Last week GLIAS hosted an pub evening in Smithfield at the Rising Sun, a small but friendly Sam Smiths pub. Although its always nice to meet GLIAS members socially, the pretext for the evening was to say 'Good bye and Thank You' to our present Chairman, Denis Smith. He and his wife moved out of London a couple of years ago but are now moving much further away to Edinburgh to be nearer to their family who have already 'emigrated' to Scotland.
Denis is the reason I discovered Industrial Archaeology nearly 40 years ago. My husband and I had just moved to London and in order to meet people I suggested we join an evening class - well five members of that class led by Denis at Goldsmiths College in September 1972 were there to say good bye on Wednesday night! There too were many members of another evening class group which Denis and I shared at Birkbeck College to gain a Certificate in Industrial Archaeology in the 1990s. Denis led many such classes particularly in North London and its surprising how many people in IA know Denis because of lectures they have heard from him.
All the members of the GLIAS Board were also there. Denis has been a Committee Meeting or Chairman leading GLIAS since he set up the Society with the help of people like Malcolm Tucker and Michael Bussell in the late 1960s. It is difficult to estimate how much Denis has advanced the study of IA especially in London.
He also encouraged members to join the Newcomen Society to which he presented a number of seminal papers on a variey of topics from John Smeaton to the Humphrey Pump. It is a source of great pleasure to many GLIAS members to know how he was received in the backwoods of Australia at Cogdobla where they have a set of Humphrey pumps still in working condition - http://www.southaustralia.com/uk/9002110.aspx Denis also served as President of the Newcomen Society for two years during which time, he led a successful Summer Meeting in New England which we all enjoyed. Another of his passions was David Kirkaldy and he was instrumental in setting up the KIrkaldy Testing Museum at 99 Southwark Street - another place where he will be missed. The motto above the door says everything you need to know about research!
Denis is the reason I discovered Industrial Archaeology nearly 40 years ago. My husband and I had just moved to London and in order to meet people I suggested we join an evening class - well five members of that class led by Denis at Goldsmiths College in September 1972 were there to say good bye on Wednesday night! There too were many members of another evening class group which Denis and I shared at Birkbeck College to gain a Certificate in Industrial Archaeology in the 1990s. Denis led many such classes particularly in North London and its surprising how many people in IA know Denis because of lectures they have heard from him.
All the members of the GLIAS Board were also there. Denis has been a Committee Meeting or Chairman leading GLIAS since he set up the Society with the help of people like Malcolm Tucker and Michael Bussell in the late 1960s. It is difficult to estimate how much Denis has advanced the study of IA especially in London.
He also encouraged members to join the Newcomen Society to which he presented a number of seminal papers on a variey of topics from John Smeaton to the Humphrey Pump. It is a source of great pleasure to many GLIAS members to know how he was received in the backwoods of Australia at Cogdobla where they have a set of Humphrey pumps still in working condition - http://www.southaustralia.com/uk/9002110.aspx Denis also served as President of the Newcomen Society for two years during which time, he led a successful Summer Meeting in New England which we all enjoyed. Another of his passions was David Kirkaldy and he was instrumental in setting up the KIrkaldy Testing Museum at 99 Southwark Street - another place where he will be missed. The motto above the door says everything you need to know about research!
Time and space does not permit discussion of his contribution to the EFDSS and the Morris socheck out Denis here - http://www.efdss.org/front/2001-dr-denis-smith/2001-dr-denis-smith-citation/92/27
So now we must bid farewell to Denis and Lyn as they venture north to discover more IA sites to explore and photograph. We will all miss his mercurial mind which led many of us to research more about IA and develop wider interests in the subject just as we will miss his leadership at Committee meetings and most of all his friendship which has always been warm and generous and which his many friends have always valued.
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