Person
Coates, John (1844 - 1914)
- Born
- 7 July 1844
Newcastle-on-Tyne, Durham, England - Died
- 10 February 1914
St George Hanover Square, Middlesex, England - Occupation
- Civil engineer, Gas engineer and Hydraulic engineer
Summary
John Coates was a prominent gas and hydraulic engineer, founder of the Melbourne and Sydney Hydraulic Power Companies, and of many gasworks and other businesses in Australia. As head of the firm John Coates and Company Ltd., he was in partnership with his nephews George Swinburne, William Swinburne and Matthew Clavering Coates. John was also responsible for gasworks and hydraulic power installations at many towns in Europe, South America and Canada, and was a consulting and inspecting engineer to the Victorian State Railways, the Commonwealth Government and to other public authorities and private corporations.
Details
Works by John Coates between 1885 and 1891 include: Gasworks for the towns of Benalla, Ararat, Lilydale, Central Brighton, Box Hill and Surrey Hills, in Victoria; lighting of Charlers Towers (Queensland), North Suburban Melbourne, Wangaratta, Shepparton, Warraga, Maldon (Victoria), Latrobe (Tasmania) and Palmerston North (New Zealand); consulting engineer to the Parliament of Victoria Bill for high pressure power to Melbourne and its wharves, and was engineer-in-chief for the scheme; New Australasian Gas Association; Sydney and Suburban Hydraulic Power Company Limited;
Chronology
- Education - Newcastle-on-Tyne, Durham England
- 1858 - 1863
- Career position - Pupilage, W B Lead mines, Northumberland
- 1863 - 1865
- Career position - Assistant engineer, W B Lead mines, Northumberland [under T Sopwith MInstCE, T J Bewick MInstCE]
- 1865 - 1868
- Career position - Lord Armstrong's Elswick Works, Newcastle [under Sir W G Armstrong]
- 1868 - 1878
- Career position - Assistant engineer, Thomas and Charles Hawksley, Westminster [under T & C Hawksley MInstCE]
- 7 Dec 1875
- Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1878 - 1885
- Career position - Engineer, Messrs J Abbott and Company, Hydraulic Engineers, Gateshead.
- 1885
- Life event - Migrated to Australia
- 1885 - c. 1890
- Career position - Consulting engineer, John Coates and Company, Melbourne
- 1886 - 1900
- Career position - Director, Melbourne Hydraulic Power Company
- 1887 - 1888
- Career position - Consulting engineer, report on goods handling of railways of Great Britain, for the Victorian Railways Commission
- 1888 - 1890?
- Career position - Director, Johns' Hydraulic and General Engineering Company Ltd, Melbourne
- 13 Mar 1888
- Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London
- 1893 - 1902
- Career position - Secured contract for lighting of Montreal, Canada.
- 1902 - 1904
- Career position - President, Chamber of Commerce, Ottawa, Canada.
- 1904 - ?
- Career position - Chairman, Associated Boards of the Dominion, Canada.
- 1904
- Life event - Return to Australia from Canada..
Related entries
Published resources
Edited Books
- Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Elton, J. M. H.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Thomas, R. E. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3: 1890-1920 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2014), 775 pp. 'Coates, John', pp.131-2. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q6226433. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/94097028. Details
- 'Obituary. John Coates, 1846-1914.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1914.17101. Details
- Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 3559, 1875', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
Ken McInnes
Created: 4 June 2019, Last modified: 2 August 2023