“ THE LATE MR. JOHN ALFRED LONGDEN.

The Chairman:

It is my melancholy privilege, at the outset of the Proceedings today, to make some reference to the loss of my very old friend, Mr. J. A. Longden, who was the senior Past-President of this institution, and was well-known to, and very highly esteemed by, all the older members. Not very long ago I traveled considerable distance in order to assist in inducting our present President, Mr. Geoffrey Longden, and I did that not only on account of the very high regard I have for Mr. Geoffrey Longden, but because I wished to welcome the son of my old friend into the highest position we are able to offer him.

The late Mr. Longden was a man of very considerable eminence in the mining profession, and although for many years he had ceased from actual participation in it, he had maintained a keen interest in the industry with which he had been so closely connected and which owed so much to him, Only a few weeks ago I had a letter from Mrs. Longden who said how much her husband liked to have the papers read to him and how intense was his interest in everything pertaining to the coal and iron trade. On the strength of that I ventured to write to him giving him some current gossip and it is now pleasant to me to think that

I sent the letter and so helped to minister in a small way to the interest he felt in local matters and especially in a company with which both of us were intimately connected. Only three weeks ago I received a Christmas card from Mr. and Mrs. Longden, and the fact that I was so recently in touch with him brings home to me more closely the sense of the loss which we have experienced. Mr. Longden was a man of extremely acute intellect and perhaps he was not able to suffer fools gladly, a fact which may have given him a little brusqueness in manner. Yet those who knew him best knew what a kind and warm and generous heart he possessed. I had known him for more than a quarter of a century and his passing comes to me really as a personal loss. He has died full of years and honour. He was an intensely religious man and of a most charitable disposition. Not only will his loss be felt by us as engineers, but by a wide section of the general public. It is my painful duty and privilege to move that the Secretary be authorised to send on behalf of the members of this Institution a resolution conveying to Mrs. Longden and the members of the family an expression of our sincere condolence with them in their bereavement. ”

“ MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN ALFRED LONGDEN.

by G. A. Longden:

John Alfred Longden, the youngest son of Henry Longden, of Phoenix Foundry, Sheffield, was born on February 13th, 1847, and was educated at Neuwied, in Germany, and at Wesley College, Sheffield. He served his pupilage with Messrs. Corbett and Wood, mining engineers, Sheffield, for a period of six years, part of which time was spent in assisting Mr. J. W. Jeffcock in preparing evidence for submission to the Select Committee on Mining appointed in 1866. He then joined his relations, Messrs. Appleby, at their Renishaw Collieries and remained with them for three years.

He was appointed in 1871 the first General Manager of the Blackwell Colliery Company, Limited, and sank their "A" and" B" Winning collieries during the very difficult times which followed the trade boom caused by the Franco-Prussian War. When trade conditions became more normal the Company decided to proceed with their Alfreton Colliery sinking and the purchase of the Shirland Colliery, both of which transactions he successfully carried out.

In 1889 he accepted the post of Managing Director of the Stanton Ironworks Company's collieries and went to reside at Teversal. His management proved so successful that the company invited him in 1892 to become the sole Managing Director of their numerous undertakings. He then went to live at Stanton-by-Dale, near the company's iron works. He held this post until his retirement in 1917, but continued his interest as a Director until 1922, when ill health prevented him from undertaking the long journey from Bournemouth, where he had taken up his abode, to attend the meetings. This also caused his retirement from the boards of the Blackwell and New Hucknall Colliery  Companies.

He was for many years Chairman of Messrs. Skinner and Holford's Waleswood Collieries from their incorporation in 1884, and also became a Director of the New Hucknal1 Col1iery Company, Limited.

Mr. Longden took keen interest in the Chesterfield and Midland Counties Institution of Mining Engineers, as it was then called, prior to the federation of kindred mining societies into the Institution of Mining Engineers. He was elected President of the former Institution in 1891 and the following phrase taken from his Presidential Address --  “The secret of successful colliery management is personal attention to detail” -- may be said to sum up his life’s work. He was elected President of the Institution of Mining Engineers when the members of that Institution visited Nottingham in 1899, and contributed many valuable papers to the Transactions.

For many years he was a member of the Conciliation Board for regulating miner’s wages in the federated area, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Iron and Steel Institute, and the Midland Colliery Owners Association, Chairman of the Midland Counties Mutual Indemnity Company and a member of other societies. He was a Justice of the Peace for the county of Derby, and for some years was a member of the Derbyshire Territorial Association, showing practical interest in that Association by presenting the Ilkeston Companies with a drill hall.

In politics he was a staunch Conservative all his life; although not a public speaker, he never failed to uphold his principles. Mr. Longden was ever ready to support any movement which was for the benefit of his work-people. In the industrial villages in which he was so well known, and at Bournemouth, there are many tangible evidences of his generosity.

In 1922 he underwent a serious operation which entirely prevented him from leaving home, but for the remaining five years of his life he never ceased to take interest in the work of the companies with which he had been connected, and during the long months of the coal strike in 1926 he insisted on keeping in touch with the trend of events.

Mr. Longden died at his residence, Chislehurst, Marlborough Road, Bournemouth, on Sunday January 9^th, 1927, in his eightieth year. ”