*James Gilroy Traill is presumed to have died early in 1942, at the age of 37, as the vessel in which he, his wife and two daughters were travelling from Canada was destroyed by enemy action, and they were not reported amongst the survivors.
He received his technical training at the University of Edinburgh and graduated in 1926 with a B.Sc. in mining and metallurgy. In the same year, he went to Canada as a miner and mill operator at the Ankerite Gold Mines, Ltd. A year later he was engaged as a surveyor at the Noranda Mines, Ltd., and in 1928 he was a surveyor and geologist at the March Gold Mines, Ltd.
In 1929 he left Canada for Mexico, to join the staff of the Fresnillo Company, where he remained for about five years in various capacities. He returned to Canada for some months to take charge of the East Goldbrook Mine of Minerals, Ltd., and in 1935 came back to England to act as assistant general manager of the Mill Close Mine under the late Mr. Leslie B. Williams.
In 1939 he went to the Gold Coast as assistant general manager and underground manager of the Konongo Gold Mines, Ltd. About a year later he returned to Canada, and while there accepted an appointment with the Demerara Bauxite Co., Ltd., in British Guiana, and it was on the voyage to South America that he was presumably lost.
He contributed three papers to the Proceedings of the Institution: ‘The Relation between Width and Cost in Narrow Stopes’ (Trans., Vol. xliii), for which he was awarded the ‘William Frecheville’ Students’ Prize in 1934; ‘Notes on the Wear caused by a badly worn Sheave Tread ’ (Trans., Vol. xlviii); and ‘Note on the Lower Carboniferous Limestones and Toadstones at Mill Close Mine, Derbyshire ’ (Trans., Vol. xlix).
Mr. Traill was admitted to the Studentship of the Institution in 1926 and was elected an Associate in 1934.
Vol. 52, Trans IMM 1942-43, pp.403-3
* A descendant has stated that “he was lost at sea along with his wife, Harriet, and two sons, not daughters. His sons were Fraser, 10 years old, and John, 9 years old.
