 Engineer of the Week No. 4 Today we remember a metallurgist: Miss E.F. Bull BSc (Mrs Dunlop) Miss Bull had her first taste of engineering whilst working at the Galloway Engineering Company in Tongland, in the south of Scotland during, or possibly just after, the First World War. This was the factory set up in1916 by Thomas Pullinger (Dorothee Pullinger's father) as an experiment in training women as engineers whilst they also did munitions manufacturing work. She went to the Glasgow Technical College in the early 1920s and by 1926 had obtained a BSc in metallurgy. This would have been ideal for her work in her father’s family firm Bull’s Metal and Melloid Company in Yoker, Glasgow. The firm made propellor and other castings from bronze, their own ‘Bull's metal’, melloid and other malleable bronze alloys. She married in about 1926 and we do not know if she continued to work for her father afterwards. The firm was still in business in the 1950 but by then had changed hands.
33 Comments
Eric Flack
2/8/2019 10:50:04 pm
My grandfather was managing director of Bulls Metal. Mr Bull died in 1912. Mr Dunlop worked for the Hong Kong Power co. Mr & Mrs Dunlop plus two children were interned in the Stanley camp by the Japanese All survived/ Suffering badly from malnutrition on repatriation to Britain I meet them when they stayed in Drumchapel. Mr Dunlop secured a job in British Columbia and they moved to Canada. Any more info contact me
Dawn Bonfield
31/8/2019 04:01:12 pm
Thank you Mr Flack. Do you know the birth or death dates of Miss Bull at all please, as we don't seem to have these. Or any other details?
Eric Flack
31/8/2019 05:54:12 pm
I can supply any information that you require. Mrs Dunlop is listed in the Stanley Camp list as a university lecturer.
Eric Flack
31/8/2019 06:19:01 pm
Edith Frida Bull (nee Dunlop)
Jennifer Reid
28/10/2019 09:42:37 pm
I am the granddaughter of Frida Dunlop (Bull) and currently travelling with my brother Robert Reid through England (Oct 22-Nov 1, 2019) and Scotland (Nov 1-10, 2019). We will be in Glasgow starting Nov 1 should you want more of the family history of the Dunlops. 28/10/2019 11:00:58 pm
Hi Jennifer. If we could meet up that would be great. My email: [email protected] . Phone 0141 944 1715 or MoB; 07770 414 095. You can see me on Drumchapel Tennis website or facebook
Dr NIna Baker
31/10/2019 04:57:17 pm
Jennifer,
Jennifer Reid
31/10/2019 11:19:09 pm
Hi Nina,
Jan Whitehead
30/4/2020 09:32:17 pm
Hi Jennifer, we were friends with Frida and Bob in their last year's in Cowichan Bay. I visited them at least twice a week. They were incredible and amazing people. They passed on to us negatives and contact prints from 1946 on which we kept but didn't know what to do with them.
Jennifer Reid
30/4/2020 11:55:15 pm
Hello Jan,
Dr NIna Baker
1/5/2020 07:06:34 pm
Dear Jan (and Jen), 1/5/2020 08:19:54 pm
Hi Jen, Did Rob show you the newspaper cuttings etc I found regarding Bob Dunlop's father. A real "character". He was a Glasgow Corporation Baillie. Resign to continue as a "family" doctor in the East End of Glasgow. He visited Russia as a guest of Stalin in 1937 where he personally visited the Mossoviet, Moscow's local authority, and also attended the Soviet itself. Was awarded an OBE while serving in World War 2 as the Medical Officer of Glasgow, Civil Defence Services. I found him on a Glasgow Civil Defence film from 1942. I also sent Rob pictures of the carved ivory piece donated by Edith & Bob to Glasgow Museums. I eventually got to see the very impressive carved ivory balls and stand.
