Professor R C Coates, father of Civil

Engineering at Nottingham; a

biographical note

Professor Stephen F Brown

i

The Author

Stephen Brown is Emeritus Professor of Civil Engineering at the University

of Nottingham, where he worked for a total of 45 years including his time as

an undergraduate. He also worked as a specialist consultant in pavement

engineering. Steve retired from the University in 2005 and from his

consulting work in 2015. During his University career he served a four year

term as the University’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor responsible for Research,

Industry and Commerce (1994 to 1998), was Dean of Engineering (1992 to 1994) and

Head of Civil Engineering (1989 to 1994 and 1999 to 2003). Following graduation from

Nottingham in 1960, he spent three years in industry before returning to Nottingham in

1963 as a Research Assistant, then joining the academic staff in 1965. He was promoted

to a personal Chair in 1983. Steve is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and

of the Institution of Civil Engineers and was a Director of Scott Wilson Pavement

Engineering Ltd, a specialist consulting firm associated with the University, from its

foundation in 1985 until 2006. He was awarded an OBE in 2005 for services to road

engineering. Steve has written several notes recording the developments and history of

engineering at Nottingham. He studied under Rex Coates (1957 to 1960) and,

subsequently, worked under his guidance (1963 to 1982) for a total of 22 years

[esfbun@btinternet.com].

Other historical notes by the Author

Engineering at Nottingham: a fifty-three year personal reflection, April 2010.

Looking back: the life and times of the University of Nottingham Engineering Graduates

Association, 1957 – 1972, 2016.

Fifty years of pavement research at Nottingham: a service to the asphalt industry,

Asphalt Professional, No. 9, 2004, pp 16-19.

Nottingham Asphalt Research Consortium: a successful academia-industry link, Asphalt

Professional, No. 16, 2005, pp 5-7.

Pavement design at the University of Nottingham, (with P S Pell), The Motorway

Achievement, Ed. Bridle and Porter, Thomas Telford, 2002, pp 281-286.

ii

Preface

I first met Rex Coates when I visited the University of Nottingham for interview in 1956

while in the sixth form at Pembroke Grammar School. The decision to study civil

engineering at Nottingham was seriously influenced by a school friend who was three

years my senior and then a final year tutee of Rex. He was doing very well academically

so I arrived for the interview from what Rex would have described as “a good stable”.

Equally, my friend strongly recommended Nottingham and spoke highly of his tutor. I do

not remember much about the interview, except that Rex was friendly and encouraging

and, shortly after returning home, I received an offer of a place to start in the 1957-58

session.

I was delighted to find on my arrival that I was to be one of Rex’s tutees in my first

year. This tutorial group was unique in that one of its three members was the first girl to

study civil engineering at Nottingham; Anna Brooking, later Moon. When we all returned

to University for our second term, in January 1958, we noticed that Dr Coates had

become Professor Coates and there was much uninformed student chatter as to what

this meant. In fact, over the Christmas vacation, Rex had not only been promoted to a

chair at the age of 37 but had also been made head of the newly independent

Department of Civil Engineering. Up until that date, civil and mechanical engineering had

been essentially a single department but Rex had, for some time, been given a degree of

autonomy in leading the civil engineering elements under the formal headship of

Professor J A (Joe) Pope who was a mechanical engineer.

As an undergraduate, I very much enjoyed the courses which Rex taught. In the first

year my exposure was limited to surveying, which included the long standing annual

‘Survey Camp’ held at Llangollen and at which we learned a great deal. In the second

and third years it was structural engineering, theory and design, Rex’s specialist subjects

that I took to. I found him a delightful and often amusing lecturer who loved the use of

words and appeared to us as mildly eccentric. He had a reputation from before my time

of locking the lecture room door sharply at 9am, for lectures starting at that early hour,

to teach tardy students the importance of punctuality. In my final year, I prepared a

dictionary of engineering students’ jargon along with a mechanical engineering friend

and we published it in the Engineering Graduates’ Association Newsletter. Amongst the

terms included were “Nabla, parenthetical, fortuitous, mandatory, bona fide, ab initio,

ditto repito and esoteric” all of which were, we stated, “Used at random to show extreme

culture (Coates)”. In addition, from time to time, he used an unidentifiable Greek symbol

in his structural analysis which he referred to as “Squigma”. I found Rex sufficiently

entertaining to persuade three or four of my mechanical engineering friends, who were

not taught by him, to join me in attending his inaugural lecture. This was rather spoiled

by the projectionist getting Rex’s slides in a muddle, which incurred his wrath as this

was an important public event and it also revealed another side to his character.

