John Hinchley

Institution of Chemical Engineers George E. Davis proposed the formation of a Society of Chemical Engineers, but instead the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) was formed. In 1918 Hinchley, who was a Council Member of the SCI, petitioned it to form a Chemical Engineers Group, which was done, with him as chairman and 510 members In 1920 this group voted to form a separate Institution of Chemical Engineers, which was achieved in 1922 with Hinchley as the Secretary, a role he held until his death. According to the editor of Chemical Age just after his death, "The establishment, a few years later, of the Institution of Chemical Engineers was due to him perhaps more than any single person." The journal Nature described him as instrumental in its formation. She was later a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers. They were married on 4 August 1903.

While in Siam, he became a freemason and was involved in setting up the Imperial College Masonic lodge. He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and the ashes scattered in the Garden of Rest, where there is now a memorial.

Legacy The Institution of Chemical Engineers instituted an annual Hinchley Memorial Lecture in 1932 and a Hinchley Medal in 1943 for the most meritorious student of chemical engineering at Imperial College. The Medal continues, but is now directly awarded by the college.