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1935: Major General Alexander Elliot Davidson
Major General Alexander Elliot Davidson (1880-1962)
50th President of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers
Davidson was born in India 1880. He was educated at Blackheath School, and later attended the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich.
He entered the Royal Engineers in 1899, and rose steadily through the ranks of the army, serving in both the South African War and the First World War. He was associated with mechanized warfare and was one of the pioneers of mechanical transport in the army. He commanded one of the first sections of mechanical transport in Kimberley, South Africa, in 1902.
In 1910, he was secretary to the Mechanical Transport Commission and took part in the preparations for and expansion of mechanical transport in the run-up to the First World War. From 1927 to 1931 he was Chairman of the Mechanical Warfare Board. This period was of great importance for the design and development of tanks, although such research was underfunded. In 1936, Davidson was appointed Director of Mechanization. He retired from the army in 1940.
He was President of the IMechE in 1935 and was later made an Honorary Member.
He died in 1962.
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