Dr. Bernard Price,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, (1877 – 9 July 1948) was the founding Chief Engineer and later General Manager of the Victoria Falls and Transvaal Power Company in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

between 1911 and 1936.

Background

Price was born in England, in 1877 and was employed by the consulting engineers

Merz & McLellan Merz and McLellan was a leading British electrical engineering consultancy based in Newcastle. History The firm was founded by Charles Merz and William McLellan in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1902 when McLellan joined Merz's existing firm establis ...

from 1901 until leaving for

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

in 1909. He was President of the

South African Institute of Electrical Engineers The South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE) is a professional association representing electrical and electronic engineers, technologists and technicians in Southern Africa. The organisation is listed as a recognised Voluntary Ass ...

in 1915, and was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the SAIEE in 1940.Crouch, M: ''The First Ten Decades'', Chris van Rensburg Publications, 2009, Dr Price was a benefactor of the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

, being instrumental in the founding of the

Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research The Evolutionary Studies Institute (ESI) is a paleontological, Paleoanthropology, paleoanthropological and archeological research institute operated through the Faculty of Science of the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Afr ...

. The annual

Bernard Price Memorial Lecture The Bernard Price Memorial Lecture is the premier annual lecture of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers. It is of general scientific or engineering interest and is given by an invited guest, often from overseas, at several of the ...

, named in his honour, is hosted by the SAIEE and the University of the Witwatersrand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Bernard 1877 births 1948 deaths South African electrical engineers Officers of the Order of the British Empire British emigrants to Transvaal Colony