Page 85 - WHO'S WHO OF DUDLEY ROTARY

--- Ralph HOWL (1898-1994) (Elected c.4.1944 but may not actually have
been inducted because there is no record of his leaving.) Director of Lee,
Howl & Co. Ltd, pump manufacturers of Tipton. His older brother Clifford
became managing director in 1921 on the death of their father Oliver who
founded the firm in 1880. When Oliver died, Ralph was described simply
as ‘Gentleman’. However he soon qualified as an accountant whilst also
being associated with the family firm, perhaps as Finance Director. For
the rest of his working career he regarded himself as being principally an
accountant. As a teenager he was sent as a boarder to the Wolverley
School near Kidderminster. At the start of the First World War, he must have been an Officer
Cadet in the school’s army cadet corps because in August 1917 he joined the Royal Horse
Artillery as a Second Lieutenant. Three months later he was sent to France with the Royal Field
Artillery, soon rising to the rank of Lieutenant aged just 20, but was taken prisoner during the
first battle of the Somme. Whilst a prisoner of war he taught himself bookkeeping, accountancy
and company law from books and with the help of several accountant prisoners. Back home he
played cricket for Wolverhampton Cricket Club from 1919 to 1939 and for Staffordshire county
from 1925 to 1931. He also represented Warwickshire and Staffordshire at hockey. His brother
Clifford and nephew Oliver were also county cricketers. Ralph lived at Tettenhall,
Wolverhampton.

264 Norman Gibbins OWEN (1913-1981) (Elected 4.7.1944; resigned 21.1.1948 on moving to
Bromsgrove.) Baker and Confectioner, but it is not known which bakery.
Originally from Wolverhampton, he started with the unnamed firm at the
age of 14 and rose to become manager in his mid 20s. In 1947 after 20
years with the same company he pooled his £7000 savings, borrowed
another £15,000, and bought the old-established Bromsgrove bakery
called Crane’s. This was followed by purchase of another bakery, a catering
business and two music retailers. He soon became President of the
Bromsgrove & District Master Bakers’ Association and in 1954 was first
Bailiff of the revived Bromsgrove Horse Fair and Court Leet. In 1963 he
sold the business and retired to Fairborne, North Wales but after two years, and thoroughly
bored, he moved to ‘Millionaire’s Avenue’ in Droitwich and bought a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow
and a directorship of Wilcox Mitchell & Co., Birmingham-based paper merchants. He continued
in that business until his death.

265 Richard PLANT (? - ?) (Elected 4.7.1944; membership terminated 9.12.1946.) Believed to be
Richard Plant (1905-1986), Factory Manager for a synthetic resin/plastic moulding firm. He was
a native of Dudley but from his 30s lived in Cradley Heath so it might be thought that his
workplace was in that neighbourhood. However the only manufacturer in the district that
appears to match the description was Cromwells Limited, bakelite moulders of Dudley Port,
Tipton.

266 Dr James MAINWARING, MA DLitt (1892-1961) (Elected c.10.1944;
resigned 8.5.1947.) Lecturer in Psychology and Music at Dudley Training
College from November 1944 until retiring in 1954. He was previously a
history master at Dudley Grammar School for 28 years, joining in 1916 at
the age of 24. He started as a student teacher at Wellington, Shropshire
when only 16 or 17 and then as an Assistant Master at Normanton
Grammar School, Yorkshire 1915-16 before coming to Dudley. A brilliant
academic career followed. He graduated as a scholar in modern history
from Liverpool University in 1921. Two years later he was elected a Fellow
of the Royal Historical Society. He was awarded an MA by Birmingham University in 1931 and