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Authorised form of nameThrelfall; Sir; Richard (1861 - 1932); physicist and chemical engineer
Dates1861 - 1932
NationalityBritish
Place of birthHollowforth, Woodplumpton, near Preston, Lancashire, England
Date of birth14 August 1861
Place of deathEdgbaston, Birmingham, England
Date of death10/07/1932
Dates and placesBurial: Family tomb at St Anne's Church, Woodplumpton, Lancashire, England.
Occupationphysicist and chemical engineer
Research fieldPhysical chemistry
Physics
Electrochemistry
ActivityEducation: Clifton College, Cambridge; Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge natural sciences tripos (1884).
Career:
Studied mathematics privately with W. J. Ibbetson; worked under August Jundt and Rudolph Fitting; became a demonstrator in the Cavendish Laboratory under Joseph John Thomson (FRS 1884); appointed professor of physics at the University of Sydney (1886); demanded for a new building to house the department and oversaw its completion (1888); president of a royal commission on the carriage of coal in ships (1896); obtained leave of absence to inquire into methods of teaching electrical subjects in Europe and on return resigned his chair (1898); appointed director of research with the chemical manufacturing firm Albright and Wilson of Oldbury, Birmingham (1898) and became director of the firm (1901); engaged in the use of phosphorus as smoke screens and in tracer ammunition. He arranged for the exploration of sources of helium in gas wells in America and created a scheme for the production of heloum in quantity, and its use in balloons and airships (1914); invited by the Admiralty to serve on the board of invention and research (1915); became one of the original members of the government Advisory Council on Scientific and Industrial Research (1916); offered but refused the directorship of the National Physical Laboratory (1919); declining health (1925).
Honours:
KBE 1917; GBE 1927
Memberships:
Royal Society of New South Wales (President 1895)
Fuel Research Board
Chemical Research Board
Awards/Medals:
Gold medal of the Society of Chemical Industry (1929)
Membership categoryFellow
Date of election01/06/1899
Age at election38
ProposerCharles Thomas Heycock; Charles Chree; Walter Holbrook Gaskell; William Augustus Tilden; John Perry
Joseph John Thomson; Richard Tetley Glazebrook; William Napier Shaw; Oliver Joseph Lodge; William Ramsay; Ernest Howard Griffiths; John Henry Poynting
RelationshipsParents: Richard Threlfall (1804–1870), of Hollowforth, wine merchant and sometime mayor of Preston, and Sarah Jane Mason (d. 1898).
Spouse: Evelyn Agnes Baird (1866–1929) of Bowmont Hill, Northumberland.
Children: Four sons and three daughters.
Published worksRCN R66236
RCN 17877
RCN R66237
General contextDesigned and built the first automatic microtome for cutting thin uniform sections of specimens for microscopical examination.
Established the School of Physics at the University of Sydney.
