Leather Industries at Leeds: Prof. D. McCandlish

Abstract

PROF. DOUGLAS MCCANDLISH, who is retiring from the chair of leather industries in the University of Leeds, was a student in the Department under the late Prof. H. R. Procter. After the award of his M.Sc. degree he became chief chemist in the well-known upper-leather tannery of A. F. Gallun and Sons in Milwaukee, U.S.A. Returning to Great Britain in 1919, he was appointed to the chair at Leeds. Prof. McCandlish's researches have ranged widely within the field of leather technology, on chrome tanning, measurement of pH value, the atmospheric deterioration of leather, the molecular structure of collagen in relation to the vegetable-tanning process, and various aspects of the analysis of tannins and leather ; he edited the handbook on quantitative tannin analysis for the British Section of the International Society of Leather Trades’ Chemists. During the Second World War he was active in overcoming shortages of essential materials. Prof. McCandlish has been president of the International Society of Leather Trades’ Chemists, and was its treasurer for about twenty-seven years, up to its dissolution in 1947. He was president during 1926-27 of the British Section (now the Society of Leather Trades’ Chemists), and his counsel, always available, has been a great stabilizing influence in the Society. He has been a co-opted member of council of the British Leather Manufacturers’ Research Association since its inception in 1920, and chairman of the advisory committee on leather subjects of the City and Guilds of London Institute for more than twenty years. He has also played his part in the social and civic life of Leeds.