Richard Redmayne

Sir Richard Augustine Studdert Redmayne (22 July 1865 – 27 December 1955) was a British academic, civil engineer, and mining engineer. Redmayne worked as manager of several mines in Britain and South Africa before becoming a professor at the University of Birmingham. He was a leading figure in improving mine safety in the early twentieth century and would become the first Chief Inspector of Mines, leading investigations into many of the mine disasters of his time. He became the president of three professional associations, namely the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, the Institution of Professional Civil Servants and the Institution of Civil Engineers.

Redmayne was the author of several books documenting coal mining practice in the twentieth century, one of which was acknowledged as a standard reference text for other engineers. His work in mine safety and increasing mine output during the First World War was acknowledged with an appointment as Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath, Knight of the French Legion of Honour and a Companion of the Order of Saint John. Throughout his life, he was a dedicated civil servant and served on many of the inter-war committees for the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau and the Ministry of Transport.

Early life

Redmayne was born in Low Fell, Gateshead, England. He received an education at Durham College of Science in Newcastle upon Tyne before being apprenticed to William Armstrong, a mining engineer, at Hetton Colliery in Pittington. He was elected a student member of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers on 13 December 1884 and obtained a First Class Certificate of Competency as a Manager of Mines on 28 October 1887.

Career

Mining engineer Redmayne became an under-manager at Hetton Colliery before transferring to South Africa in 1891, where he became the manager of Walmsley Collieries near Newcastle, Colony of Natal. Whilst in South Africa, he became a member of the Federated Institution of Mining Engineers.

Redmayne resigned from the university in 1908 to take up a job at the Home Office as the first Chief Inspector of Mines. Perhaps his most significant achievement in this role was his work with Sir Malcolm Delevingne in bringing about the Coal Mines Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5. c. 50) which significantly increased the safety of mines. During the first part of the First World War, Redmayne served as head of the Production Department of the Control of Coal Mines. From 1917 to 1919 he was the chief technical advisor to the Controller of Coal Mines and in 1919 acted as an assessor to Sir John Sankey who was the chairman of the Royal Commission on Coalmines. From 1918 he was also the chairman of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau, resigning as chief inspector in 1919 to dedicate more time to the bureau and to set up a private engineering consultancy. He chaired the bureau's examination and entry board from 1912 until 1950. and advocated for its adoption across wider industry.

Redmayne continued to sit on government committees well into his old age and was the independent chairman of the National Conciliation Board on Road Motor Haulage from 1934 until 1938 and as chairman of the Road Haulage Wages Board from 1938 until 1941. and was a fellow of the Geological Society. He was also made a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour and a Companion of the Order of Saint John.