Royal Society Obituary or MemoirClick to view (may be contained within a meeting notice, presidential address or list of death notices)
Image

Threfall R, GA WRS 1718.jpg

SourcesSources:
Bulloch's Roll; DNB
Obituaries:
Obituary Notices of Fellows of the Royal Society 1932-1935 vol l pp 45-53, plate, by Sir William Bate Hardy
References:
R E Threlfall, 'Sir Richard Threlfall GBE, FRS (1861-1932): Some Personal Memories' in NR 1961 vol 16 pp 234-242, plate
R W Home, 'The Royal Society and the Empire: the colonial and Commonwealth Fellowship. Part 2. After 1847' in NR 2003 vol 57 pp 47-84
Virtual International Authority Filehttp://viaf.org/viaf/118100507
Royal Society codeNA6235
Archives associated with this Fellow
Reference numberTitleDate
GLB/24/1Quotation from page 87 of 'The Periodical' sent by R E Threllfall to Brown1959
IM/004600Threlfall, Sir Richardnd
NLB/4/149Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Richard Threlfall25 February 1890
NLB/3/576Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, [Royal Society]17 July 1889
NLB/3/591Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to [John William Strutt] Lord Rayleigh, Secretary, Royal Society19 July 1889
NLB/3/1083Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs West Newman & Company7 January 1890
NLB/3/709Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Joseph John Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society21 September 1889
NLB/3/717Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Joseph John Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society, Trinity College, Cambridge25 September 1889
NLB/11/651Copy letter from A H White, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt]26 August 1895
NLB/11/747Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs West, Newman & Company, 54 Hatton Garden, E.C.30 September 1895
NLB/10/835Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Napier Shaw, Emmanuel College, Cambridge15 February 1895
NLB/11/763Copy letter from an unknown correspondent, to Messrs Harrison & Sons1 October 1895
NLB/11/885Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to William Napier Shaw, Fellow of the Royal Society28 October 1895
NLB/11/878Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt]25 October 1895
RR/17/103Referee's report by Hugh Longbourne Callendar, on a paper 'On a static method of comparing the densities of gases' by Richard Threlfall[April 1906]
NLB/15/596Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor RichardThrelfall, [Fellow of the Royal Society]1 November 1897
NLB/22/258Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Sir Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society1 April 1901
NLB/19/113Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society23 June 1899
NLB/18/614Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor J J Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society11 April 1899
NLB/18/791Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to R Threlfall, 259 Hagley Road, Birmingham13 May 1899
NLB/18/769Copy letter from Michael Foster, to [R] Threlfall[10 May 1899]
NLB/18/766Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor G Carey Foster, Fellow of the Royal Society9 May 1899
NLB/19/800Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society22 December 1899
NLB/18/775Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to R Threlfall, 259 Hagley Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham10 May 1899
NLB/18/854Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor R Threlfall31 May 1899
NLB/20/500Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society7 May 1900
NLB/20/817Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Messrs Harrison & Sons]15 July 1900
NLB/21/701Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society11 January 1901
NLB/26/592Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to, Sir Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society, 30 George Road, Birmingham27 April 1903
NLB/29/788Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society9 December 1904
NLB/34/34Copy letter from Theodore E James, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society, George Forbes, Fellow of the Royal Society, Sydney John Hickson, Fellow of the Royal Society20 November 1906
NLB/32/642Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society26 April 1906
NLB/34/607Copy letter from Joseph Larmor, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society13 February 1907
MC/22/461Letter from Richard Threlfall, 30 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to [Joseph] Larmor17 February 1097
NLB/36/734Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Thelfall, Fellow of the Royal Society9 December 1907
MC/22/460Letter from Richard Threlfall, 30 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society4 February 1907
NLB/34/562Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society7 February 1907
NLB/39/38Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor R [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society17 November 1908
NLB/37/422Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor R [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society17 March 1908
NLB/39/77Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Harrison & Sons21 November 1908
NLB/37/758Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to Professor [Richard]Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society8 May 1908
NLB/40/54Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to R [Richard] Threlfall FRS 31 March 1909
