Ernest Henry Austin Joseph died at Johannesburg on August 22nd, 1943, at the age of 59.
He was the elder son of, the late Lt.-Col. F.W. Joseph of the Bombay Staff Corps, and received his technical twining at the Royal School of Mines. On gaining a first-class A.R.S.M. in 1907, and spending a few months at the School as a demonstrator, he was appointed Chief Assayer at the Siamese Mint, Bangkok.
In 1909, however, he went to South Africa, where he was to spend the rest of his professional life. Starting as assistant sampler at Village Deep, he worked successively in the survey departments of Modderfontein B, New Modderfontein, the York G.M. Syndicate, and the Princess Estate and G.M. Co. In August, 1915, he was appointed shift boss and acting mine captain with Geduld Proprietary Mines, Ltd., and remained with that company until 1920, during which time he was on active service for three years, first with the 3rd South African Infantry and later holding a commission in the Royal Engineers (183 and 181 Tunnelling Companies) in France. In 1920 he joined the staff of the Union Department of Mines and Industries, serving as Assistant Inspector of Mines until 1925, when he was promoted to the rank of Deputy Inspector.
In 1937 he was appointed Deputy Government Mining Engineer, a post which he still held at the time of his death. In the course of his official career Mr. Joseph did much work on the dust and phthisis problems. His published work includes papers in the Journal of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society, and one paper in the Transactions of the Institution, ‘Rockbursts: The Mechanism of Crush Bursts’ (Vol. xlviii).
He was elected a Student of the Institution in 1905 and was transferred to Associateship in 1913 and Membership in 1928.
Vol. 53, Trans IMM 1943-4, p.433