John anton-smith
2/8/2020 10:50:54 am
My father Raymond Smith was. Colleague of your grandfather in the Hong Kong Electric Co .i have known the name R P Dunlop all my life
Jennifer Reid (granddaughter of Dunlops)
2/8/2020 02:44:18 pm
Hello John,
Rob Reid
2/8/2020 05:02:08 pm
Hello John ,
Dr NIna Baker
3/8/2020 08:56:56 am
John, Bob, Eric and Jennifer,
Jennifer
9/4/2022 04:42:20 am
Nina, I was reading up on your article and glad to see you still writing about Women Engineers! 2/8/2020 01:18:37 pm
I will pass this on to Jil and Rob Reid. If they do not reply They live in British Columbia. I live in Glasgow Scotland. R. P Dunlop's father was a Doctor in Glasgow. He was a "Red Clydesider". In WW1. Became a Baillie in Glasgow Corporation. Visited Moscow in 1937 at the invitation of Stalin. Was Glasgow Civil Defence Medical Officer in WW2. Quite a character! Even got an honour from the Royal Family! Frida was quite a character. Did you know of their journey home in 1930s when there boat was shipwrecked?
Jennifer Reid
2/8/2020 02:45:21 pm
Thank you Eric, always keeping the history alive! Much appreciated and we hope you are well
Jane Robinson
11/1/2022 07:12:45 pm
Hello I am the great granddaughter of Johannes Bull and Edith Flack. My grandmother Helga was Edith Frida Bull's sister. 9/4/2022 08:30:40 am
Hi, My Grandfather Sydney Eric Flack was the youngest brother of Edith Mary Flack. I have some bits of family history if you are interested. I am in Glasgow Scotland and met up with Jen Reid in Glasgow in Nov 2019 Sydney Eric Flack ran Bulls Metal when Mr Bull died in 1912.I have around 110 pages re Ivor Bull Helgas brothers Australian Army WW1 records. A "Lone Pine " ANZAC,Feel free to contact me at my email address. or see me on Google: Eric Flack Glasgow and/or Tennis or facebook
Eric Flack
9/4/2022 08:49:36 am
Bye the way Edith Mary Flack was a Victorian artist who was sponsored by Queen Victoria. I have newspaper cuttings in this. She has a painting in the Royal collection. I have her final year art school water colours exhibited in South Kensington. I also have a water colour of Bergan Harbour by Mr Bull her husband. I stayed with Harold Bull- Helga's brother at Painton near Torquay in 1962. Knew Harold Bull well.
Jennifer Reid
9/4/2022 04:34:55 am
Hello Jane, I'm the granddaughter of Frida Dunlop (Bull) and though I have photos of the family, I believe the person who will have the details you are looking for is Erik Flack. I will email him and ask him to reply to your post.
Jane Robinson
12/4/2022 02:46:21 pm
Thankyou Jennifer, I have now emailed Eric and look forward to finding out some more about our ancestors. They are turning out to be a very interesting family that I knew very little about. I have some of Edith Flack/Bull's paintings and am recently touch with Kris Powley,daughter of Ivor Bull. 12/4/2022 08:16:07 pm
Note my email via Drumchapel Lawn tennis club or Blairdardie & Old Drumchapel Community Council or: [email protected] 30/5/2023 10:29:30 am
What was Miss Bull's initial exposure to engineering, and where did she gain her first practical experience in the field? How did her education in metallurgy contribute to her potential work at her family's firm, Bull's Metal and Melloid Company? What is known about Miss Bull's professional journey after her marriage, and what can be said about the status of Bull's Metal and Melloid Company in later years? 18/6/2023 01:49:58 pm
Re any information re Frida & Bulls Metal could you please email me at: [email protected]
Jennifer Reid
29/3/2024 04:16:36 am
Thank you for your article on my grandmother Edith Frida Dunlop (Bull), you are correct in her obtaining her Bsc in Metallurgy from Glasgow University. She then married by grandfather Robert Patterson Dunlop and together they moved to HongKong and the Hong Kong Electric Company. My grandmother was interned at Stanley prisoner of war camp and my grandfather at Shim Shu poi in Hong Kong. In the 1950s they retired and moved to Canada and my mother Gillian Frida Reid (Dunlop) moved with them
Jennifer Reid
29/3/2024 04:19:54 am
In addition, my grandmother Edith Frida Dunlop (Bull) did work at Thomas Pullinger factory (Dorothee Pullinger's father) as an experiment in training women as engineers.
Eric Flack
29/3/2024 11:13:29 am
Hi Jen you could maybe say they were in the same class at Uni. Plus I think Frida "helped " Bob through uni! Leave a Reply. |