Rex failed to convince me that I should stay on in 1960 after graduation to do a PhD,

though the idea that I may be capable of this was very encouraging. We parted on good

terms as I explained that my immediate requirement was to work in the construction

industry for a while before making up my mind whether I should do research. In the

event it all worked well as, in 1963, shortly after I was married and in my third job since

graduation working for consultants in London, I received a letter from Rex which started,

“Dear Brown”. He was always very formal with his juniors until they earned the right to

be called by their Christian names. I accepted his invitation to apply for a Senior

Research Assistant position supported by a Shell research contract to which I was duly

appointed following interview. Thus started my long career at the University which lasted

for 42 years, 19 of which were under Rex’s leadership as my Head of Department. For

iii

nine years I was Head of Department myself and very conscious that Rex Coates and his

successor, Professor Peter Pell, were hard acts to follow. They had, Rex in particular,

established a very successful department both in the strength of its undergraduate

course and in research based on principles which I was able to rely on and develop. My

personal DSc degree was the first awarded for civil engineering at Nottingham and

coincided with Rex’s retirement in 1982. He was typically very kind in comments he

made at the large farewell party which I organised to celebrate his huge contribution to

the University and to our profession and to those of us who were privileged to work with

him.

Stephen Brown, 2017

1

Introduction

Reginald Charles Coates was a distinguished civil engineer and academic who studied

and taught for most of his career at the University of Nottingham and rose professionally

to serve as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers and as Deputy Vice Chancellor

of the University. He completed his education before the Second World War and then

served in the Army before returning to start his professional training and subsequent

career at the University. He was heavily involved in planning the facilities which allowed

a big expansion in engineering student numbers during the 1960s, having been

appointed as the first Professor of Civil Engineering in 1958. He served as Head of

Department for 24 years and took early retirement in 1982, going on to work in the

same capacity at the Technical University of Papua New Guinea for a three years. In his

later life, he suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and died on 22nd November 2004 aged

84. Rex Coates, as he was known to his friends, was appreciated by many generations of

civil engineering students for his excellent teaching of structural engineering and his

leadership of a Department with very good facilities and high academic standards. He

encouraged his staff in their research activities and in developing links with industry to

ensure its relevance to the real world. His legacy was clear when the department

secured an ‘outstanding’ grade in the first external assessment of university research,

carried out in 1986, and in the high demand for Nottingham graduates by the

construction industry.

Early years

Rex was born on 28th June 1920 in New Mills, Derbyshire, the son of a policeman and the

grandson of a coal merchant’s clerk. He gained entry to the local grammar school where

he met Sheila Sharrad, whom he later married. They both passed their School Certificate

examinations in 1936 and Rex won a County Minor Scholarship, which allowed him to

transfer to the Herbert Strutt School in Belper. Here he studied for his Higher School

Certificate which he passed in 1937. The Headmaster wrote of him during his final year,

“He has considerable ability, is a good worker and is steady and consistent. He has the

virtues of thoroughness and reliability. His personality is modest, quiet and dignified. He

is very pleasant, but I imagine he can be firm if need be. His appearance is much in his

favour and his speech and manners are distinctly pleasing”. Those who knew him as an

adult would easily recognise these attributes. The Headmaster went on to state that he

was good at physical activities, played cricket well, was an athlete and a possible Victor

Ludorum for that year. His contemporary school report showed rather more modest

achievement as he had found the standards high following his transfer from New Mills.

His best subjects were physics and chemistry with marks of 74 and 60% respectively,

while his mathematics result was only 40%. He also studied English, which was

interesting, given his reputation as something of a wordsmith in later life. However, at

52%, this was still ‘work-in-progress’.

On leaving school, Rex was appointed as an articled pupil to Waude Thompson, the

Borough Engineer and Surveyor for Mansfield, which cost his father £70 a year for three

years. Thompson gave Rex good advice as he recalled some years later,

“I had never thought I could ever get to University. But the Borough Engineer, Waude

Thompson, was unusual for such a small borough. He was sufficiently forward-looking to

believe people should have a degree, even at that time. He encouraged me to take

evening and weekend classes at University College, Nottingham. I then got a scholarship

and went there full-time to get my degree”.

