Hugh Frederick Marriott, a Past-President of the Institution, died on 2nd March, 1949, at his home in Northamptonshire at the age of 80.
He was educated at Bishops Stortford Grammar School and from 1886 to 1891 was a student at the Royal College of Science and the Royal School of Mines, where he obtained the A.R.C.S. in Geology and the A.R.S.M. in mining.
He worked for six months on silver-lead and copper mines in the Spanish Pyrenees as assistant to Mr. P.W. Stuart-Menteath, and in May, 1892, was engaged as assistant to Mr. Hennen Jennings in the engineering department of Messrs. H. Eckstein & Co., Johannesburg, with whom he remained until his transfer in 1905 as consulting engineer to Messrs. Wernher, Beit & Co. and their successors, the Central Mining and Investment Corporation, Ltd. During this period he was responsible for putting down the first bore-hole that proved the extension in depth of the gold-bearing reefs of the Witwatersrand.
In 1923 Mr. Marriott set up in private practice, and acted as British Government representative at the Pan-Pacific Science Congress in Australia, and in the following year represented the Union of South Africa at the Empire Mining and Metallurgical Congress in London. He had held the position of Governor of the Imperial Institute. He was associated with the Panama Corporation, Ltd., and was president of its successor, Panama Corporation (Canada), Ltd. Mr. Marriott was also British Government director of Magadi Soda Co., Ltd., and Somaliland Petroleum Co., Ltd.
He was elected to Membership of the Institution in 1902 and served on the Council from 1907, being Vice-President for the period 1912-1915, and President of the Institution for the Session 1918-19. He was active in securing the Institution’s Royal Charter granted in 1915.
Mr. Marriott contributed three papers to the Transactions of the Institution: ‘Deep borehole surveying’ (vol. 14, 190-1-5); ‘A record of an investigation of earth temperatures on the Witwatersrand goldfields and their relation to deep level mining in the locality’ (vol.15, 1905-6); and ‘A visit to the mineral deposits of Canada’, submitted jointly with Mr. William Frechville (vol.15, 1905-6). He was awarded ‘The Consolidated Gold Fields of South Africa, Ltd.’ Gold Medal and Premium for 1905 in recognition of his researches on deep bore-holes and deep bore-hole surveying.
Vol. 59, Trans IMM 1949-50, p.?
