James S. Hawkes

James Symonds Hawkes (1856 – 11 July 1919) was an Australian accountant and civil engineer.

History

Hawkes was born in Adelaide, a son of John Henry Mason Hawkes (c. 1827 – 14 October 1858)[1] and his wife Frances Sarah Ann Hawkes, née Symonds (c. 1831 – 15 February 1902). Frances arrived in South Australia in February 1849 aboard the ship Marion; they married later that same year. She was in 1880 to marry again, to the recently widowed William Henville Burford.

Hawkes grew up in Port Adelaide, and at 13 was admitted to Adelaide Educational Institution, where he was dubbed "Geometry Hawkes" by his schoolmates, and whose principal, J. L. Young, was impressed by his ready grasp of complex mathematics. At a little over 16 he went to work for Robin and LeMessurier, timber merchants, of Port Adelaide, and at 18 became their accountant. The owner, Theophilus Robin, died in September 1874, and his widow brought in Theodore Hack to manage what became known as Robin & Hack. Hawkes remained with the company for ten years. Around early September 1884[2] he left for Silverton, where a rush was on, and tried his hand at prospecting. A few months later, presumably after much hard work for little return, he travelled overland to Sydney, where his mathematical abilities were put to good use in overseeing construction of some complex buildings that were going up. His first job was superintending the erection of the Hôtel Métropole, followed by a variety of other structures: bridges, mining plants, and other engineering work, including various jobs for the State Government. He was the first in Australia to employ giant cranes in construction of multi-storey buildings.[1] For nearly thirty years he was one of the busiest civil engineers in New South Wales. In 1908 he qualified as a quantity surveyor,[3] and established a private practice.[4] In later years his activity became impaired by attacks of acute rheumatism, and after 1916 he was confined to his home, where he died from heart failure.

Other interests

Hawkes is reported as playing football with the Port Adelaide Football Club,[1] and his name is mentioned a few times as a player in 1876[5] and 1877,[6] but does not appear in the club's list of post-1876 players. He was also a junior member of the Port Adelaide Chess Club.[7]

Family

John Henry Mason Hawkes (c. 1827 – 14 October 1858) married Frances Ann Symonds (c. 1831 – 15 February 1902)

  • Robert Symonds Hawkes (1850–1850)
  • John Henry Mason Hawkes (1851 – 5 May 1944) married Rosina Brooks (1856–1937) of Oakbank on 7 July 1878. He had own manufacturing business, then was manager of Fowler's "Lion" factory.
  • Elizabeth Ann Hawkes (1853 – 29 October 1939) married William Walter Humpherys (c. 1850 – 2 February 1928) in 1876. They had four children.
  • James Symonds Hawkes (15 March 1856 – 11 July 1919) married Jane Codling (1859–) on 19 July 1878
  • James Symonds Hawkes (2 May 1879 – 28 April 1972) married Mary Ann in June 1899, lived at Oberon, New South Wales;[8] served as mechanic with the Australian Flying Corps during World War I
  • Willie Scott Hawkes (14 November 1880 – 1956)
  • Jeannie May Frances Hawkes (19 May 1882 – 1938)
  • Gladys Annie Hawkes (1884–1957)
  • Herbert George Hawkes (1886–1951)
  • Harold John Hawkes (1888–1971)
  • Gwendoline Hawkes (1890–1969)
  • Eric Oswald Hawkes (1893–1979) served with 1st Field Engineers, wounded and repatriated
  • Osric Scott Hawkes (1895–1971) served in France; wounded in action and repatriated.
  • Frederick J. Hawkes (1895 – 1970?)
  • Walter Scott Hawkes (4 February 1898 – 10 August 1977)

He was survived by his second wife and ten [sic][1] children by his first.

gollark: The hilarity of a joke is directly proportional to the square of its length, you know.
gollark: (note: I like Linux and this is a joke, do not potato me)
gollark: What do Linux users do to change a lightbulb?First, a user creates a bug report, only for it to be closed with "could not reproduce" as the developers got to it in the day. Eventually, some nights later, someone realizes that it is actually a problem, and decides to start work on a fix, soliciting the help of other people.Debates soon break out on the architecture of the new lightbulb - should they replace it with an incandescent bulb (since the bulb which broke was one of those), try and upgrade it to a halogen or LED bulb, which are technically superior if more complex. or go to a simpler and perhaps more reliable solution such as a fire?While an LED bulb is decided on, they eventually, after yet more debate, deem off-the-shelf bulbs unsuitable, and decide to make their own using commercially available LED modules. However, some of the group working on this are unhappy with this, and splinter off, trying to set up their own open semiconductor production operation to produce the LEDs.Despite delays introduced by feature creep, as it was decided halfway through to also add RGB capability and wireless control, the main group still manages to produce an early alpha, and tests it as a replacement for the original bulb. Unfortunately it stops working after a few days of use, and debugging of the system suggests that the problem is because of their power supply - the bulb needs complex, expensive, and somewhat easily damaged circuitry to convert the mains AC power into DC suitable for the LEDs, and they got that bit a bit wrong.So they decide to launch their own power grid and lighting fixture standard, which is, although incompatible with every other device, technically superior, and integrates high-speed networking so they can improve the control hardware. Having completely retrofitted the house the original lightbulb failed in and put all their designs and code up on GitHub, they deem the project a success, and after only a year!
gollark: Minetest is already a thing.
gollark: It really isn't.

References
  1. "Obituary". The Chronicle. 44 (2, 270). Adelaide. 22 February 1902. p. 33. Retrieved 23 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. "Advertising". The Express and Telegraph. XXI (6, 213). South Australia. 16 September 1884. p. 1. Retrieved 23 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. "General notes". The Sydney Morning Herald (21, 958). 2 June 1908. p. 4. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. "James S. Hawkes, Ocean House". The Catholic Press (1043). New South Wales, Australia. 23 December 1915. p. 35. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. "Football". The South Australian Advertiser. 2 October 1876. p. 7. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. "Removal of Butts from the South Parklands". The South Australian Advertiser. XIX (5822). 16 June 1877. p. 6. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. "Port Adelaide Chess Club". South Australian Register. XLIV (10, 190). 12 July 1879. p. 5. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. "Golden Wedding". The National Advocate. New South Wales, Australia. 16 June 1949. p. 6. Retrieved 24 April 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
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