1917-1918: Arthur Dansey Jones

Arthur Dansey Jones (1871-1937)

President of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers

At the time of becoming ILE President, Jones was the Outdoor Locomotive Superintendent for the South East and Chatham Railway.

IMechE Obituary: 

ARTHUR DANSEY JONES, O.B.E., M.V.O., was the first locomotive running superintendent of the Southern Railway, having occupied this position since the grouping of the railways in 1923. He was the son of Canon W. T. Jones, and was born in 1871 at Tilford, Farnham, and educated at Haileybury.

In 1889 he was articled to Sir John A. F. Aspinall, Hon.M.I.Mech.E., and he completed his pupilage at the Horwich Works of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in 1892. After holding various junior positions in the locomotive running department, and in the outdoor carriage and wagon department he was made chief assistant in charge of the outdoor locomotive department. He was appointed to the newly formed position of outdoor locomotive, carriage, and wagon superintendent, and in 1912 he accepted a similar position on the South Eastern and Chatham Railway. Mr. Jones had particularly heavy responsibilities during the War, and in 1918 he was awarded the O.B.E. for his services.

On the formation of the Southern Railway, Mr. Jones moved his headquarters to Waterloo and organized the new locomotive running department. He was created a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1929. In 1936 he retired, after forty-seven years' railway service, and lived at Guildford. His death occurred on 23rd August 1937, during a Mediterranean cruise on board the S.S. Strathmore; and he was buried at sea.

He was elected a Graduate of the Institution in 1890 and was transferred to Associate Membership in 1899 and to Membership in 1905. He was president of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers for the session 1917-18.

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