While studying part-time, he worked on a variety of projects gaining experience in road

and bridge construction and repair, slum clearance, housing construction and sewage

2

Headmaster’s testimonial and school report, 1937

disposal. After two years, in 1939, he passed the intermediate degree examinations in

engineering and was admitted to University College Nottingham as a full time student.

He completed his further studies gaining a second class honours degree in civil

engineering in 1941. He was one of only six graduates in civil and mechanical

engineering that year. His degree was an external London University one as Nottingham

did not gain its university charter until 1948. In his final year, Rex was chairman of the

student engineering society, an organisation which he strongly supported when he later

became a member of the academic staff.

Rex’s course-work files from his undergraduate days (1939-41), when he studied full-

time for Parts 1 and 2 of the civil engineering degree, have survived. They are

immaculately presented and entirely written in fountain pen including all the diagrams

and experimental results. It would appear that the students had to carry out extensive

project work involving descriptive reports, theoretical calculations and experiments.

While it is not clear whether the collection is complete, it seems that he specialised in

the theory and design of structures, strength of materials and fluid mechanics, all of

which were studied for parts 1 and 2 of the course. These files clearly indicate work of

first class standard outstandingly presented. In this context, it is surprising that he only

received a second class degree.

It is worth noting the formal description of the engineering courses at that time,

“Systematic training in the scientific principles underlying Civil, Mechanical and Electrical

Engineering. Courses designed to provide a solid foundation of engineering science on

which works experience can subsequently be built to complete the necessary equipment

of a professional engineer......training in principles is coordinated throughout the courses

with practical work in the laboratories, workshops, boiler-house and power station."

3

This background strongly

informed the philosophy he

adopted when he came to

teach and lead academic

developments at the

University and to take a very

important leadership role in

the Institution of Civil

Engineers before, during and

for a few years after his time

as President in 1978-79.

Following graduation, Rex was

appointed as an Assistant

Engineer with the contractors

Lehane, Mackenzie and Shand

on a factory being constructed

at Darley Dale in Derbyshire.

This provided him with further

valuable practical experience

including reinforced concrete,

steel and brickwork

construction. He also used his

surveying expertise for

setting-out purposes and had

the experience of interacting

with sub-contractors.

In 1942, shortly after his

marriage to Sheila Sharrad,

Rex joined the army for war

service with the Royal

Engineers as a Second

Lieutenant in North Africa, Italy and Austria, where he was responsible for the operation

and maintenance of earth moving equipment used for the construction of roads, bridges,

ports, airfields and open cast coal sites. He was away for three and a half years during

which,

“I learned a great deal about handling mechanical plant, and a great deal more about

handling men”.

He was appointed as a Staff Captain in 1945 and, at the end of that year, was

demobilised under a special release scheme at the request of Mansfield Corporation with

whom he resumed civilian work. However, after a year he took up the position of

Lecturer in Civil and Mechanical Engineering in his alma mater, University College,

Nottingham, on 21st October 1946. Earlier that year he had been elected as an Associate

Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, which, in those days, meant that he had

qualified as a Chartered Engineer. He was also elected to the Institution of Municipal and

County Engineers, as it was then known, shortly afterwards, presumably on the basis of

his practical experience with Mansfield Corporation. Later, in 1948, two years into his

University career, he was also elected as an Associate Member of the Institution of

Mechanical Engineers.

On joining the University College, he was one of only three members of staff in what was

effectively a combined department of civil and mechanical engineering. The Head of

Typical page from a design exercise by Rex as a student in 1940

Typical page from a design exercise by Rex as a student in

1940

4

Department and Professor of Engineering at that time

was Charles Bulleid, who had provided strong

leadership in civil, mechanical and electrical

engineering since his appointment in 1912. Electrical

became a separate department when the College

moved from the City centre to Highfields Park in

1932, leaving Bulleid to lead civil and mechanical

engineering, which moved two years later. These

departments occupied buildings which had been used

as the contactors’ offices during construction of the

main new university building, the Trent Building,

which opened in 1928. The departments remained in

that location until the early 1960s, when the large

expansion in provision for science and engineering,

that Rex was much involved in planning, became

available.

