MINES AND MINERALS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE (1908)

"Mines and Minerals of the British Empire. Being a Description of the Historical, Physical, & Industrial Features of the Principal Centres of Mineral Production in the British Dominions beyond the Seas. By Ralph S. G. Stokes, Late Mining Editor, Rand Daily Mail, Johannesburg, South Africa."

Publisher's red cloth binding with boards ruled in blind and gilt titles to spine.

xx + 403pp + 8pp (publisher's catalogue). Tables in text. Frontispiece + 38 photographic plates (all present although the plate facing page 198 is damaged).

Mining in South Africa and Southern Rhodesia is covered in chapters 22 to 27. Additionally, Appendix C tables Rand dividends and Appendix D contains a short report on mining in Natal.

Binding tight with age-associated wear along the edges. Internally clean although lacking the front endpaper. Contemporary gift inscription on half-title page, "Given to Alec Henderson on Sunday, Aug. 30th, 1914 by Mr. Williams. Booysens, Johannesburg, South Africa."

'In the following pages, the author has endeavoured to present a brief, though comprehensive, review of those mines and minerals of the British Empire oversea, the industrial influence of which extends beyond their domestic sphere, and therefore entitles them to rank as factors of considerable moment in the mining world. So vast is the subject as a whole that in it there can be no specialists. So diverse are its bearings that no writer or reader can claim the qualification of full technical authority. The author's purport has been to deal with all the more salient industrial conditions obtaining in the mineral-producing sections of the Empire, and to describe the characteristics of ore occurrence and methods of exploitation in a form as lightly technical as is consistent with accuracy and lucidity of expression.' - from the author's Preface

Ralph Shelton Griffin Stokes (1882-1979) interrupted his private education to come to South Africa to take part in the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) as a trooper in Paget's Horse. After the war he was employed by H. Eckstein and Company as a sampler and assistant surveyor on the Crown Reef Mine. A part-time position as mining editor of the Rand Daily Mail enabled him to continue his studies and to tour the mines of the British Empire, leading to a series of articles in the newspaper during June 1906 to September 1907. He wrote a substantial book, Mines and minerals of the British Empire (1908). In 1907 he again joined H. Eckstein, assisted with the valuation of the New Modderfontein Gold Mining Company, and worked on the Robinson Mine, Crown Mines, and in Eckstein's administration. A few years later he wrote A textbook of Rand metallurgical practice (London, 1912, 2 vols).

From 1912 to 1914 Stokes worked in the United States as a field engineer for the International Nickel Company of New York. During World War I (1914-1918) he was on active service in France as Controller of Mines, with the rank of Colonel. Thereafter he was chief engineer of the Expeditionary Forces fighting against the Bolsheviks in north Russia during 1918-1919. In recognition of his work during the war he was awarded the Military Cross (MC, 1916), the Distinguished Service Order (DSO, 1917) and the Order of the British Empire (OBE, 1919). In 1920 he returned to South Africa and became superintendent of mines and assistant general manager of De Beers Consolidated Mines at Kimberley. In 1928 he returned to Johannesburg to join his old firm, which had meanwhile become The Central Mining and Investment Corporation, as consulting engineer and technical director. He became a director in 1944 and served on the board until 1959. During World War II (1939-1945) he served in the Western Desert as chief engineer in charge of the construction of airfields with Montgomery's Eighth Army, attained the rank of Brigadier, and was honoured as Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE, 1942).

Stokes served on the council of the Geological Society of South Africa from 1929 to 1939 and as its president in 1934. His presidential address, 'The geological surveys and societies of the world', was published in the Proceedings of the Geological Society of South Africa (1935, pp. xxiii-xlii). He was a corresponding member of council of the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa as early as 1913, served as joint vice-president from 1934, was elected president for 1937/8 and was elected an honorary life member in 1946. His presidential address dealt with the financial aspects of mining on the Witwatersrand. In 1954 he was president of the (British) Institution of Mining and Metallurgy and in his presidential address discussed 'Future resources and problems of the Witwatersrand Gold Field'. After his death the South African Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (successor to the Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of SA) established the Brigadier Stokes Memorial Award to recognise outstanding contributions to the mining industry.' - Biographical Database of Southern African Science