Frederic Philip Mennell died in Bulawayo, which had been his home almost continuously since 1901, on 18 April, 1966. He was 86 years of age.
Professor G. Bond writes: Frederic Philip Mennell was born on 1 January, 1880, at Bairnsdale, in the State of Victoria, Australia, where his father, Philip Mennell, had mining interests. His early education was in England and Belgium, and he studied geology under Professor Judd at the Royal College of Science. It was Judd who selected him for appointment as first curator of the Bulawayo Museum in Southern Rhodesia. This post was given to a geologist on the advice of Cecil Rhodes, so that the early miners and prospectors in Southern Rhodesia should have competent advice, particularly in the identification of mineral samples. He took up his appointment in November. 1901, and resigned in 1908, during which time he made the first identification of several minerals which later became economically important, including diamond, chromite and chrysotile asbestos. From 1908 to 1912 Mennell was Sir Abe Bailey’s representative in Rhodesia in charge of mining interests. a position he gave up because of ill health. He returned to England and by 1914 was sufficiently recovered to open his own consulting practice. He spent eight days in the witness box as a technical witness in the great Globe and Phoenix case.
After the war he returned to Africa and spent 1919-20 at Broken Hill mine in Northern Rhodesia, and had much to do with putting the mine on a sound footing. He introduced the production of vanadium and did much towards the introduction of the local hydroelectric power schemes. He then began a remarkable series of journeys on foot through Tanganyika. Northern Rhodesia and Portuguese East Africa examining mineral occurrences. It is thought that between 1920 and 1939 he walked about 30000 miles. During this time he was (1925-29) consulting geologist to lnyaminga Petroleum Co. in Portuguese East Africa. He also investigated iron ores in the Sabi Valley of Southern Rhodesia, and discovered the alkali ring complexes of Shawa and Dorowa. which are now producing phosphate rock for the manufacture of fertilizer.
About 1925 he suggested that platinum should be present in certain horizons of the Great Dyke of Southern Rhodesia. This, indeed, turned out to be the case though it has not yet been found possible to extract it economically.
His influence on mining in Central Africa was therefore considerable, and his books ‘The Rhodesian miner’s handbook’ (1908). ‘A guide to mining in Rhodesia’ (1909) and ‘Hints on prospecting for gold’ (1934) must have helped many prospectors to work more systematically. He published many papers on various aspects of geology in the period 1902 (a paper on telluride minerals in Rhodesia) to 1955 (ancient workings in Rhodesia).
He was elected to Membership of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy in 1914, and was for more than 60 years a Fellow of the Geological Society, thus achieving the rare status of a Senior Fellow.
Vol. 75, Trans IMM 1966, pp.75-76