Rex’s initial appointment was in civil and mechanical

engineering but he was keen to ensure that his talents

were used for civil engineering so, when a vacancy

occurred, within a year of his arrival, specifically in his discipline, he applied and was

appointed. He was to remain in academic life for almost his entire career at Nottingham,

where his appointment ended with his slightly premature retirement after 36 years’

service on 31st August 1982 at the age of 62.

A professional academic career

Rex was essentially a leader, teacher and manager, although he did make some

significant contributions to research in the early part of his career. With such a small

staff in the 1940’s and 50s, there was much to do in order to ensure that the

undergraduate course thrived. Facilities for research were very limited and

postgraduates extremely thin on the ground. Nonetheless, he focussed on his personal

research towards a PhD in parallel with his teaching duties and it was awarded in 1953,

seven years after his appointment. By this time, Professor J A Pope had been appointed

(in 1949) as Head of Department, the University had been granted its Charter (in 1948),

departmental staff numbers had grown from three to five and student numbers had

roughly doubled. Rex’s PhD thesis was concerned with the fatigue strength of coiled

springs and, since Pope’s principal research interest was in metal fatigue, he must have

received some useful guidance from his new colleague and mentor.

In his eleven years at Nottingham, Joe Pope made a very significant contribution to the

development of engineering at the University, through academic leadership, planning

and supervising of new state-of-the art buildings for research and teaching and in

evolving strong links with industry. He later became Vice-Chancellor of Aston University

after a period in industrial research and development and was awarded a knighthood.

At the time of Pope’s appointment (1949), engineering at the University was regarded as

the poor relation to arts and education studies. Indeed, Tolly1 records that Professor

Robert Peers, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Adult Education, welcomed

Pope to his first Senate meeting by expressing the opinion that the University should not

be teaching Engineering. Joe Pope had to work hard to change this perception although

he was supported by Bertrand Hallward, the new Vice-Chancellor and by Government

1 B H Tolley, “The history of the University of Nottingham”, Nottingham University Press, 2001

Rex as a lecturer

(Engineering Society

photograph 1948-49)

5

policy, which was providing financial support to the expansion of engineering studies for

the National good.

As part of his marketing of engineering within the University, Pope delivered the annual

address to University Convocation in 1958 and it is clear from a report published in the

Newsletter that the audience was somewhat sceptical about his theme of ‘Technology

and the Universities’ and by what he had to say on the subject. For his part, he used the

opportunity to explain the role of engineers in society and to make a very strong case for

educating and training more of them as the Government required. There was concern

expressed about the prospect of engineering students making up a larger proportion of

the total in years to come.

Pope strongly supported Rex’s successful case for promotion to Senior Lecturer in 1953.

His reference provided a good description of Rex’s personality, achievement and

reputation at that time, when he was 33 years of age. Pope noted that Rex had been

unofficially in charge of the Civil Engineering Department under his direction and had

consequently carried an abnormally heavy administrative load. “In spite of this his

research activity has been considerable” and he has “shown himself in every respect an

excellent leader. He has a sympathetic disposition and quiet manner which at once wins

respect and confidence….He is a very able teacher, well-liked by both students and

staff”. Pope went on to summarise that, “Mr Coates has both a good practical and

theoretical understanding of engineering science, a combination which is rare, and is

academically an outstanding young man”.

Rex was promoted to Nottingham’s first Chair in Civil Engineering in January 1958 and to

the headship of the newly independent department. The independence was apparent

physically by the move from the old engineering building to the adjacent single storey

Cherry Tree Buildings, colloquially known as the ‘Cow Sheds’. Rex’s case for the chair

was strongly supported by two well-known external referees, Professor W T Marshall of

Glasgow University and Professor W Fisher Cassie at Newcastle, which at that time was

still formally a College of the University of Durham. Both knew the department well

having acted as external examiners.

Rex (right) and Joe Pope taken in 1949Joe Pope and Rex (Engineering Society photograph

1949-50)

6

Marshall commented on the high standard of the undergraduate course and considered

that, “…a lot of credit for this must go to Dr Coates. The teaching is well organised,

especially the laboratory work and the field courses in surveying. The examination

papers are of a very high standard and the work done by the students matches this. The

research work in the Department covers a wide field and is being very well carried out”.

