Captain H Riall Sankey
1920-1921
Captain Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey
Captain Matthew Henry Phineas Riall Sankey was born at Nenagh, Ireland on 9
November 1853. He went to school in Switzerland, then attended Mr. Rippon’s
School at Woolwich, and the Royal Military Academy. In 1873 he received a
commission in the Royal Engineers, and started the required course at the School
of Military Engineering, Chatham. As he reached the end of his training, he was
one of the Royal Engineer officers selected for employment by the Royal
Commission on Railway Accidents in connection with the important series of
Continuous Brake Experiments carried out in 1876. Later that year he was
engaged in the War Department drawing office on the design of barracks.
In 1879 he was appointed Instructor in Fortification at the Royal Military
College, Kingston, Canada. After three years service there he returned to
England to take up a position at the Ordnance Survey Establishment at
Southampton.
In 1899 he retired from the Service and joined the board of Willans and
Robinson Ltd., engineers. Five years later he commenced practice as a
consulting engineer. Later he became a director and consulting engineer of
Marconi’s Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd, and the Marconi International Marine
Communications Co. Ltd. He held these positions until the end of his life.
During the First World War, Captain Sankey volunteered his services, and was
appointed Staff-Captain in the department of the Director of Fortifications and
Works at the War Office. He paid personal visits to the front in 1915 and
1918.
He was President of the IMechE in 1920 and 1921. He was also a member of the
Governing Board of the National Physical Laboratory.