Arthur Edward Flynn died in Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 28th February, 1956, at the age of 65.
He was born in London and was taken by his parents to North America at an early age, but after being educated in the U.S.A. he returned to London to train in the department of mechanical engineering at Finsbury Technical College from 1906 to 1908. From 1910 to 1912 he was a student at the Royal School of Mines, and obtained the A.R.S.M. in Mining and Diploma of the Imperial College.
Professor Flynn spent some months at the Esperanza Copper and Sulphur Co.’s mines in Spain, and in October, 1912, went to Canada as mining engineer and surveyor at Nipissing Mining Co., Ltd., Cobalt, Ontario. From 1916 to 1918 he held the position of mining instructor at Haileybury School of Mines, Ontario, where he designed and supervized the building of the new mining laboratories. He worked as superintendent of Rand Consolidated Mines, Ltd., Goudreau, for two years, then took the post of mining engineer with Hardinge Co., York, Pennsylvania.
In 1921 he accepted the Chair of Mining of Nova Scotia Technical College, which he held at the time of his death. From 1947 Professor Flynn had been honorary registrar of the College and secretary both of the Senate and Board of Governors. In 1953 he was appointed first Dean of the College. He was honoured by Her Majesty the Queen in that year by the award of the Coronation Medal in recognition of his distinguished service as Dean and Professor of Mining Engineering at the College.
During the period 1921 to 1949 Professor Flynn had done private consulting work in Nova Scotia, and from 1926 to 1931 was also development engineer for the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources. He had been a member of the Nova Scotia Advisory Board for Mineral Development from its inception, and a member of the Nova Scotia Research Foundation Associate Committee on Coal, and of the Project Committee on Pressure in Shale.
He contributed to Nova Scotia Department of Mines Annual Reports, and was the author of ‘Investigations on the treatment of Nova Scotia oil shales’ published in 1926 by the Nova Scotia Department of Public Works and Mines. He also contributed technical papers in the Canadian mining press.
A Student of the Institution in 1910, and transferred to Associate Membership in 1916, Professor Flynn was, however, a very energetic member of kindred societies in North America. He was President of the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy during the session 1953-54, having served as Vice-President in 1941-43 and as a Member of Council from 1937 to 1939 and from 1954 until his death; he was chairman of the Coal Division in 1948-49. He had been a Member of the Mining Society of Nova Scotia since 1921 and was President of that body in 1939. He had served on the Council of the Engineering Institute of Canada in the year 1945-46 and was chairman of the Halifax Branch in 1943; he had been awarded the Leonard Prize of that Institute in 1930. He was also a Councillor of the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia during the years 1943, 1944 and 1946, and was President in 1947. He was also a Member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers.
Vol. 66, Trans IMM 1956-57, pp.239-40
