Frank Merricks died at his home in Kensington on June 8th, 1936, at the age of 70.
He was the son of the late Mr. James Merricks, of Bodiam, Sussex, and after being educated privately, he entered the Royal School of Mines, London, in 1888, and obtained his associateship in mining in 1886. After spending a year in the laboratory of Mr. Edward Riley, and three months at Wheal Eliza, Cornwall, he was for two years head chemist to the West Cumberland Iron and Steel Co., Ltd.
In 1889 he worked for a few months at the Changoa mine in the Spanish Pyrenees, and was then engaged by Morgan Gold Mining Cox, Ltd., as assistant engineer at their properties in North Wales, where he remained for a year. In 1890 he went to the Chota Nagpur gold fields in India on behalf of the Dumra Gold Prospecting Syndicate, and eight months later returned to England to become a partner in Messrs. Edward Riley & Co., consulting mining engineers.
During the years 1891 to 1899 he visited and reported upon mineral deposits, and at times undertook the direction of mines, in Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Hungary, Transylvania, India, New Zealand, Australia, British Columbia, Corsica, France, the Ural Mountains, the Transvaal, and Italy. This work included an examination of the iron ore deposits of New Zealand and a report to the Bank of New Zealand Estates Co. on the possibility of starting iron and steel works in the Dominion.
In 1899, Mr. Merricks started to practise as a consulting engineer on his own account, and remained actively engaged in his profession to the end of his life. In 1903 he took into partnership Mr. G. Allen Crane, M.lnst. M.M., with whom he practised under the title of Merricks, Crane & Co., until the partnership was dissolved in 1921. In addition to the inspection and management of mines in many parts of the world, Mr. Merricks was appointed, at the beginning of the European War, to act as agent for the War Office in the erection of a large number of hutment camps. In 1915 he was appointed honorary mining engineer to the Ministry of Munitions and was for four years head of the department for the development and increase of supplies of iron ore and limestone in Great Britain.
From 1917 to 1919 he was a Member of the Mineral Resources Development Committee, and in 1920 was awarded the C.B.E. for his public services. From 1920 to 1926 he was a member of the Geological Survey Board, and in 1921 was appointed a member of the Advisory Committee on Metalliferous Mining of the Mines Department. From 1926 to 1932 he served on the Board of Advisers in Mining of the University of London, and in the latter year was made Chairman of the Committee appointed by the Imperial College of Science and Technology to review the mining engineering course at the Royal School of Mines. He was also Treasury representative on the boards of several mining companies in Cornwall.
Mr. Merricks was admitted as an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1898, and was elected a Member in 1922. He was a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a Member of the Société des Ingénieurs Civils de France, and was President of the British Section of the Société from 1927 to 1929.
His published work includes papers in the Transactions of the Institution, ‘The Mining District of Oporto, Portugal’ (Trans., vol. i, 1892-3), ‘Notes on Dry and Wet Crushing’ (Trans., vol. vii, 1898-9), and his Presidential Address, ‘The Mineral Production of the Empire’ (Trans., vol. xxix, 1919-20). No account of his career would be complete without mention of his work for charity, which occupied an increasing portion of his time, more particularly in his later years.
He was a member of the original Committee of Management of the Benevolent Fund of the Institution, and served on the Committee until the year before his death, acting as Chairman in 1928 and 1929. He became President of the Kensington Philanthropic Society in 1926, and from then onwards was re-elected to that office annually.
Mr. Merricks was elected an Associate of the Institution in 1892, the year of its foundation, and was transferred to Membership in 1895. He was a Member of Council from 1909 to 1932, and was elected Vice-President for the session 1916-17, and President for the session 1920-21.
Vol. 46, Trans IMM 1936-7, pp.827-8
