Thomas Diery Patten

CBE 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 ...

FRSE Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and Literature, letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". ...

(1 January 1926 – 4 July 1999) was a Scottish mechanical engineer and educator. He was involved in the development of the Scottish North Sea Oil Industry in the 1960s, heading the Institute of Offshore Engineering. He was President of the

Institute of Mechanical Engineers The Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE) is an independent professional association and learned society headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that represents mechanical engineers and the engineering profession. With over 110,000 membe ...

1991/92. He was known as Tom Patten.

Life

He was born in

Ford, Northumberland Ford is a small village and civil parish in Northumberland, England, about from Berwick-upon-Tweed. The parish also includes Etal. History before 1513 Very little is known of the history of the area before the Norman Conquest in the 11th ce ...

on New Years Day, 1 January 1926 to Scottish parents: his father was William Ford who had raised himself from a post office telegraph boy to manager of the

Prudential Insurance Company Prudential Financial, Inc. is an American financial services company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, retirement planning, investment management, and other products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the Uni ...

. His family moved to Edinburgh and he was educated at

Leith Academy Leith Academy is a state school in Leith, Edinburgh. It currently educates around 1000 pupils and around 2,800 part-time adult learners. Mike Irving has been head teacher since August 2017. History It is one of the oldest schools in Scotland, wi ...

. He then studied engineering at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

graduating with a BSc. Although too young to serve in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

1947 to 1949, and was posted first to

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

(during its critical years), and then to the British Military Mission in Greece where he attached to the

Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers The Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME ) is the maintenance arm of the British Army that maintains the equipment that the Army uses. The corps is described as the "British Army's professional engineers". History Prior t ...

with the notional rank of captain. In 1950 he returned to Edinburgh and began lecturing in engineering at the

. He became senior lecturer in 1952 and gained his first doctorate in 1954. He ran the University's

Officer Training Corps The University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), also known as the Officers' Training Corps (OTC), are British Army reserve units, under the command of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, which recruit exclusively from universities and focus on ...

. In 1957 he had a sabbatical year at

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

in Canada. In 1967 he was given a professorship at

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

. He later became Vice Principal of the University. In 1961 he was elected a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was establis ...

. His proposers were John F. Allen, William Ewart Farvis,

Norman Feather Norman Feather FRS FRSE PRSE (16 November 1904 – 14 August 1978), was an English nuclear physicist. Feather and Egon Bretscher were working at the Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge in 1940, when they proposed that the 239 isotope of element 9 ...

and Mowbray Ritchie. He served as Secretary to the Society from 1972 to 1976 and as Vice President 1976 to 1979.

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

created him a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1981. He retired in 1981 and died on 4 April 1999.

Family

In 1950 he married Jacqueline Wright. They had two daughters, Diane and Gail and one son, Colin Patten.

References

1926 births 1999 deaths People educated at Leith Academy Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 20th-century Scottish engineers Academics of Heriot-Watt University People from Ford, Northumberland {{Scotland-engineer-stub