Arthur Frederick Dudgeon died in Edinburgh on 12th August, 1959, at the age of 80.
Mr. Dudgeon won the Selbourne Prize for Natural Science at Winchester in 1897, and went on to study at Cambridge for the next three years and gained the B.A. degree. He worked as a brewer until 1908 with Guinness’s in Dublin, beginning his mining career on arrival in Rhodesia in October, 1908.
He learnt assaying and mine surveying from Messrs. Turrell and Patterson of Penhalonga and became a partner of the Imbeza Syndicate, doing development work and later tributing over Rezende West claims. In 1911 Mr. Dudgeon worked as assistant to H. F. Roche, consulting engineer and general manager of Associated Mines of Rhodesia at their head office in Salisbury. At the end of the year he was made mine manager of Hay Gold Mining Co., Ltd., at Kimberley Reefs, a subsidiary of London and Rhodesia Mining Co., and during 1912, when the mine closed down, he was appointed engineer in charge of prospecting operations for Northern Copper (B.S.A.) Co., Ltd., in Northern Rhodesia.
After a short visit to England in 1913, Mr. Dudgeon settled in British East Africa and became engineer to Matathia Estates in Nairobi.
During the first world war he raised and commanded the East African Mechanical Transport Corps. He was awarded the O.B.E. in the New Years’ Honour’s List of 1919 for ‘valuable services rendered in connexion with military operations in East Africa’ and was allowed to retain the rank of major after demobilization.
Early in 1922 Mr. Dudgeon was appointed manager of the Lologorien Prospecting and Development Co., and brought three small mines into operation. He left in 1924 to take up farming, but still retained an active interest in mining; he prospected, and developed areas in Kakamega and was director or consultant of several local syndicates and technical director of Venture Exploration Co., Ltd. He was also interested in the Ngiga mine on the shores of Lake Victoria.
Mr. Dudgeon was a considerable land-owner at Rongai, Kenya, and turned about 11,000 acres into arable and pasture land and formed a private company, Gogar Farms, Ltd.
Mr. Dudgeon was active in local affairs, being chairman of the Nakuru County Council for many years and a member of the Kenya Labour Advisory Board. During the last war he was chairman of the local man-power committee.
Mr. Dudgeon was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1934.
Vol. 27, Trans IMM 1917-18, pp.391-393