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1911-12, 1915-17: Lucien Alphonse Legros
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| Biography |
1933 Obituary: Legros, O.B.E., was the eldest son of the late Alphonse Legros, and retained a close connexion all his life with French engineering. He had been a Past-President of the British Section of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France. He was born in 1865 and educated at University College School and the City and Guilds Institute. He then became a pupil of Messrs. Hunter and English. In 1887 he entered the works of Messrs. Hick, Hargreaves and Company and later the Nine Elms shops of the London and South Western Railway. In 1889 he became a Whitworth Exhibitioner. During the ensuing five years he was assistant works manager of the London Portland Cement Company, and was engaged on the Manchester Smoke Prevention Committee and with Messrs. Southby and Blyth, refrigerating engineers. He was subsequently assistant for about two years to the late Sir A. B. W. Kennedy, M.I.Mech.E. (Past-President), and then became engineer to the Gas Traction Company and the British Traction Company. In 1899 he was employed by Messrs. Burstall and Monkhouse in making a part survey of the Croydon tramways. In 1900 he gained his first experience with the Wicks rotary type-casting machine and he was subsequently appointed engineer to the company and introduced improved designs and methods of production. He read an important paper on "Typecasting and Composing Machinery" before the Institution in 1908. His interest in road vehicles commenced in 1904 when he entered into partnership with Mr. G. J. F. Knowles, A.M.I.Mech.E., and his high attainments as an automobile engineer are reflected in his election in 1911 and again during 1916-17 as President of the Institution of Automobile Engineers. He was awarded the first Starley Premium for his paper on "The Development of Road Locomotion in Recent Years" read before the Institution in 1910, and the Thomas Hawksley Gold Medal and the Starley Premium for his paper on "Traction on Bad Roads or Land" in 1918. He was also the recipient of the Alcan medal of the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils de France for his paper on military caterpillar traction. During the War he was appointed assistant consulting engineer to the Admiralty Landship Committee and later in the Munitions Inventions Department, where his experience helped in the construction of monitors and the design of the first tanks. Mr. Legros was joint author with Mr. J. C. Grant of a standard work on "Typographical Printing Surfaces." He sat on many important commissions, including the International Electro-Technical Commission in 1912, the Mechanical Transport Advisory Board of the War Office, and the Treasury Committee on Type Faces. Mr. Legros had been a Member of the Institution for nearly forty-five years, having been elected in 1889 as a Graduate and transferred in the following year to Membership. During 1921-2 he was a Member of Council. He was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Institution of Electrical Engineers. His tragic death as the result of a London street accident occurred on 16th June 1933. |
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