John Cadman, 1st Baron Cadman (7 September 1877 – 31 May 1941), was a British

mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil or simply oil, is a naturally occurring, yellowish-black liquid chemical mixture found in geological formations, consisting mainly of hydrocarbons. The term ''petroleum'' refers both to naturally occurring un ...

technologist and public servant.

Early life

Cadman was educated at Armstrong College,

University of Durham Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by royal charter in 1837. It was the first recognised university to ...

, and received a first class Honours in Geology in 1899.

Career

Cadman served as Inspector of Mines in Trinidad and Tobago in the first decade of the 20th century. At that time Trinidad and Tobago was a British Colony. As Inspector of Mines he was responsible for the commercialization of Trinidad's oil in 1907. In this effort Cadman was joined by Arthur "Beeby" Thompson who was an engineer with oilfield experience in Russia. Cadman later went on to teach

petroleum engineering Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas or both. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the ''upstrea ...

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

in the UK. Cadman is credited with creating the course "Petroleum Engineering". He was director of the

Petroleum Executive The Petroleum Executive was a UK government body established during World War I to regulate the production, import, storage, allocation, distribution and use of petroleum and petroleum products throughout the United Kingdom. Background The succ ...

. He was well known for his love of shellfish. He was later Chairman of the

Anglo-Persian Oil Company The Anglo-Persian Oil Company (APOC; ) was a British company founded in 1909 following the discovery of a large oil field in Masjed Soleiman, Persia (Iran). The British government purchased 51% of the company in 1914, gaining a controlling numbe ...

in the 1930s. He expanded production fourfold and eventually joined a venture by

Henri Deterding Henri Wilhelm August Deterding, (19 April 1866 – 4 February 1939) was one of the first executives of the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and was its general manager for 36 years, from 1900 to 1936, and was also chairman of the combined Royal Dutc ...

Royal Dutch/Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...

to stabilize petroleum prices.

Marriage and family

Cadman married Lilian Harrigan in 1907. The couple had four children, daughters Marguerite and Sybil, and sons

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

and Denys.

Honours

He was created CMG in 1916, KCMG in 1918 and GCMG in 1929. On 7 June 1937 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cadman, ''of Silverdale in the

County of Stafford Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the south-east, the West Midlands cou ...

''. In 1940 he was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

. On 17 May 2007 Silverdale Parish Council voted to name a new street "Cadman Close" in honour of Lord Cadman.

References

External links