Professor Frederick Hinsley, 1900-1988

Frederick Baden Hinsley was born in 1900 and was educated at Bagworth Council School, Leicestershire until 1913. He became a surface screen worker at Desford Colliery near Leicester where from 1914 to 1925 he worked underground. He graduated from the Mining Department of Birmingham University in 1929 (BSc.), where he had joined the Institution of Mining Engineers (IMinE), the Association of Mining, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (AMEME), and passed the Examination as Instructor of Mine Rescue. Hinsley then went to Birch Coppice Colliery to attain a First Class Certificate (1930), and in 1932, took up a post as lecturer in mining at the County Technical College, Worksop, Nottinghamshire. He conducted research into mine ventilation at Manton Colliery, for which he was awarded an MSc. by Birmingham in 1937.

In 1939, Hinsley left Worksop to become a lecturer in Mining at University College, Cardiff. For his published work on ventilation, he was awarded a Doctor of Science degree by Birmingham University in 1945. In 1947, he became Professor of Mining and Fuels at University College Nottingham (now The University of Nottingham). Hinsley retired from the university as Professor of Mining Engineering in 1967. His published work comprised some 80 articles that appeared in the various mining journals. His work, 'A Centenary History of the Chesterfield and Derbyshire Institute of Mining Civil and Mechanical Engineers and its Successors' (1975), was first published by the Midland Counties Institution of Engineers and financed by its Trust. Hinsley died on 6 February 1988.

Professor Hinsley received many awards including: the Silver Medal of the South Staffordshire and Warwickshire IMinE (1939), the Gold Medal of the South Wales Institute of Engineers (1944), the Van Waterschoot van der Gracht Medal of the Royal Geological and Mining Society of the Netherlands (1962), the Institution Medal of the IMinE (1970), and the Lord Edward Cavendish Medal of the Nottinghamshire and North Derbyshire Branch of the IMinE (1971). His public lectures included: The Cadman Memorial Lecture (1966) and The Robert A. Moore Memorial Lecture (1969), both at the Royal Society of Arts in London.

Professor Hinsley also held the following positions: IMinE representative on the British Standards Institute conference on mine fans (1946), president of the South Wales branch of the AMEME (1947), advisor on ventilation to the East Midlands Division of the National Coal Board (1949-1967), president of the IMinE (1968-9), honorary life member of the Mine Ventilation Society of South Africa (1971), and fellow of the Fellowship of Engineering (1976).

From the guide to the Typescript copies of articles and lectures by Frederick Hinsley (1900-1988), Emeritus Professor of Mining Engineering at The University of Nottingham, 1971-1975, 1971-1975, (The University of Nottingham)