Page 76 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

Club, William Thompson (founder member, #24), a director of the major engineering firm John
Thompson. William Thompson had bought the worldwide patents for metal spraying from its
Swiss inventor Dr Max Schoop, but could not make the process work, so he approached the
young Bill Ballard to have a go at developing the process. With the financial support of
Thompson, Ballard formed Metallisation in 1922 and soon achieved technical success and
recognition: he obtained numerous patents for metal surface treatments and equipment and
was the author of celebrated books and papers on metal spray technology. Financial success
came just before the last War when the Air Ministry commissioned the firm to treat 400,000
hydrogen gas cylinders for barrage balloons. Ballard and Metallisation also helped design and
build the British and American plant that enriched the uranium used in the first atomic bombs,
including those that fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and they coated the ‘Pluto’ pipeline that
was laid under the English Channel. In the early 1950s he carried out experiments at his own
home to study the effect on metal spraying processes of ionising the air stream with polonium,
a highly radioactive metal ! Another major project of his firm was spray coating all the main
components of the Forth Road Bridge, opened by the Queen in 1964 and still experiencing
minimal corrosion. He was an active member of the Institute of Metals from early 1920s and
President 1954-55. He retired from Metallisation in 1961 but continued to practise as W E
Ballard & Co., Consulting Engineers.

234 Alfred Arthur ARNOLD (1885-1957) (Elected 9.12.1940; resigned 5.4.1948 because of illness.)
Chemical Engineering. Director and manager with John Thompson (Dudley) Ltd of Windmill
Works, Peartree Lane, manufacturers of chemical plant and industrial chimneys. He was
brought up in Bilston and appears to have joined the nearby John Thompson boiler works
straight from school. By the age of 26 was already a manager in the works and 8 years later was
a director of John Thompson (Dudley) Ltd in charge of the Windmill Engineering Works, Pear
Tree Lane, Dudley. A few years later, in the early 1920s, he also became a director of the newly-
formed Metallisation company in Peartree Lane, appointed by John Thompson since there was
a close association between the two firms (see Bill Ballard’s biography above). However he
remained with John Thompson (Dudley) Limited for the rest of his working career. From about
1930 his home was in St James’s Road, Dudley, but he spent his last 3 or 4 years in Paignton,
Devon.

235 William Leonard Norman WILSON (1914-1991) (Inducted 6.1.1941; made
an Honorary member Aug.1941-March 1943 during his period of military
service; died 2.8.91 whilst still a member.) Medical Supplies (Distributing),
in 1952 changed to Medical Surgical Supplies. He was Agent for The
London Rubber Company distributing contraceptives to pharmacies and
other retail outlets. During the last War he was called up and served as a
Signaller for a period of 18 months, presumably with a local regiment. He
was well known as a commercial traveller and in 1957 served as Chairman
of the British Friendly Society, one of the UK’s largest friendly societies,
providing sickness insurance, mortgages and pensions for commercial travellers and their
families. He never used his birth name of William and dropped Leonard too for most uses.

236 Dr Eric Christopher DOWNER (1901-1963) (Elected 3.2.1941; resigned 1946 or early 1947.)
Public Health (Medical Services). He was Public Health Officer for the Borough of Tipton from
early 1941 to 1950. Born in Belfast, he attended the Methodist College in the city. He won a
scholarship to study Medicine at Trinity College Dublin and graduated in 1924 as a gold medallist.
After a brief residency at the Adelaide and Rotunda hospitals in Dublin he joined the Straits
Settlements Medical Service at Singapore General Hospital. Two years later he returned to the
UK and took a Short Service commission with the Royal Navy as a Surgeon Lieutenant from
December 1926. He returned to London in 1929 and worked in local hospitals for several years