Sir Henry Felix Clay, 6th Baronet (8 February 1909 – 8 June 1985), was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 limit ...

. A partner in McLellan and Partners, consulting engineers, he was a Member of the American

Institute of Electrical Engineers The Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) was a British professional organisation of electronics, electrical, manufacturing, and Information Technology professionals, especially electrical engineers. It began in 1871 as the Society of Tel ...

Early life

Clay was the son of Sir George Felix Neville Clay, 5th

Baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

(1871–1941), by his marriage to Rachel Hobhouse (1883–1981), the eldest daughter of the Right Hon.

Henry Hobhouse Henry Hobhouse may refer to: * Henry Hobhouse (archivist) (1776–1854), English archivist * Henry Hobhouse (East Somerset MP) Henry Hobhouse (1 March 1854 – 25 June 1937) was an English landowner and Liberal, and from 1886 Liberal Unionis ...

.Charles Mosley, ed., ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition (Burke's Peerage Genealogical Books Ltd, 2003), vol. 1, p. 812 He had four siblings: older sisters Margaret and Janet, younger sister

Theresa Teresa (also Theresa, Therese; french: Thérèse) is a feminine given name. It originates in the Iberian Peninsula in late antiquity. Its derivation is uncertain, it may be derived from Greek θερίζω (''therízō'') "to harvest or re ...

, and younger brother Anthony. Clay was educated at Gresham's School, Holt, and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, graduating MA in 1935.'CLAY, Sir Henry Felix', 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 ...

'' (London: A & C Black)
online edition
by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, December 2012, accessed 18 January 2014 The Clay family lived at number 18,

Kensington Park Gardens Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the 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 by Kensington Gar ...

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road Ma ...

, London. When Clay was thirteen, his first cousin once removed,

Richard Meinertzhagen Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, CBE, DSO (3 March 1878 – 17 June 1967) was a British soldier, intelligence officer, and ornithologist. He had a decorated military career spanning Africa and the Middle East. He was credited with creating and ...

, came to live in the house next door, number 17. Meinertzhagen was a well-known ornithologist and a distinguished soldier, but he was also a "colossal fraud", who stole bird specimens and described spurious species and who invented and exaggerated his military adventures. On 6 July 1928, Meinertzhagen's wife died from a gunshot wound, said to have occurred while she and Meinertzhagen were firing at targets. Her death was held to be an accident, but there was always suspicion that Meinertzhagen had killed his wife. Brian Garfield, ''The Meinertzhagen Mystery: the Life and Legend of a Colossal Fraud'' (2007, ), pp. 168-172

Life and career

After graduating from Cambridge, Clay entered the engineering profession and became a partner in McLellan and Partners, a firm of consulting engineers. He was also a Member of the

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. He succeeded to the title of 6th Baronet, of Fulwell Lodge,

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

(created 1841) on 11 November 1941. Clay died at Cocking,

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

, on 8 June 1985. His final address was Wheelwrights, Cocking, Midhurst, Sussex.

Family

On 4 November 1933, Clay married Phyllis Mary Paramore, a daughter of Richard Horace Paramore, and they had three children: Jenny Elizabeth Clay, born 28 March 1936; Sarah Richenda Clay, born 12 August 1938; and Sir Richard Henry Clay, 7th Baronet, born 2 June 1940. His wife survived him, dying in 1997.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Henry 1909 births 1985 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom People educated at Gresham's School People from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Hobhouse family 20th-century British engineers People from Cocking, West Sussex