Thomas P. Stratten

Thomas Price Stratten (born June 4, 1904) was a South African engineer. He went to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship, followed by two years at American General Electric. He returned to South Africa in 1929 to the position of assistant electrical engineer at De Beers Consolidated Mines. He took senior positions at Iscor, the Union Corporation and Escom. After a time spent in the Directorate of War Supplies,^[1] he went on to successfully expand SAPPI's operations^[2] and was president of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers during the 1940s.^[3]

Balliol College, Oxford

Thomas Price Stratten
Born	(1904-06-04)4 June 1904 Kimberley, Cape Colony
Nationality	South African
Education	University of Cape Town
Alma mater	Balliol College, Oxford
Spouse	Mary Adele Morris
Children	Peter, Thomas and Mary
Scientific career
Institutions	Iscor Eskom SAPPI Union Corporation

Education and career

Stratten was born in 1904 in Kimberley, Cape Colony. He completed a BSc (Engineering) at the University of Cape Town in 1923.^[4] He then went to Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship where he completed his MA (Engineering) at Balliol College.^[2][4] He worked for two years at American General Electric and then returned to South Africa in 1929 to the position of assistant electrical engineer at De Beers Consolidated Mines.^[4]

Steel Mill at Vanderbijlpark

From 1931 to 1935 he was appointed chief electrical engineer at Iscor. In 1935 he moved to the Union Corporation (UC).^[5] He was appointed to several senior positions during his time at UC, including Chairman of the Board of Kinross, Bracken, East Geduld, Grootvlei, Leslie and other gold mines. He was Managing Director from 1954^[6] and Chairman of UC from 1962 to 1972, after which time he retired.^[4][5]

During the Second World War, General Jan Smuts' government appointed Stratten Head of Technical Production of the Directorate of War Supplies.^[1]

In 1962 he was seconded to South African Pulp and Paper Industries Ltd (SAPPI), where he was instrumental in the successful expansion of their operations.^[4]

In 1963 he was seconded to the Electricity Supply Commission (Escom) (the predecessor of Eskom) where he stayed until 1969.^[7]

From 1 September 1964, Stratten was appointed to the National Finance Corporation^[8] (a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank from 1949 to 1984), to represent the mining industry.^[9]

Chamber of Mines Building, Johannesburg

Recognition, memberships, presentations

• Stratten was a member of the South African Institute of Electrical Engineers (SAIEE)^[4]
• He was an associate of the Scientific and Technical Society of South Africa.
• Stratten was a member of the first council of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in 1945.^[10]
• Stratten was a founding member of the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust.^[2]
• In 1964 he presented the Hendrik van der Bijl lecture at the South African Academy of Engineering, as a representative of the Chamber of Mines.^[11]
• In 1966 he was presented with an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of the Witwatersrand at special graduation ceremony celebrating the 80th anniversary of the City of Johannesburg and the 70th anniversary of the South African School of Mines (predecessor of the University of the Witwatersrand).^[12]
• The TP Stratten Primary school in Evander, Mpumalanga is named after him.

The Rand Club, Johannesburg

Personal life

Stratten married Mary Adele Morris in 1930 and they had three children, Peter, Thomas and Mary. He was a member of the Rand Club, The Johannesburg Country Club and The Royal Johannesburg Golf club and had a home in Westcliff, Johannesburg.

View to the north from the Westcliff hotel

See also

• South African Institute of Electrical Engineers