Ronald Holroyd, 1904 - 1973

It was a tragic irony of fate that Ronald Holroyd should have died on 29 September 1973, just on the eve of the energy crisis which suddenly and dramatically focused the attention of the Western World on the urgency of finding an alternative fuel to Middle East oil, which had almost overnight become scarce and expensive. For the outstanding work of Holroyd s career, before and during the last war, was in attempting to provide a liquid fuel based on coal, and, apart from a wartime success when availability was the paramount consideration, these attempts failed largely because Middle East oil was plentiful and cheap. Ronald Holroyd was born at Horbury, near Wakefield, on 26 April 1904, the son of Sykes and Florence Holroyd. His father started work as a boy of eleven at the firm of Sykes Bros, sporting goods’ manufacturers at Horbury, and attended evening classes at Wakefield where he proved to be a first class student and was subsequently invited to teach in the evenings. This work increased and as a result he was invited to join the full time staff of the Miming and Technical School at Barnsley, where he taught mathematics, mechanics and technical drawing. He had a quick and lively mind which remained with him until he died, a few years ago, at the age of 92, still absorbed in mathematics. Florence Holroyd, his wife, was a teacher and there is no doubt that Ronald Holroyd owed a great deal to their deep interest in educational matters, and to their encouragement in his formative years.