Major Harold Berridge CIE OBE (13 April 1872 – 17 June 1949) was a British civil engineer and

mechanical engineer Mechanical may refer to: Machine * Machine (mechanical), a system of mechanisms that shape the actuator input to achieve a specific application of output forces and movement * Mechanical calculator, a device used to perform the basic operations of ...

Early life and education

Berridge was born in Leicester on 13 April 1872, the eldest son of Henry and Maud Berridge (née Timperley). His father was the captain, successively, of the clipper ships ''Walmer Castle,'' ''Highflyer'' and ''Superb'' for Green's Blackwall Line. Maud accompanied her husband on four voyages to Australia, in 1869 on ''Walmer Castle'' and in 1880, 1882, 1883 and 1886 on ''Superb''; on the 1880 voyage, Harold Berridge and his younger brother Jesse (1874–1966) accompanied their parents. Educated at the

City of London School , established = , closed = , type = Public school Boys' independent day school , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Alan Bird , chair_label = Chair of Governors , chair = Ian Seaton , founder = John Carpenter , special ...

, Harold Berridge undertook a short apprenticeship in 1888 with Messrs J. J. Lane Ltd, Phoenix Engine Works, London. He was then employed as a clerk in the office and workshop of Messrs H. Wallace & Company, manufacturing chemists. In the 1891 Census he was listed with his occupation and residing with his brother and widowed mother at 2 Avenue Crescent,

Acton, London Acton () is a town and area in west London, England, within the London Borough of Ealing. It is west of Charing Cross. At the 2011 census, its four wards, East Acton, Acton Central, South Acton and Southfield, had a population of 62,480, a ...

Engineering career

Berridge was apprenticed on 25 May 1892 for three years to Robert Kinipple and William Jaffrey of 3 Victoria Street, civil engineers. In 1895, he was appointed resident engineer of

Poole Harbour Poole Harbour is a large natural harbour in Dorset, southern England, with the town of Poole on its shores. The harbour is a drowned valley (ria) formed at the end of the last ice age and is the estuary of several rivers, the largest being t ...

. He obtained a position in 1897 with John Mowlem & Company as an engineer on the

City and South London Railway The City and South London Railway (C&SLR) was the first successful deep-level underground "tube" railway in the world, and the first major railway to use electric traction. The railway was originally intended for cable-hauled trains, but owing ...

. From 1898 to 1901, he worked as an agent for W. Hill & Co in Plymouth, and from 1901 to 1902 as an agent for Scott & Middleton at

Pallion Pallion is a suburb and electoral ward in North West Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Most of the buildings in the area were built during the Victorian Era and consist of large terraced houses built for shipbuilders, but also smaller one-s ...

Shipyard. In 1902, he went to the United States as assistant superintendent of the construction of the New York City approaches of the

Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) is a rapid transit system in the northeastern New Jersey cities of Newark, Harrison, Jersey City, and Hoboken, as well as Lower and Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is operated as a wholly owned sub ...

(now

PATH A path is a route for physical travel – see Trail. Path or PATH may also refer to: Physical paths of different types * Bicycle path * Bridle path, used by people on horseback * Course (navigation), the intended path of a vehicle * Desire p ...

) tunnel under the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

. In 1904, Berridge went to Aden as chief engineer to the Aden Port Trust. He held this post until his retirement in 1924. In 1917, he was commissioned into the part-time Indian Defence Force as a major and

commandant Commandant ( or ) is a title often given to the officer in charge of a military (or other uniformed service) training establishment or academy. This usage is common in English-speaking nations. In some countries it may be a military or police ran ...

of the 45th Aden Rifles, and from 1918 to 1920 he served as garrison engineer and deputy assistant director of railways with the Aden Field Force. He was mentioned in dispatches twice and appointed

Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

(CIE) and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1919 Indian War Honours. He relinquished his commission in September 1920, but was permitted to retain his rank. Returning to civilian life, he acted as assistant chief engineer for the Tata Power Company Ltd, for whom he was engaged in the construction of the

Mulshi Dam Mulshi is the name of a major dam on the Mula river in India. It is located in the Mulshi taluka administrative division of the Pune district of Maharashtra State. Water from the dam is used for irrigation as well as for producing electricity ...

from 1920 to 1924. Berridge retired back to England, where he worked as assistant to the administrator of housing development schemes of

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

from 1925 to 1931, being responsible for the construction of some 10,000 houses.

Family

Berridge married twice, firstly in 1896 to Alice Harriet Lyle (1874–1934). They were the parents of two sons, Harold Henry (1897–1978) and Basil (1902–1960). Five months after his wife's death, he married her former nurse, Phyllis Doyle. Berridge died on 17 June 1949 at Sutton, Surrey.Berridge, pp. 217-218.

Footnotes

References

*Biography, ''

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 ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Berridge, Harold 1872 births 1949 deaths Engineers from Leicester People educated at the City of London School English civil engineers English mechanical engineers Indian Defence Force officers Indian Army personnel of World War I Aden Local government officers in England Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Officers of the Order of the British Empire Harbour engineers Military personnel from Leicester