NLB/63/480Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS27 October 1922
NLB/43/432Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society12 January 1911
MC/26/261Letter from [Richard] Threlfall, Oakhurst, Church Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to The Assistant Secretary, The Royal Society7 January 1911
NLB/43/456Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society20 January 1911
NLB/52/353Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Mr. Richard Threlfall, FRS15 November 1915
NLB/50/777Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society4 November 1914
MC/22/458Letter from Richard Threlfall, 30 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society23 January 1907
NLB/54/408Copy letter from [Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society]; to [Richard] Threlfall Esquire, FRS4 May 1917
NLB/54/425Copy letter from Dr. Arthur Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society; to [Richard] Threlfall Esquire, FRS11 May 1917
RR/29/73Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'Determination of velocity of explosion waves of small amplitude in sea water.?Variation of velocity with temperature' by A B Wood, H E Browne and C CochraneFebruary 1923
NLB/54/649Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Professor [Arthur] Schuster, Secretary of the Royal Society13 July 1917
NLB/57/210Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfell, FRS, KBE19 August 1919
NLB/57/205Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Hon. Secretary [RB Asquith Ellis Esq. Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers], James Watt Centenary16 August 1919
NLB/56/780Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS23 May 1919
NLB/56/222Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS19 December 1918
NLB/58/792Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS18 June 1920
NLB/55/130Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to The Secretary, Board of Scientific Societies12 December 1917
RR/14/248Referee's report by Charles Vernon Boys, on a paper 'On a quartz thread gravity balance' by Richard Threlfall and James Arthur Pollocknd [April 1899]
NLB/57/156Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS, KBE31 July 1919
NLB/64/212Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS23 February 1923
NLB/57/198Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS, KBE12 August 1919
RR/17/183Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'Electric furnace reactions under high gaseous pressures' by R S Hutton and Joseph Ernest Petavel[February 1907]
NLB/57/370Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS, KBE28 October 1919
RR/47/130Referee's report by Gerald Ponsonby Lenox-Conyngham, on a paper 'Further history of a quartz thread gravity balance' by Richard Threlfall and Alfred John DawsonFebruary 1932
NLB/57/184Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to RB Asquith Ellis Esq. AM I Mech. E [Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers] Hon. Sec. [Honorary Secretary] of the James Watt Centenary8 August 1919
NLB/57/601Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS15 December 1919
RR/38/7Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'The electrical condition of hot surfaces during the adsorption of gases. Part III.—A platinum surface at temperatures up to 850° C' by George Ingle Finch and J C StimsonApril 1929
NLB/57/593Copy letter from Sir James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Director [Sir Joseph Ernest Petavel, FRS, KBE], the National Physical Laboratory12 December 1919
NLB/56/214Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [William Whitehead Watts, FRS] the Secretary of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies17 December 1918
NLB/62/95Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to [William Whitehead Watts] the Secretary of the Conjoint Board of Scientific Societies1 December 1921
NLB/64/123Copy letter from James Hopwood Jeans, Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS5 February 1923
NLB/57/454Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Miss Annie Foster; Pell View Wodplumpton, nr [near] Preston, Lancs [Lancashire]11 November 1919
NLB/64/855Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS2 July 1923
NLB/65/737Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, KBE, FRS13 December 1923
NLB/67/138Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, FRS1 November 1924
NLB/72/917Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir William [Bate] Hardy, FRS26 June 1930
NLB/72/913Copy letter from Francis Alexander Towle, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to Sir Richard Threlfall, GBE, FRS25 June 1930
CD/5/17Copy letter from the Royal Society, to Professor [John] Graham Kerr, Professor [John Stanley] Gardiner, Professor [James Thomas] Wilson, Sir [David] Prain, Dr [Arthur William] Hill, Sir Arthur Keith, Sir [Alfred Daniel] Hall, Professor [Robert] Newstead, Colonel [Henry George] Lyons, Dr [John William] Evans, Sir [Richard] Threlfall, Sir [John] Cadman18 January 1923
CD/68/3Copy letter from [Richard] Threlfall, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society7 May 1917
EC/1899/14Threlfall, Sir Richard: certificate of election to the Royal Society
IM/GA/WRS/1718Threlfall, Sir Richardnd
NLB/3/730Copy letter from Herbert Rix, to Professor Joseph John Thomson, Fellow of the Royal Society26 September 1889
NLB/3/675Copy letter from Alfred H White, to Messrs West, Newman & Company29 August 1889