Fisher Cassie was particularly impressed by the undergraduates’ final year projects. He

commented that, “One of the features of the work of this Department…..has been the

excellent theses submitted for the Honours degree. Many of these would have needed

very little amplification in order to fare well if submitted for an MSc degree”. He also

commented very favourably on the Department’s research activity stating that, “…. it

has also been consistently of a high standard”. Referring to Rex’s personal qualities,

Fisher Cassie continued, “As a person, Dr Coates is pleasant, mixes well and is evidently

on good terms with his students and with the more junior members of his staff”.

Once the University decided, in 1957, to increase the provision for engineering and had

attracted the necessary Government funding, Rex became much involved in the planning

and delivery of buildings and students, working under the leadership of Joe Pope. Pope

had already done much preparatory work by the time that the formal communication

came from Government confirming financial support for these significant developments.

He was appointed chairman of the advisory committee set up by the University to

oversee the building developments, a position taken on by Rex in 1960, following Pope’s

departure, until work was complete in 1965.

The Civil Engineering Department moved into its new quarters in 1962. They formed part

of the main staff rooms and teaching building, known for many years by the architect’s

nomenclature of “T2”. “T1”, located adjacent to it and opened two years earlier, provided

lecturing and laboratory accommodation for the common engineering first year course.

This formed a strong part of Pope’s philosophy but became increasingly diluted as

student numbers in engineering expanded in the 1970s and the common core of subjects

tended towards only mathematics. It was not until 1991, that the University decided to

drop the T1, T2 nomenclature and name these two buildings very appropriately and

respectively after Professors Pope and Coates.

Rex in 1958 after his appointment as Professor and Head of Department

and the ‘Cow sheds’ where his new department was located (University of

Nottingham)

7

The large open space at the entrance to the Coates building, which now houses a café,

was originally used as an exhibition hall. Rex must have been instrumental in acquiring

the very large painting which occupies one wall and commemorates the works of Thomas

Telford (1757-1834). Telford is widely regarded as the father of civil engineering and

was appointed as the first President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1820. He

served a term of 14 years. Rex became the 114th President in 1978 serving for what had

become the customary one year. The painting was commissioned by the Institution for

an exhibition, in 1957, to commemorate the bicentenary of Telford’s birth. It measures

7.3 x 3.5m and the artist was Leonard Rosoman. In the exhibition brochure, the painting

is listed as “Romantic Landscape, incorporating a number of Telford’s works”. It was

clearly a very suitable item to decorate what was effectively the entrance to a new

building when it opened in 1962. The minutes of the Institution’s Council meeting on 27th

March 1958 recorded, “It was reported that the Rosoman painting had been sold to the

University of Nottingham for £100”. This was a remarkably good buy and one with which

Rex must have been involved in his capacity as a member of the University’s advisory

committee for the new engineering buildings.

The old engineering building (top left) and the Cherry Tree Buildings with

the Students’ Union Portland Building in the foreground (University of

Nottingham)

The new Civil Engineering Department occupied the bottom right hand end of the

Cherry Tree Buildings from 1958 to 1962.

8

The Coates Building opened in 1962 and Leonard Rosoman’s ‘Romantic

Landscape’ tribute to Thomas Telford with the artist at work in 1957

Naming of the Pope and Coates Buildings, 3rd December 1991

Top picture left to right: Professors Stephen Brown, Peter Pell, Rex Coates, Sir

Joseph Pope, Geoffrey Warburton, Brian Clayton. Lower picture: The Vice

Chancellor, Professor Sir Colin Campbell and Rex listening to the Dean,

Professor Mike Owen

9

Relieved of the necessary focus on establishing his newly independent department in

spacious accommodation for teaching and research, Rex was able to focus on its

development. To appreciate how civil engineering expanded at Nottingham, it is

informative to note that there were only three staff and 48 students when Rex was

appointed in 1946. By 1958, when the department achieved its independence, the

numbers had risen to six and 60, and then to 18 and 63 on moving to the new premises

in 1962. In 1982 when Rex retired the figures had expanded to 18 academic staff,

supported by the same number of technicians and five secretaries. There were then 190

undergraduates and 28 post-graduates. The bare facts of Rex Coates’ academic career

from 1962 onwards include a three year period as Dean of the Faculty (1963-67), a

similar period as Deputy Vice-Chancellor (1966-69) and numerous appointments to

University and outside committees not just involved with civil engineering. He also acted

as external examiner to almost all the other civil engineering departments in the country

at one time or another. Very few chairs in his subject were filled around the country

without his advice having been sought in one way or another. He was also consulted

extensively about senior appointments at Commonwealth Universities.

