Lieutenant Nicholas Boonin, M.C., Royal Engineers, was killed in action in Germany on April 3rd, 1945, at the age of 45.
Russian born, but later naturalized British, he was at college in Ufa, Russia, from 1909 to 1916, and then entered the Military (Cavalry) College at Orenburg. In 1919 he went to Fitzwilliam Hall, Cambridge, but left on joining the British Military Mission to Siberia in the same year.
He obtained his first mining appointment with the Geological Survey of Netherlands East Indies in 1922, where his work included prospecting and surveying in Java and Borneo. In 1924 he attended the School of Mines in Adelaide, Smith Australia, and from 1925 to 1926 was employed by the Zinc Corporation, Ltd., at Broken Hill, N.S.W., as underground surveyor.
Early in 1927 he rejoined the Geological Survey of the N.E.I., leaving again in the following year to take a position in Keonjhar State, India, with Messrs. Bird & Co. After a year’s prospecting he was appointed assistant engineer at the company’s manganese and iron mines, and in 1932 was promoted to the position of mines manager.
He was commissioned to the Royal Engineers in 1940 and served in the Western Desert, Greece and Crete before taking part in the liberation of Europe. His principal work was mine detection and clearance, and it was for this that he was awarded the Military Cross.
Mr. Boonin was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1938.
Vol. 55, Trans I.M.M. 1945-6, p. 562
