| John William Hinchley | |
| Honorific Suffix: | Wh.Sch. ARSM FIC |
| Birth Date: | 21 January 1871 |
| Birth Place: | Grantham, England |
| Death Place: | London, England |
| Spouse: | Edith Mary Mason 1903 |
| Parents: | Johan Hinchley, Eliza Holland |
| Discipline: | Chemical |
| Institutions: |
|
| Significant Awards: | Whitworth Scholarship |
John William Hinchley (1871-1931) was a chemical engineer who was the first Secretary of the Institution of Chemical Engineers.
Hinchley was born 21 January 1871 in Grantham,[1] and studied at Lincoln Grammar School.[1] [2] From 1887 to 1890 he served an engineering apprenticeship at Ruston, Proctor and Company[2] while attending science classes in the evening, being a prizewinner in chemistry, followed by a year as a science teacher. A national scholarship and the support of a friend enabled him to go to Imperial College, London[1] where he graduated in 1895 with first class honours.[2] He successfully sat the exam for a Whitworth Scholarship.[1]
After Imperial College, he went to Dublin to assist Professor John Joly with the development of colour photography.[2] Returning to London he became assistant to a designer of acid plants and acetone production which stopped when his employer was killed in a road accident, so he became a chemical engineering consultant. In 1903 he went to Siam to be the technical head of the new Royal Mint of Bangkok,[1] [2] successfully developing a process melting 2.5 tons of silver a day and coinage to British Royal Mint standards. Back in London he was again a consultant, designing and erecting a variety of chemical plants.
In 1909 he was invited to give a series of 25 lectures on chemical engineering at Battersea Technical College, the first regular curriculum in the subject in the UK.[3] These were popular, and in 1911 he was appointed lecturer in chemical engineering for two days a week at Imperial College,[4] in 1917 becoming assistant professor, all the while continuing with his professional work, but passing on the course at Battersea.[5] The same year he was promoted to the class of Fellows of the Institute of Chemistry.[6] In 1926 he was made full Professor.[1] The same year the article on Chemical Engineering in Encyclopedia Britannica was his work.
George E. Davis proposed the formation of a Society of Chemical Engineers, but instead the Society of Chemical Industry (SCI) was formed.[7] 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."[8] The journal Nature described him as instrumental in its formation.[2]
It was while at Imperial College that he was introduced to a student at the Royal College of Art, Edith Mary Mason. She was later a member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors and Gravers.[9] They were married on 4 August 1903. She designed the Seal for the Institution of Chemical Engineers, which was executed by medallist Cecil Thomas, a fellow member of the same Royal Society.
While in Siam, he became a freemason and was involved in setting up the Imperial College Masonic lodge.[2] He died 13 August 1931 after a long illness.[1] [10] He was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium and the ashes scattered in the Garden of Rest, where there is now a memorial.
The Institution of Chemical Engineers instituted an annual Hinchley Memorial Lecture in 1932 [11] 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.[12] [13]