Arthur Llewellyn Pearse died in New York on May 14th, 1921, at the age of 66.
He was born in Swansea on May 6th, 1855, and at the age of 19 he was articled to Mr. Lewis Bowen, mining engineer and surveyor, of Aberdare and Swansea. After serving his articles he joined the Cefn Golan Colliery in South Wales, and in 1877 he obtained a first-class certificate as colliery manager by examination, at Cardiff. He started in practice as a mining engineer after being in charge of large mining interests, and became associated with the firm of Bainbridge, Seymour & Co. He afterwards became senior partner in the firm of Pearse, Kingston & Browne. In the course of his professional work he visited at various times Germany, Spain, the United States, Colombia, Chile and Peru.
For several years prior to his death he had devoted much attention to improvements in the recovery of oil from shale, and the low-temperature carbonization of coal, and he was engaged in perfecting his methods during his last visit to the United States. He contributed two papers to the Proceedings of the Institution, on ‘Mining in Peru’ (Trans., vol. i, 1892) and ‘Notes on Nome’ Trans., vol. ix, 1900), and took part in the discussion of a number of other papers.
Mr. Pearse was an Original Member of the Institution (1892) and served for several years as a Member of Council.
Vol. 31, Trans I.M.M., 1921-3, p.582
