Person

Lewis, Essington (1881 - 1961)

CH FAA HonMIEAust

Born
13 January 1881
Burra, South Australia, Australia
Died
2 October 1961
Tallarook, Victoria, Australia
Occupation
Metallurgist and Company director

Summary

Essington Lewis joined Broken Hill Proprietary Company Limited in 1904 and remained with the company until his death, becoming General Manager in 1921, Managing Director in 1926, Chief General Manager in 1938 and Chairman in 1950.

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Details

Chronology

c. 1901 - c. 1903
Education - Educated South Australian School of Mines
1904
Career position - Foreman at Broken Hill Sulphuric Acid and Zinc Plant
1915 - 1918
Career position - Metallurgist and Assistant Manager at Broken Hill Pty. Co. Smelting Works in Port Pirie, then Manager of Iron Knob Tramway and Ironstone Quarries then Manager of Broken Hill Munitions Co.
1918 - 1920
Career position - Assistant General Manager of BHP Co.
1921 - 1925
Career position - General Manager of BHP
1926 - 1937
Career position - Managing Director of BHP
1938 - 1950
Career position - Chief General Manager at BHP
1940
Award - Bronze Medal, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy
1940 - 1945
Career position - Director General of Munitions
1942 - 1945
Career position - Director General of Aircraft Production and Chairman of the Aircraft Advisory Committee
1943
Award - Kernot Memorial Medal, for distinguished engineering achievement in Australia. Faculty of Engineering, University of Melbourne
1943
Award - Companion of Honour (CH) - Director - Munitions and Aircraft Production in WW2
1944
Award - Bessemer Gold Medal, Iron and Steel Institute London
1948
Award - Florence M. Taylor Medal, Australian Institute of Metallurgists
1948
Award - Honorary Member (HonMIEAust), Institution of Engineers, Australia. - For outstanding position in the steel and associated industries of Australia
1950 - 1961
Career position - Chairman of BHP
1954 - 1961
Award - Fellow, Australian Academy of Science (FAA)
1956
Award - Doctor of Laws (LLD), honoris causa, University of Melbourne

Related Awards

Related Corporate Bodies

Archival resources

The University of Melbourne Archives

  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1924, 92/47; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1896 - 1899, 92/87; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1980, 93/130; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1883 - 1956, 72/17; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1932 - 1973, 72/40; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1923 - 1954, 72/38; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details
  • Essington Lewis - Records, 1933 - 1949, 78/104; The University of Melbourne Archives. Details

Published resources

Books

  • Blainey, Geoffrey, The steel master: a life of Essington Lewis (South Melbourne: Macmillan of Australia, 1971), 217 pp. Details

Book Sections

  • Baker, Anne Pimlott, 'Essington Lewis, 1881-1961' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004). Details
  • Blainey, Geoffrey; G. Smith, Ann, 'Lewis, Essington (1881-1961), industrialist and wartime director of munitions' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 10: 1891 - 1939 Lat-Ner, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986), pp. 87-92. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/lewis-essington-7185. Details

Edited Books

Journal Articles

  • Lewis, Essington, 'Iron and steel industry in Australia [Part 3]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (6) (1929), 227-241. Details
  • Lewis, Essington, 'Iron and steel industry in Australia [Part 2]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (5) (1929), 183-192. Details
  • Lewis, Essington, 'Iron and steel industry in Australia [Part 1]', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1 (4) (1929), 125-137. Details
  • Rudd, E. A., 'Essington Lewis, Whyalla and the Middleback Ranges [The Essington Lewis Memorial Lecture (14th, 1989, Adelaide)]', AUSIMM Bulletin and Proceedings, 294 (7) (1989), 25-30. Details

Resources

Resource Sections

See also

Rosanne Walker

Created: 30 June 1997, Last modified: 13 September 2023

EOAS ID: biogs/P002427b.htm

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