William Richard Rumbold died in London on 29th February, 1960, at the age of 82.
Mr. Rumbold received his technical training at the Durham College of Science, Newcastle upon Tyne, from 1897 to 1899, and was then engaged for two years on chemical and metallurgical work in Salford. Between 1901 and 1902 he carried out preliminary examinations of a manganese mine in Wales and an iron mine in Algeria for Messrs. Durnford and Elliot of Newcastle. He spent a year during 1902-3 at Basset Mines, Ltd., Cornwall, studying underground mining methods and in March, 1903, left England for Malaya to take up the appointment of mining engineer to the International Tin Co.
He worked in Malaya, Australia and South Africa for over a year and then transferred to a branch company in Bolivia, the Andes Tin Co. He was appointed manager of the Concordia mine and later became general manager. He left Andes Tin Co. in 1907 to go into partnership with Mr. J.H. Frazer as consulting engineers in Oruro, Bolivia, under the title Rumbold and Frazer. He returned to England two years later.
Mr. Rumbold joined the Niger Co., Ltd., in 1909 and remained in close association with the company for the rest of his career. He was promoted their chief mining engineer in Nigeria in 1911, and was made consulting engineer in 1914. He was also consultant to Portuguese American Tin Co., Ltd., Nigerian Base Metals Corporation, Ltd., and other companies for many years.
During the 1914-18 war Mr. Rumbold served in East Africa with the Royal West African Frontier Force, as captain, Pioneer Coy. He was awarded the M.C. After the war he entered into partnership with the late Mr. H.W. Laws, Member, under the style Laws, Rumbold and Co., consulting engineers, with offices in London, and when the partnership ceased about ten years later Mr. Rumbold continued his consulting practice, spending much of his time in Nigeria. He was for some years a Member of Council of the Nigerian Chamber of Mines.
Among his many technical articles, Mr. Rumbold contributed a paper to the Institution entitled ‘The valuation of alluvial deposits’ (Transactions, vol. 37, 1927-28).
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1911, and served as Member of Council for the two sessions 1931-33. He was also a member of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers.
Vol. 70, Trans I.M.M., 1960-61, p.568
