999. It is one of the coastal landmarks of the t ...

in 1924.

Background

Ancestry

Dyson's paternal grandfather was William Farrell Dyson of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

(1823–1886), who married Mary Ann Franklin (1826–1891) at Great Yarmouth in 1852.Births, Deaths, Marriages and Obituaries, ''The Bury and Norwich Post'', and ''Suffolk Herald'' (Bury Saint Edmunds, England), 28 January 1879; p.6, issue 5040 in 19th Century British Library Newspapers online, Part II. Dyson's maternal grandfather was Green Kempton (1824–1885) of

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

who married Eliza Campion in Cambridge in 1845. Dyson's father was architect William Franklin Dyson who was born in Great Yarmouth, 1853, and died in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, 1918.Dyson, Herbert Kempton (1880–1944)
/ref>Who Was Who 1920–2008 online edition, Oxford University Press 2012
Note: Dyson's father's name is spelled "Franklyn" in this source, but "Franklin" in all BMD register and census sources His mother was Edith Blyth Kempton who was born in Cambridge, 1857, and died in

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

, 1905. His parents married in Cambridge on 23 January 1879.

Life history

He was born on 24 January 1880 in Stratford, and was baptised in the same year at

All Saints Church, Cambridge All Saints' is a church on Jesus Lane in central Cambridge, England, which was built by the architect George Frederick Bodley. The church was constructed in stages between 1863 and 1870 and is a notable example of English Gothic Revival style. ...

. He was his parents' only son. By 1881 he was living at 126 Upper Kennington Lane,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, and by 1901 he was in south-west

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

. In Hackney in 1909 he married Nellie Cooper, only daughter of George Cooper; she was born in Germany in 1886. By 1911 at the age of 31 Dyson was calling himself Herbert Kempton Dyson, he was listed as secretary of the Concrete Institute and was living with his wife in Richmond. In 1924 he was living at 17 Warwick Square, London SW1. He died at home, at no.3

De Vere Gardens De Vere Gardens is a street in Kensington, London, that in 2015 was considered the fifth most expensive street in England. Location The street runs roughly north to south, from Kensington Road to Canning Place, and parallel to Victoria Road, Ken ...

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

on 15 January 1944 aged 63 years, and was described in his ''

Times Time is the continued sequence of existence and events, and a fundamental quantity of measuring systems. Time or times may also refer to: Temporal measurement * Time in physics, defined by its measurement * Time standard, civil time specific ...

'' obituary paragraph as a registered architect and chartered structural engineer, and as the "beloved husband of Nellie Kempton Dyson".The Structural Engineer magazine, Vol 22 1944, issue 3 "The late Mr H. Kempton Dyson
/ref> Herbert and Nellie had a son, Norman Kempton Dyson, born in

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, 1910. Norman married Betty L. Way in Kensington, 1936, and became a flying officer on 11 May 1941 during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He died in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in 1975.

Career

Dyson had special expertise in

structures. He is described in ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'' as "an architect and consulting civil engineer; specialist in structural engineering, especially reinforced concrete and steel construction." When the Concrete Institute was founded in 1908, he was 28 years old and an Associate Member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

. Between 1908 and 1917 he held the post of Secretary of the Concrete Institute. In May 1910 he became the first permanent secretary at £200 per year, and although he was allowed to undertake journalistic work in office hours and employ a typist at £1 per week, he had to remain within the office between 10.00 am and 6.00 pm on weekdays. In 1917 he resigned as secretary and was elected to membership; he served on its council between 1921 and 1922. In 1922 he was awarded the bronze medal of the Concrete Institute for his paper entitled "What is the Use of the Modular Ratio?" He assisted in the founding of the Institute and its 1922 development into the

. Besides serving on most of its committees during his career he was honorary editor of its journal, ''The Structural Engineer'' in 1923, and was honorary secretary of the Institute 1924–1925. From 1922 to 1923 he was editor of ''The Builders' Journal and Architectural Engineer'', which later became ''

The Architects' Journal ''Architects' Journal'' is an architectural magazine published in London by Metropolis International. History The first edition was produced in 1895. Originally named ''The Builder's Journal and Architectural Record'', from 1906 to 1910 it was kn ...

'', and of ''Specification'' from 1904 to 1908.The role and influence of the Secretaries of the Institution of Structural Engineers 1908–1961
by John Dougill, 2003 He was a Registered Architect, a past member of the British Joint Committee on Reinforced Concrete and Hon. Secretary of the Conference on the London Steel-Frame Act (enacted as the LCC (General Powers) Act 1909). In 1910 he was sent to Paris by the Concrete Institute as part of a deputation to study the durability of reinforced concrete, looking at bridges, tunnels, culverts, reservoirs and other buildings including one designed by François Coignet in 1852. In 1914 he took part in an international investigation into reinforced concrete accidents. On 2 February 1926 a creditor filed a petition for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

against him, and a receiving order was declared against him on 2 March. At this time he was a

consulting engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

and conducting business at 17 Warwick Square,

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...

