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Note: [YOULE 2015.FTW]
[~1.GED]
spent some time in the United States as British Consul (sp?) in Pittsburgh and had some connection with securing steel needed by England during the War which earned him a medal of some kind (can't remember whether it was an O.B.E. or something that sounded similar to that). He was a metallurgist (which I found even more interesting after reading about how mining occupations were part of his ancestry) by training, and I'm told went to Cambridge--as did at least one of his brothers.
It is generally believed that MEEHANITE METAL resulted from research � work done on reducing the annealing time of BLACK HEART MALLEABLE IRON. This did not shorten the annealing time but did result in MEEHANITE METAL wich was produced consistently. The process for producing this metal was patented in 1922 and was called MEEHANITE after Gus Meehan who had discovered this technique. This happened in Chattanooga, Tennessee, U.S.A. However during the 1920�s another man by the name of Oliver Smalley, a distinguished graduate of Sheffield University, was also doing similar research work on cast irons in Britain. Oliver Smalley was invited to join the Ross-Meehan Company to develop other physical properties of Meehanite not covered by the original G A range and also set up precise control processes which were needed in order to achieve the desired strength and properties in the Meehanite Irons
Meehanite was introduced into South Africa in the mid 1930�s and we have in our records a signed document to this effect by Mr Oliver Smalley. We also have an agreement of one of our first licensees, namely (Thomas Begbie) Thos. Begbie & Co. (PTY) Ltd dating back to 22nd November 1939. Thos. Begbie have retained their ties with Meehanite to the present time even though it is only through an Associate Licensee basis as they are mainly producers of Copper Castings. If we refer once again to 1939 we find another South African link with the U.S.A Meehanite Organisationin that another very distinguished graduate of Sheffield University was employed by the original Meehanite Company. This was our very good friend Bill Moore who was going to join his father Arthur Moore in Standard Brass, Benoni, after having gained some experience with Meehanite in the U.S.A. He eventually opted to stay in the U.S.A after serving Meehanite for some three years in India and he ultimately became President of Meehanite world wide. In the late 1940�s George Leslie Lewis (also a friend of Bill Moore) took control of Meehanite in S.A. Mr Lewis ran the company very well until he sold the operation to Adrian Lionel Gray on 15th December 1975. Mr Gray sold the S.A. Meehanite operation to Walter Desond Wiggill in November 1984
Oliver used to visit my Dad whenever he would visit my grandmother, May SMALLEY, in Canada. He used to tickle me and I remember I didn't like it one bit, because I couldn't stop laughing and it hurt. When I was around 14 I spent a couple of weeks where he lived, in Larchmont, New York. It was a big old stone house and he lived in a grand style. His home was filled with original oil paintings, cases of jade, two fireplaces in the L shaped living room, and winding staircases, both from the front hall and the kitchen leading to the back bedrooms and servants rooms above it. He even had a walk-in closet, designed as a safe. Needless to say, as a 14 year-old girl, I was impressed, especially with his huge yacht (I think it was called that) and the Westchester Country Club (one of the most privileged in the U.S.), where he took me for an absolutely extravagant meal and fireworks (it was the 4th of July) afterward.
Oliver, in spite of his great wealth, was not generous I'm told. For instance, he didn't leave his nieces and nephews more than a token amount of money--saying he had no evidence they would use it well. But that was really beside the point, since Oliver outlived most of them, marrying a smart-looking woman who took care of him till he was well into his nineties. Most of his money went to her and to a scholarship fund and an addition to a college library.
He walked everywhere, drove an old Ford and had two Rolls Royce cars in his garage, neither of which he seemed to drive. What I remember most about Oliver was that he told me there wasn't really any difference between the rich and the poor. One had money so it didn't count for much; he could enjoy the things he wanted to do. The poor had no money, so it didn't count for so much; they determined to enjoy the things they could do. Those in the middle, he said, were the worriers. Then he told me to always remember that people who value money too much aren't happy. Rich or poor, it was what you appreciated about the life and the people around you that counted for everything worth counting. I think Oliver, having spent most of his childhood seeing so many people come into the Nagshead Tavern, where he had lived, developed a common sense that kept him from getting swelled up with his own success; I liked that about him. As you probably gather, Uncle Oliver was the only one of William SMALLEY and Mary STEVENSON''S children I knew at all. I guess whatever I discover about them after-the-fact will be a great deal. Such diversity within one family is of great fascination!
Info from Heather Parsons
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