Francis Stileman
STILEMAN, Francis William Harold MICE MIEAust MIWE (1876-1938)
Francis Stileman was born in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire, on November 17, 1876, the eldest son of engineer, Francis (Frank) Stileman and his wife Angelina Sophia Stileman née Knott. In 1895 Francis commenced a three year engineering pupillage with the Furness Railway Company. His father and grandfather (Francis Croughton Stileman) had both been associated with the Furness Railway Company.
Stileman's first engineering responsibility was as Assistant Resident Engineer on lowering the lock sill in Barrow Shipyard in 1898. In 1900 he visited Argentina and was involved with dock extension work in Buenos Aires. He was Resident Engineer in charge of all works at Barrow Shipyard by 1902.
In 1906, Francis was the Resident Engineer on the West Wemyss dock extension for the Wemyss Coal Company. In 1909 he joined the engineering firm of Sir Benjamin Baker and Hartzig, and revisited Argentina to report on new shipyards and graving docks. By 1911, Francis was working as a consulting engineer in Barrow in Furness.
In 1911 he was a long term resident at the Roa Island Hotel in Barrow in Furness.
In 1912 Francis married Dorothy Anne Wainwright at Oatlands in Surrey, and they had two children, Francis and Myrtle.
Stileman returned to Argentina in 1912 with consulting engineers, Sir Douglas Fox and Partners, and he also worked in Brazil, Spain and the United States on railway, hydroelectric, water supply and sewerage schemes.
During World War I he designed and supervised the construction of several high explosive factories. In 1918 he was involved with the design and construction of a shipyard on the Furness on Tees for Lord Furness. From 1919 to 1925 he was in private practice as a Consulting Engineer based in Middlesbrough.
The WA Premier, Philip Collier, whilst visiting England, recruited Francis to replace James Thompson as Chief Engineer of the WA Public Works Department in April 1925. His annual salary was set at £2,500. Francis, his wife and children arrived in Melbourne by the “RMS Orvieto” and, unusually, they travelled to Perth by rail, arriving on the Great Western Express on October 2, 1925.
Stileman's term as Chief Engineer was dominated by proposals for the extension of Fremantle Harbour, extension of rail lines, the floods of 1926 and progressing south west irrigation. He also was involved with the National Committee on Mechanical Transport from 1927 to 1930.
In November 1930, the Minister for Works, John Lindsay, announced that due to the need for savings in government expenditure, reorganisation and amalgamations were necessary including the retirement of F W H Stileman. Not unsurprisingly, Philip Collier, now Leader of the Opposition, slammed the decision to retire the person he had appointed only five years earlier. On December 15, 1930, Francis was replaced as Chief Engineer by Edward Tindale, who had the combined roles of Commissioner for Main Roads and PWD Chief Engineer.
Francis and his family returned to England on the “Esperance Bay” on December 31, 1930. He soon was appointed Resident Engineer for the Humber Bridge, and in April 1932 he was working in Columbia advising the Columbian Government on harbour and river projects. He then became the Chief Engineer of the Dredging and Construction Company, based in Westminster.
Francis was elected an Associate Member of the Institution of Engineers in 1909, becoming a full Member in 1920. He was also a Member of the Institution of Water Engineers and a Member of the Institution of Engineers, Australia. He was elected WA Division Chair of the Institution of Engineers, Australia in March 1930 and was also a National Councillor of that body.
In 1928 Francis was appointed to the UWA Senate and had to resign from that position in December 1930 due to his imminent return to England. He was highly regarded by the Senate, which deeply regretted the manner of his departure from Western Australia.
Francis died on February 28, 1938 at his home in Weybridge, Surrey.
References:
J S H Le Page, Building a State, Water Authority of Western Australia, Leederville, 1986
Western Mail, 24.9.1925, p12
West Australian, 3.10.1925, p12
West Australian, 13.1.1930, p16
Sunday Times, 9.11.1930, p1
West Australian, 7.9.1932, p14
https://www.baesystems.com/en/heritage/vickers shipbuilding accessed 1.11.2020
https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Francis_William_Harold_Stileman accessed 1.11.2020
Details of the State Library of WA Photo are at call No. 3530B. Staff in the photo are Left to right: Back: Evelyn Cecil Bohun Bone, Russell John Dumas, Arthur Frederick Williamson, William Leonard Dartnall, Claude Lyle Henderson. Middle: Archibald Muir Hutchinson, Bernard Santo Crimp, Joseph Arthur Ellis, John Melbourne James Tait, John Parr. Front: Walter Kirkwood Weller, Percy Vincent O'Brien, Francis William Harold Stileman (Engineer in Chief), John Stevenson Young, Geoffrey Drake Brockman. The photo of Stileman and his senior staff was a farewell photo and appeared in the Daily News on 27 November 1930, page 6.
