Edgar Purnell Hooley (5 June 1860 – 26 January 1942) was a Welsh inventor. After inventing tarmac in 1902, he founded Tar Macadam Syndicate Ltd the following year and registered tarmac as a trademark. Following a merger in 2013 the business became Tarmac Limited, one of the United Kingdom's largest building materials companies.
Career
Born in Swansea, Hooley was articled as a civil engineer to the firm of James Craik in Bristol.
Hooley entered a business partnership with Francis Lean, as architects and surveyors at Neath, then in the county of Glamorgan, under the name of Lean and Hooley. The partnership was dissolved on 27 August 1881. Also in 1881, he became surveyor with Stow-on-the-Wold Highway Board and in 1884 he took up a similar position with the Maidstone Highway Board. Hooley applied for a patent for tarmac in 1902 (GB 7796), which was granted in 1903.
He called his company, which he registered in 1903, Tar Macadam (Purnell Hooley's Patent) Syndicate Limited, but unfortunately he had trouble selling his product as he was not an experienced businessman.
Hooley's company was bought out by the Wolverhampton MP, Sir Alfred Hickman, who was also the owner of a steelworks which produced large quantities of waste slag. then lieutenant on 23 June 1894, and captain on 23 December 1896.
He resigned this commission on 26 March 1902. On 7 October 1914, Hooley transferred from the Territorial Force Reserve to the 8th Battalion, of The Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment) with the rank of Quartermaster and Honorary Captain. He subsequently transferred back to the Territorial Force Reserve. On 29 October 1920, Hooley attained the age limit for retirement, and retired, retaining the rank of Quartermaster and Captain.
Hooley died at his home in Oxford, England in 1942.
Publications
The following is a list of known publications by Hooley.
- .(1896), Steam rolling; with discussion. Association of Municipal and County Engineers and Surveyors, Proceedings. Vol. 22, pp. 284–308. Surveyor, 17 July 1896
- .(1899), Notes on the Locomotives Act, 1898: with discussion. Association of Municipal and Sanitary Engineers and Surveyors, Proceedings. Vol. 25, pp. 84–103. Surveyor, 27 January 1899.
- Summary in Surveyor 5 July 1907.
- .(1908), Modern road management. International Roads Congress; Summarised in Municipal Journal, 16 Oct; Engineering Record, 7 November 1908.
See also
- Macadam