Somerset, Henry St. John (1875 - 1952)

Summary

Henry Somerset was General Manager of Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australia Ltd. from 1926 to 1945, then Managing Director from 1945 until his retirement in 1947. He was also a Foundation Director of Associated Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd., Burnie, Tasmania.

Details

One of Henry St. John Somerset's first jobs was working as an Assistant Assayer at Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co. in 1893. By 1896 he had been appointed Chief Assayer, then Works Chemist (1900), Assistant Metallurgist (1905), and Chief Metallurgist (1906 -1911). For the next two years Somerset worked as a consultant in Sydney and in 1914 joined Great Cobar Copper Mining Co. as their Chief Metallurgist. In 1916 he moved to Broken Hill Associated Smelters Pty. Ltd. at Port Pirie, firstly as Plant Superintendent and was promoted to General Superintendent in 1919. In 1926 he joined the Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australia Ltd. as General Manager, and was made Managing Director in 1945. He retired from this position in 1947, but continued to work as a consultant for the company.

As a consultant, Henry St. John Somerset was associated with the development of Associated Pulp and Paper Mills Ltd. in Burnie, Tasmania and many other related companies. Somerset was heavily involved in the industry as a whole and held many positions of note: He was Councillor of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy from 1926 to 1947, then Vice-President, President and elected a Fellow of the Institute in 1938; Member of the Society of Chemical Industry of Victoria from 1934; Member of the Board of Australian Mines and Metal Association from 1937 and Board President from 1944 to 1950.

Chronology

1893 - 1895

Career position - Assistant Assayer at Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co.

1896 - 1899

Career position - Chief Assayer at the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co.

1900 - 1904

Career position - Works Chemist at Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co.

1905

Career position - Assistant Metallurgist at Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co.

1906 - 1911

Career position - Chief Metallurgist at the Mount Morgan Gold Mining Co.

1912 - 1913

Career position - Consultant in Sydney

1914 - 1915

Career position - Chief Metallurgist at the Great Cobar Copper Mining Co.

1916 - 1918

Career position - Plant Superintendent for Broken Hill Associated Smelters Pty. Ltd. in Port Pirie

1919 - 1925

Career position - General Superintendent of Broken Hill Associated Smelters Pty. Ltd.

1926 - 1944

Career position - General Manager of the Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australia Ltd.

1926 - 1947

Career position - Councilor of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1927 - 1930

Career position - Vice-President of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1931

Career position - President, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1934 -

Career position - Member of the Society of Chemical Industry of Victoria

1937 -

Career position - Board member of Australian Mines and Metal Association

1938

Career position - Fellow, Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

1944 - 1950

Career position - President, Board of Australian Mines and Metal Association

1945 - 1947

Career position - Managing Director of Electrolytic Zinc Co. of Australia Ltd.

1947

Career position - Retired, but remained on as a consultant

Published resources

Book Sections

• Fairweather, D.F., 'Somerset, Henry St John (1875-1952), metallurgist' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 12: 1891 - 1939 Smy-Z, John Ritchie, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1990), pp. 13-14. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A120016b.htm. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21538992. Details
• 'Somerset, Henry St John (1875-1952)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1468547. Details