Charles William Loch died at St. Albans on 12th November, 1960, at the age of 73.
Mr. Loch was educated at St. Paul’s School, London, and trained at the Royal School of Mines from 1906 to 1908, gaining general mining experience at Canonbie colliery and Wanlochead silver-lead mine, Dumfriesshire.
In March, 1909, Mr. Loch left for Western Australia, and until June, 1911, was engaged underground and on treatment plant work at Northern Mines, Ltd. He then joined the Kalgoorlie office of Messrs. Bewick, Moreing and Co., and in the following year was engaged in surveying and sampling and. Underground mining at Mountain Queen, Ltd., and Hannans Star, later assaying at Golden Ridge mine. He worked as surveyor at Mt. Cuthbert Copper Mines, N.L., Queensland, from 1915 to 1917 when he took up the post of senior surveyor and assistant construction engineer at the iron and steel works of Broken Hill Proprietary, Ltd., Newcastle, New South Wales, and was appointed chief geological surveyor, coal prospecting, in 1922.
Mr. Loch went to Malaya in 1926, and, after a short period prospecting for tin for Tanah Biji Co., Ltd., took up the post of manager and construction engineer with Jelapang Tin Dredging, Ltd., Ipoh, where he remained for three years. He went back to Australia for a short time in 1929 on construction work at Walsh Island Government Dockyard, and on his return to Malaya was appointed manager with Tronoh Mines, Ltd., Kampar section, and Southern Tronoh Tin Dredging, Ltd.
From 1933 until the outbreak of war in 1939 Mr. Loch was assistant to the general manager of Central European Mines, Ltd., Mežica, Yugoslavia, and during the period of hostilities worked in England, first in the production control and maintenance departments of De Havilland Aircraft Co., Ltd., at Hatfield, then from 1941 until 1946 as assistant manager at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Chorley, Lancashire.
Since 1946 Mr. Loch had been on the staff of Investigation and Management, Ltd., London, as mining engineer, and from 1949 as director and consulting engineer. He retired in 1955.
Mr. Loch was at one time a member of the Federation of Malay States Chamber of Mines and of the West Australian Chamber of Mine Surveyors. He had written several technical papers.
He was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1940 and was transferred to Membership in 1944.
Vol. 71, Trans IMM 1961-62, pp.246-7