, London WC1.

Designs and projects

He has been described as the "designer of numerous structures of many kinds." This section lists some of those designs.

Up to 1913

In 1910 he designed a new system of floor construction, and in 1913 he designed adjustable beam forms, which were reinforced concrete beams for electric travelling cranes to run on (1913).

World War I

At some time between 1914 and 1918 he was employed to design reinforced concrete slipways for flying boats, and was consulting Engineer for Works of strengthening supports for the dome at St Paul's Cathedral. In 1918 he designed a

Water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

for

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

at Killeagh, Cork.

From 1919

Central Bandstand, Herne Bay

In 1923–1924 he designed the first phase of this bandstand as one of the earliest

structures of its kind in the UK.Herne Bay Gazette 26 February 1998, p.8: Remember when? (The newspaper's source is John Hawkins, "Herne Bay in Old Photographs", Sutton Publishing Ltd, )Herne Bay Times 7 October 1999 pp.16–17: After years of neglect Herne Bay's bandstand plays on. . .Herne Bay Gazette 6 May 1999: Art deco landmark will be Herne Bay's pride, by Dianne StingemoreHerne Bay Times: After years of neglect, Herne Bay's bandstand plays on . . ., 7 October 1999, pp.16–17 It was supported above the tidal beach on concrete pillars sheathed in cast iron, so that it was level with the promenade.Herne Bay Times 8 March 2001: Look back: battle of the bandstands was a fight against changing tastes, by Harold Gough Its cantilevered roof supported seaward-facing balconies with space for deckchairs, and sheltered both a lower deck and the stage. Metal, glazed screens at the east and west sides of the building crossed the promenade, and could be moved to protect the audience from wind, or retracted into the wings to allow promenaders to cross when no band was playing. The seating area in front of the stage was a railed-off section of the promenade, and the seating on the roof above the stage included two copper-covered domes, plus two domes which doubled as refreshment kiosks. In the 1920s and 1930s the conductor of a visiting military band was considered a

VIP A very important person or personage (VIP or V.I.P.) is a person who is accorded special privileges due to their high social status, influence or importance. The term was not common until sometime after World War 2 by RAF pilots. Examples incl ...

, therefore a

red carpet A red carpet is traditionally used to mark the route taken by heads of state on ceremonial and formal occasions, and has in recent decades been extended to use by VIPs and celebrities at formal events. History The earliest known reference to ...

would be laid across the road so that he could make his grand entrance from the Connaught Hotel opposite the Bandstand.Herne Bay Times 10 July 1999 p10

Cavendish House

Between 1927 and 1928 he designed the alteration of Cavendish House, no. 32 Old Burlington Street,

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...

City of Westminster The City of Westminster is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and London boroughs, borough in Inner London. It is the site of the United Kingdom's Houses of Parliament and much of the British government. It occupies a large area of cent ...

, London W1S, to create a new fifth storey for a picture gallery, and to rearrange space for shops on the ground floor.

Rue de Courseulles Sur Mer, Dartmouth

This project was originally called the Coombe Improvements Scheme. In the spring of 1929, Dyson teamed up with fellow consulting engineer Gower B. R. Pimm to design a road over river mud at Dartmouth. It was described by ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' as "an engineering feat". It was a piece of road intended to connect Dartmouth's North Embankment of the

River Dart The River Dart is a river in Devon, England, that rises high on Dartmoor and flows for to the sea at Dartmouth. Name Most hydronyms in England derive from the Brythonic language (from which the river's subsequent names ultimately derive fr ...

with the Dartmouth-Torquay road, thus easing traffic between

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

and

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

. It was to become the Rue de Courseulles Sur Mer, part of the

A379 The A379 is a road in the English county of Devon. It links points on the edges of that county's two principal cities, Exeter and Plymouth, by an indirect and largely coastal route. The A38 provides a faster and more direct inland route bet ...

, and the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

mud behind the road was later reclaimed as a leisure facility. A 30 ft carriageway and two 10 ft footpaths gave the road a 50 ft width.TheTimes, 8 April 1929, p.18, issue 45171, col.g:"A road over river mud: engineering feat at Dartmouth" A

retaining wall Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides. Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...

protected it from the river, and

piles Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''hemo ...

