George Frederick William Trestrail died in hospital at Newcastle-upon-Tyne on 6th November, 1953. He was 64 years of age.
He was educated at Truro College and from 1905 until 1912 gained practical mining experience under his father, the late Mr. Nicholas Trestrail, M.I.M.M., consulting mining and mechanical engineer, of Redruth. During this period he also took courses at the Redruth and Camborne Schools of Mines. Between 1907 and 1912 he was employed as assistant to the manager of Phœnix Mines (Cornwall), Ltd., and worked on the sinking of Prince of Wales shaft, being awarded a silver medal of the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society in 1912 for a model of this shaft. He also worked on the design and layout of a concentrating plant for the Devon and East Cornwall mines at Penhale.
Mr. Trestrail went to India in 1912 as a mining student at Mysore gold mines, and in 1915 was appointed assistant underground agent. He left in August, 1920, to join the Bengal Iron Co., Ltd., Manharpur, in the position of mines manager, three years later being promoted officiating mining engineer and in 1925 mining engineer, administering the whole of the company’s mining properties and railways in Bihar and Orissa.
He returned to England in 1926 and managed the Settlingstones witherite mine for 23 years until his retirement in 1949, when he went to live at Newcastle. He was author of the following papers published in the Transactions of the Institution: ‘A device for controlling mine dams’, and ‘The witherite deposit of the Settlingstones mine, Northumberland’ (vol. 40, 1930-31); ‘A device for skip hoisting’ (vol. 43, 1933-34); and ‘Metalliferous mine shafts – various types and equipment’ (vol. 47, 1937-38).
Mr. Trestrail was elected to Associate Membership of the Institution in 1915 and was transferred to Membership in 1931.
Vol. 63, Trans IMM 1953-54, p.320