His professional standing increased with his election to the grade of Fellow of the

Institution of Civil Engineers in 1960 and to the Institution of Structural Engineers in

1966. His major recognition came in 1978 with his election to the Fellowship of

Engineering, now the Royal Academy of Engineering. He was also elected, in 1977, as a

member of the Smeatonian Society of Civil Engineers a distinguished organisation

founded in 1771 by John Smeaton who was the first person to describe himself as a

‘Civil’ as opposed to a ‘Military’ engineer.

Some 1,200 students graduated in civil engineering over the 36 years of Rex’s career at

Nottingham, most of whom will have some particular reason to thank him for his

dedication to establishing, developing and maintaining a challenging and successful

degree course which will have helped launch their careers. In earlier days, the course

focused on the traditional basic civil engineering fundamentals through courses in

structural engineering, including design, fluid mechanics and strength and properties of

materials together with surveying. When staff numbers allowed, the newer discipline of

soil mechanics was added and this included elements of highway engineering. Following

the move to new accommodation and further growth in student and staff numbers,

Nottingham was amongst the first to introduce pavement engineering, management

studies and traffic engineering. These and other more specialist final year options

increasingly reflected the research areas that members of staff were involved in.

Good links with industry had always been a feature of engineering at Nottingham. Joe

Pope strongly supported this activity and in the 1950s started to run short courses for

local engineers in specialist subjects. The motivation for industrial involvement with the

departments was to keep the courses relevant to the needs of industry and to attract

funding for research of a practical applied nature. This would balance that from

government research grants and studentships, which supported more fundamental,

long-term ‘Blue Skies’ research. The industrial links also lead to opportunities for

specialist consulting work for academic staff. This, in turn, improved research and helped

with the introduction of practical applications into undergraduate courses.

Thus, towards the end of Rex’s time at Nottingham, the department had started to

achieve a reputation for ‘entrepreneurial’ activities which included specialist testing

services for industry and an expansion in short courses as well as research contracts.

This approach to enriching the research and learning activities in the department was

expanded and taken forward strongly by Professors Peter Pell and Stephen Brown

through the 1980s and 1990s when they, in turn, succeeded Rex as Heads of

10

Department. The introduction of MSc courses was also linked to this approach involving

industrial lecturers working with academic staff and also the facility for part-time study

by agreement with employers. The income generated from these entrepreneurial

activities allowed Rex to provide financial support to his staff for research and travel to

conferences so as to expand their horizons. Later, when external government

assessment of departmental research quality was introduced, the wisdom of Rex’s policy

was seen to have been far-sighted as the Department was rated as ‘outstanding’ in the

first round of scrutiny in 1986 and had high ratings in subsequent Research Assessment

Exercises. These were introduced by Government to provide a quantitative means for

calculating the research element of the central grant distributed by the Higher Education

Funding Council. The ability to attract research income and facilitate strong practical

links with industry while maintaining a high level of scholarship were all contributory

factors to the high rating of the Civil Engineering department.

As Rex became increasingly involved with the activities of the Institution of Civil

Engineers, particularly on the education and training side, he introduced the concept of

‘engineering advisors’ for his students in Nottingham. It involved linking each tutorial

group in the first year to a locally-based civil engineer, who acted as an industrial tutor

for each of the students throughout their degree course. Nottingham was the first

University to introduce such a scheme which, while not involving a big commitment of

time, nonetheless gave students the opportunity to learn a little of what life in the real

construction industry was about. It also allowed discussions about future careers and

provided a source of realistic design problems used in group design projects. The outside

engineers joined academic staff in supervising the projects and acting as ‘consultants’ to

the student groups.