NLB/35/280Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Professor Arthur Schuster, Fellow of the Royal Society, Chairman of the Physics and Chemistry Committee10 May 1907
NLB/37/446Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison to R [Richard] Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society20 March 1908
NLB/51/142Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society to Richard Threlfall, FRS16 December 1914
NLB/52/93Copy letter from William Bate Hardy, Vice President of the Royal Society to Richard Threlfall FRS10 August 1915
RR/12/249Letter from William Napier Shaw, to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, regarding a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen13 February 1895
NLB/10/625Copy letter from Lord Rayleigh [John William Strutt], to Professor Richard Threlfall, Sydney, Australia3 January 1895
NLB/57/197Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to the Hon. Secretary [RB Asquith Ellis Esq. Associate Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers] , James Watt Centenary; Chamber of Commerce Building, New Street, Birmingham12 August 1919
NLB/53/370Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society; to The Secretary, Reconstruction Committee, 6a Dean's Yard, S.W. 24 July 1916
RR/10/310Referee's report by Andrew Noble, on a paper 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair6 July 1889
NLB/52New Letter Book volume 52, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration9 July 1915-8 March 1916
NLB/57New Letter Book volume 57, copy letters sent from Royal Society administration27 June 1919-27 February 1920
RR/10/309Detailed referee's report by Robert Bellamy Clifton, on a paper 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adairnd [1889]
RR/12/248Letter from John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, to Richard Threlfall, regarding a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen3 January 1895
PP/14/36/2Diagram, 'Sketch shewing method for finding the distance EF between two spikes in the tops of two piles in Berry's Bay, Port Jackson [Australia]' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair1889
PP/8/23/1Manuscript, 'Some experiments on the production of ozone' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall1886
PP/8/23Paper, 'Some experiments on the production of ozone' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall1886
PP/8/22/2Figures, experimental equipment by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall1886
PP/8/22Paper, 'On an effect produced by the passage of an electric discharge through pure nitrogen' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall1886
PP/14/36/3Diagram, experimental equipment by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair1889
PP/14/36/1Manuscript, 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair1889
PP/14/36Paper, 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair1889
RR/14/249Referee's report by John Henry Poynting, on a paper 'On a quartz thread gravity balance' by Richard Threlfall and James Arthur Pollock8 May 1899
RR/10/308Referee's report by Robert Bellamy Clifton, on a paper 'On the velocity of transmission through sea-water of disturbances of large amplitude caused by explosions' by Richard Threlfall and John Frederick Adair23 April 1889
RR/12/245Letter from William Napier Shaw, to John William Strutt, 3rd Baron Rayleigh, regarding a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen21 July 1894
RR/12/246Referee's report by William Napier Shaw, on a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen21 July 1894
RR/12/247Referee's report by George Carey Foster, on a paper 'Researches on the electric properties of pure substances.—No. I. The electrical properties of pure sulphur' by Richard Threlfall, Joseph Henry Drapier Brearley and Mr Allen11 December 1894
RR/26/16Referee's report by Richard Threlfall, on a paper 'Researches on the chemistry of coal. Part II .— The resinic constituents and coking propensities of coals' by William Arthur Bone, A R Pearson, E Sinkinson and W E Stockings[November 1921]
PP/8/22/1Manuscript, 'On an effect produced by the passage of an electric discharge through pure nitrogen' by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall1886
PP/8/23/2Diagram, experimental equipment by J J [Joseph John] Thomson and R [Richard] Threlfall1886
MC/23/461Letter from [Richard] Threlfall, Consulting Electro-Chemical Engineer, 30 George Road, Birmingham, to The Assistant Secretary, Royal Society, Burlington House1 June 1908
MC/24/186Letter from [Richard] Threlfall, Oakhurst, Church Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to the Assistant Secretary, [Royal Society]11 December 1909
NLB/43/423Copy letter from Robert William Frederick Harrison, to Richard Threlfall, Fellow of the Royal Society10 January 1911
MC/29/264Letter from [Richard] Threlfall, Oakhurst, Church Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to the [Royal Society]2 November 1914
MC/22Volume 22 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1907
MC/22/459Letter from Richard Threlfall, 30 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society6 February 1907
MC/22/462Letter from Richard Threlfall, 30 George Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham, to the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Society6 December 1907
MC/39Volume 39 of miscellaneous correspondence regarding business matters, sent to the Royal Society1925
MC/39/106Letter from [Richard] Threlfall at Oakhurst, Church Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham to [William Bate] Hardy18 June 1925
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