Burnett Gilroy Craufurd Gard’ner died on May 7th. 1915, aged 31 years, from poisoning by gas whilst engaged in Tunnelling operations at the Front as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 7th Batt. South Wales Borderers, attached to the Royal Engineers.
He was educated at Cheltenham College and received his technical training at the Royal School of Mines, gaining the Associateship in 1906 in both Mining and Metallurgy. After completing his training, he was awarded a Post-graduate Course by the Institution at the Robinson Gold Mine, Johannesburg, for which he received the Institution Certificate. He was appointed assistant sampler on the same mine in 1908 and after a few months, transferred to the New Reitfontein Estate Gold Mining Co., Ltd., as assistant surveyor, where he remained until November of the same year. He then acted in the same capacity for a short time on the Glencairn Gold Mining Co., Ltd., but on account of ill-health was obliged to return to England early in 1909.
During his stay in England, he was engaged part of the time as Assistant Demonstrator in Mine Surveying at the Royal School of Mines. His next appointment was in Northern Nigeria as assistant to the manager of the Anglo Continental Mines, where for five months he had sole charge of the operations. Later he was manager of the Gurum River Tin Co., in Nigeria, and after spending four months in the London office of a firm of consulting engineers, returned to Nigeria for about fifteen months to report on and manage properties for the same firm.
On leaving Nigeria, he was again engaged for a time in London until the spring of 1914, when he made a professional visit to Siberia. After the outbreak of war, he joined the Public Schools Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment as a private, but later obtained a commission as has already been stated.
Mr. Gardner was admitted to Studentship of the Institution in 1904 and was transferred to Associateship in 1909.
Vol. 24, Trans IMM 1914-15, pp.505-6