Rex with his academic colleagues in 1969

Back Row left to right: Kew Kong, Steve Brown, Martin Coutie, Graham Cullingford,

Gwyn Davies, Ted Fish, Ray Wood, John Redfern (laboratory steward). Front Row:

Vidal Ashkenazi, Louis Ackroyd, Don McKay, Rex, Cyril Snell, Francis Reiband, Brian

Mayfield

11

Although Rex did not travel extensively overseas, he did develop strong links in Hong

Kong through his interests in the effects of wind loading on tall structures. He

established a staff exchange scheme with the University of Hong Kong in 1971, which

operated for four years and allowed valuable overseas experience to be gained by

members of his staff and their exchange partners from Hong Kong. He also served as

external examiner to the University from 1973 and to the University of Trinidad and the

National University of Ireland.

Rex’s period of service as Deputy Vice-Chancellor to Professor Fred Dainton coincided

with the student troubles of the 1960s. Although the effects were rather milder at

Nottingham than at many other places, they were disruptive. Rex referred to this period

as ‘the Cultural Revolution’ and his appointment as ‘Deputy Dawg’. A sense of humour

was rather useful at that time.

During this period, Rex was instrumental in the University buying the steel frame of an

old RAF hanger, which was re-erected to form the Sports Centre building that opened on

the Campus in 1970. In addition to its main purpose, this large covered area was used

for examinations and, when fitted with a brightly lit stage and decked with flowers, it

became the auditorium for graduation ceremonies until it was demolished in 2015 to

make way for the £40m David Ross Sports Village.

The opportunity to acquire the steel structure came from a research student in Rex’s

Department, Brian Littlechild, who was much involved with the students’ Athletic Union.

He heard about the availability of the structure at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire through a

well-connected girl-friend and got Rex interested in it. As it was due to be auctioned,

time was of the essence so Rex managed to persuade the University to bid for it without

going through all the usual committees for approval. It was delivered to the campus and

stored under some tarpaulins near Nightingale Hall on Beeston Lane until all the

formalities had been completed, funds raised and approval given to build the new

facility.

The Sports Centre structure before and after re-erection at the University

(S Roberts and University)

Rex was a very good operator of committees, both as Chairman and as a member. He

served on a large number of the University’s key committees, including Senate, Council,

Finance, Estates and Buildings, Research, Higher Degrees and Publications and many

more. As a chairman, he always arrived early and was well prepared having carefully

studied all the relevant papers and was always clear about what the outcome of the

meeting should be before it started, which it always did spot on time. His talents in this

field were used outside the University when he served on many of the Institution of Civil

Engineers’ Committees, the Sheffield Regional Hospital Board and the Nottingham Area

12

Health Authority. His appointment to the Hospital Board was at the request of the Vice

Chancellor, who in preparation for the start of the University’s Medical School, wanted

someone acting as a sort of ‘fifth column’ to try and understand what manner of

organisation the University would soon have to work with. He found the Healthy Service

world incredibly complex and did not think anyone in his right mind would ever invent it,

if starting from scratch.

Rex also assisted the Cement and Concrete Association through his service on their

Training and Consultative Committee and their Structures Research Committee. The

Transport and Road Research Laboratory used his advice on their Highway Engineering

Research Board and he was chairman, for a time, of the Construction Industry Research

and Information Association’s Research Committee. He also served on the Construction

and Housing Research Advisory Council of the Department of the Environment. All these

outside connections were extremely useful to Rex and his colleagues in keeping closely

in touch with the profession they were a part of.

His interest in language attracted him to join the English Language Book Society, which

was part of the Ministry of Overseas Development and sponsored by the British Council.

It was concerned principally with the sale of cheap text books to the developing world.

While Rex did not have a major international reputation for his research, he was

instrumental in supporting and encouraging colleagues to pursue their own ideas and

assisted them in applications for external funding and industrial links. This lead to very

strong teams in Pavement and Geotechnical Engineering and in Surveying and Geodesy,

which secured leading international positions in these niche markets. The surveying

group, under Professor Vidal Ashkenazi and with Rex’s strong support, was awarded the

status of a University Research Institute collaborating with the Departments of

Geography and of Mining Engineering. Rex’s particular interests were in Structural

Engineering while smaller groups in Transport Research, Construction Management and

Hydraulics emerged during his tenure.

