1931: Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Kitson Clark

Lieutenant-Colonel Edwin Kitson Clark (1866-1943)

46th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers

Kitson Clark was born in 1866. He attended Sutton Valence Grammar School, moving to Shrewsbury in 1882. He then attended Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating in 1888.

He then began his engineering education with a three-year apprenticeship at the Airedale Foundry of Kitson and Company, the company which had been founded by his grandfather, James Kitson, in 1837. In 1891, he was made assistant works manager. He was later appointed works manager, and in 1897, he was made a partner in the firm. When the firm became a limited company, he became a director, and later Chairman.

He was associated with several major developments, including the Kitson-Meyer articulated locomotive for steep gradients and sharp curves, and the Kitson-Still locomotive, in which steam and Diesel propulsion were combined.

Besides his engineering career, he was also a second lieutenant in the 8th Battalion of the West Yorkshire Regiment (Leeds Rifles) and served in the West Riding Territorial Army and Air Force Association from its inception. He also played an important role in the establishment of Leeds University Officer Training Corps. During the First World War, he was on active service. From 1913 to 1915 he was the Commanding Officer of the 8th Battalion and from 1915-1918 he was in charge of the 49th Base Depot in France.

Kitson Clark was also keenly interested in archaeology and, unusually for an engineer, was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquities. He was President of Leeds Thoresby (antiquarian) Society, and of the Leeds Civic Society. For over thirty years he was secretary of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society. He also took a keen interest in Leeds Parish Church and was an authority on its history.

He played an important role in the history of the IMechE. In 1921 he took a leading role in the formation of the Yorkshire Branch, becoming its first chairman. He was President in 1931. In 1935, he was elected an Honorary Life Member. He was also President of the Institution of Locomotive Engineers in 1921-1922.

He died aged 77 on 31 March 1943.

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