20–45 ft long, each weighing four tons and driven in rows of three, prevented the road from sinking into mud, although these were not needed for about 200 ft at each end:

foundations Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

were shallower so that hard core and a reinforced concrete containing wall were used there. Beneath the middle 200 yards, the rock foundation was at a great depth under the mud, so the reinforced concrete road was built on an open

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

over about 200 reinforced concrete piles and supported by reinforced concrete

trestles ATLAS-I (Air Force Weapons Lab Transmission-Line Aircraft Simulator), better known as Trestle, was a unique electromagnetic pulse (EMP) generation and testing apparatus built between 1972 and 1980 during the Cold War at Sandia National Labora ...

made of

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

s, beams and bracings. Although the new leisure area behind the road would be filled with hard core and soil, and similar filling would be placed below the viaduct, the road on its viaduct could be used early on, with no need to worry about initial

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope move ...

of the filling. The river-side of the

embankment Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...

was faced with a reinforced concrete curtain wall, built by suspending

precast Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast beam ...

, properly cured, reinforced concrete L-shaped units from the top of the viaduct's trestle. The

prefabrication Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. The term is u ...

and use of a crane cut

tidal Tidal is the adjectival form of tide. Tidal may also refer to: * ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple * Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim * TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music * Tidal (servic ...

work to a minimum.

Publications and papers

* "Cheap cottages and the exhibition (1905) at Letchworth'". Part I, ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

'' vol. 18, 1905, p. 108–115.(Held b
British Architectural Library
* "Cheap cottages and the exhibition (1905) at Letchworth". Part II, ''Architectural Review'', vol. 18, 1905, p. 154–169. * ''Concrete Block Making in Great Britain'' (1908–1909)Google books: Cheap, Quick, & Easy: Imitative Architectural Materials, 1870–1930
By Pamela Hemenway Simpson *''The everyday uses of Portland cement'' (1909) * ''Reinforced Concrete Bins'' (1910) *"History and Development of Reinforced Concrete" (1910) in ''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'' vol V, 1910, nos. 1 to 12Archive.org
''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'' online text * ''Reinforced Concrete Design Simplified. Diagrams, tables, and other data for designing and checking accurately and speedily'' by John Charles Gammon and H. Kempton Dyson (1911), London, C. Lockwood & Son *"Shear and problems arising therefrom" (1913) *"London's reinforced concrete regulations: a constructive criticism, part I" (1913) in ''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'', VOL. VIII. 1913. Nos. 1 to 12, published at North British and Mercantile Building, Waterloo, Place, London, S.W.Archive.org
''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'' online text *"London's reinforced concrete regulations: a constructive criticism, part II" (1914) in "Concrete and Constructional Engineering", vol IX 1914. *"Slender struts" (1914) in "Concrete and Constructional Engineering", vol IX 1914.Archive.org
''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'' online text *"Reform of building by-laws" in ''Journal of the Institute of Municipal and County Engineers'', March 1915 p. 6. *"Shear and problems arising therefrom" (1915) in ''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'', vol. X, nos 1–12. *"New materials and methods as influencing design" (paper, 1917) *"Shear and problems arising therefrom" (1918) in ''The Structural Engineer'' vol. 6, Issue 1. *"Tests on high-tension steels in reinforced concrete design" (1921) in ''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'', vol. XVI, 1921, nos 1–12. * "What is the use of the modular ratio?" (1921–1922) in ''Concrete and Constructional Engineering'', Vol 17, nos 5, 6 and 7, London May–July 1922, pp. 330–36, 408–15, 486–91.Google books: Historic Concrete: Background to Appraisal
edited by R. J. M. Sutherland, Dawn Humm, Mike Chrimes (Thomas Telford Books 2001 ) *"Stresses in Beams" (1923) in ''The Structural Engineer'' vol. 1, Issue 12.The Structural Engineer journal 1923
/ref>

Lectures

On 27 September 1910, Dyson introduced an educational course with a lecture, using

lantern slides The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a sin ...

, called "Instruction in reinforced concrete: a special category" at the London County Council School of Building, now

London South Bank University London South Bank University (LSBU) is a public university in Elephant and Castle, London. It is based in the London Borough of Southwark, near the South Bank of the River Thames, from which it takes its name. Founded in 1892 as the Borough Po ...

.The Times, 7 September 2010, issue 39371, col.f. The course followed in the winter of the same year, and was entitled "Reinforced concrete: practice and design". In November and December 1913 he gave six lectures on "Reinforced concrete: its commercial development and practical application" at the Concrete Institute, Denison House, 296 Vauxhall Bridge Road, Westminster.

References

External links

British Architectural Library catalogue
which holds drawings by H. Kempton Dyson
Flickr image of water tower in Killeagh, Cork, designed by H. Kempton Dyson in 1918
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, H. Kempton Structural engineers 1880 births 1944 deaths English architecture writers Architects from London 20th-century English architects