Henry Louis died at his residence in Newcastle-on-Tyne, on February 22nd, 1939, at the age of 83.
His early education was acquired in Bavaria and at the City of London School, and as a student of out-standing ability he received many awards, chief among them being a Royal scholarship to the Royal School of Mines, when he gained his diploma in mining and metallurgy, and was awarded the De La Beche Medal. He subsequently carried out researches into silver in the laboratories of the late Dr. John Percy. In 1880 he was appointed by Sir C.W. Siemens as chemist on the staff of the Steel Company of Canada, Nova Scotia, and on his return was associated with Siemens in steel-making by the open-hearth process.
His next appointment was as assistant manager and assayer to a gold mine in Ecuador, and in 1885 he visited the Transvaal and later California. In 1890 he went to Singapore, where the firm of Becher, Louis & Company was founded by himself and Mr. H.A. Becher. For four years he was connected as manager and consultant with various mines in the Mala Peninsula, Siam and Borneo, and then took over the management of an iron ore mine in Spain. In 1926* he was appointed to the Chair of Mining and became William Cochran lecturer in metallurgy at Armstrong College, Newcastle-on-Tyne, and to him belonged the credit of introducing elementary metallurgy and metallography as part of the curriculum of naval, architecture and engineering. He resigned his position at the University in 1923, and confined himself more particularly to the scientific side of the iron, steel and mining industries.
Meanwhile, he was external examiner in mining to the University of Wales, examiner in mine surveying and in the preparation of ores to the City and Guilds Institute, and a member of the board of studies for mining and metallurgy of the University of London. He was M.A. and Hon. D.Sc. of Durham University, M.Inst.C.E., F.I.C., F.G.S., and a member of other scientific societies. He was President of the Institution of Mining Engineers from 1927 to 1929, having been awarded the Gold Medal of the Institution in 1923. He was also President of the Iron and Steel Institute from 1929 to 1931, and was awarded the Bessemer Gold Medal in 1932.
For 25 years he was honorary secretary of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers. He was also President of the Society of Chemical Industry and honorary member of the Société de Chimie Industrielle, the American Iron and Steel Institute, and the British Coke Oven Managers’ Association. In 1923 he was elected a Fellow of the Imperial College of Science and Technology.
From 1923 onwards he produced a number of publications, which included ‘The Handbook of Gold Mining’, a revised translation of Schnabel’s ‘Text-book on Metallurgy ’, ‘The Dressing of Minerals’, ‘The Metallurgy of Tin’, ‘Electricity in Mining’, ‘Shaft-sinking in Practical Coal-mining’, ‘The Production of Tin’, and others, and a considerable output of papers and articles. He also contributed papers to the Transactions of the Institution, and took part in the discussion of others. Emeritus Professor Henry Louis was elected a Member of the Institution in 1902. He was a Member of Council from 1919 to 1934 and Vice-President from 1927 to 1929.
Vol. 49, Trans IMM 1939-40, pp.737-8
*[1896 – RSM Reg 1920]