Rex took a strong interest in precast and pre-stressed concrete as well as the design of

skew bridges for motorways. The early development of the CLASP system for the design

of buildings intended for areas affected by mining subsidence was an interest in the

1950s. Nottinghamshire County Council were part of the local authority consortium that

introduced this concept. It was used mainly for schools and other local government

funded building projects. Rex undertook some model testing of the articulated structural

systems that formed the basis for this approach that allowed the buildings to

accommodate the passage of a mining subsidence ‘wave’ without incurring damage.

Later commercial testing of joints and other components was carried out in the large

structures testing laboratory that formed a part of the post 1962 facilities of his

department.

He also took an interest in wind effects on buildings and secured funding for a low speed

wind tunnel as part of the new laboratory developments. This was used by him with the

assistance of younger colleagues to carry out model tests to provide information that

assisted with the design of various important projects. These included a study of the

position and height of fencing for the M62 trans-Pennine motorway to impede the

development of snow drifts on the carriageway and the appropriate height for the

University’s boiler house chimney to avoid contamination of the upper floors of the

nearby tower block which was to accommodate the Department of Architecture. Similar

work was conducted for developments at the University of Kent at Canterbury.

Although Rex did not publish a large number of technical papers during his career, he

achieved a major success in collaboration with two colleagues, Martin Coutie and Kew

13

Kong with the publication, in 1972, of the text book, ‘Structural analysis’. This was very

well received and went to three editions, the third of which was reprinted several times

and the book was still selling in 2002. A review by the Ove Arup Foundation of the

teaching of structural analysis in 2008 revealed that the book had received the largest

number of citations in its field.

Both the co-authors were impressed by the leadership that Rex provided in getting this

substantial book written. Martin Coutie recalls how Rex would consider ideas from his co-

authors and, “ponder the suggestions, sucking the corner of his handkerchief”. Deadlines

were set and had to be met so that much of the writing was done in the small hours of

the morning. Rex never had a cross word for his colleagues’ efforts but would make

careful and sensible suggestions as to how wording might be improved. Kew Kong recalls

that,”…to me every progress meeting with Prof was a tutorial on how to speak and write

English effectively”.

The Institution of Civil Engineers

During the 1970s the Institution of Civil Engineers took an increasing amount of Rex’s

time leading up to his election as the 114th President of this distinguished body for 1978-

79, during which year he took sabbatical leave from the University for the only time in

his career.

Rex had been elected to the Council of the Institution in 1967 and as a Vice-President in

1975. Over the period leading up to his presidency, he worked very hard on education

and training issues in particular. Following proposals made by a committee set up in

1973 under the leadership of Dr (later Sir) Henry Chilver for reorganising the

Institution’s education and training requirements, a ‘Chilver Implementation Board’ was

established under Rex’s chairmanship and their work later continued by the Education

and Training Committee which he also lead. He strongly supported the increase in

academic levels required by Chilver and also the improvements to the monitoring of

professional training that were required. The changes were quite radical and caused

heated debate within the profession generally and within the Institution in particular. Rex

dealt robustly but fairly with contrary views and showed a very positive attitude to the

implementation of the new rules which he saw as a blueprint for the future of the

profession.

In order to ensure that undergraduate courses not only covered the necessary subjects

at the appropriate level but were also well organised and generally met the academic

and professional requirements set out in the Chilver Report, a ‘Joint Board of Moderators’

(the JBM) was established. Rex became its chairman in 1979, following his term of office

as President, and continued to lead it until 1983. He, thus, had the opportunity to ensure

that it fulfilled its purpose and appropriate procedures and standards were developed. Its

members were drawn from academia and various parts of the profession and it acted not

only for the Institution of Civil Engineers but also for the Institutions of Structural and of

Municipal Engineers. Other bodies joined later. The role was to periodically visit each

University Department that conducted a relevant course, which the University wished to

have accredited. This meant that its degree would qualify as being suitable to form part

of the student engineer’s training which, when combined with practical experience,

would lead to the designation of ‘Chartered Engineer’. Such visits continue to this day

and involve the submission of documentation ahead of the visit by two or three members

of the ‘JBM’.

Rex’s considerable achievement with the JBM was well described by a fellow member,

who recalled, “…there were innate suspicions amongst some academics about allowing

14

non academics to exercise judgment upon their activities. It was due to his (Rex’s)

powers of gentle persuasion that these concerns were resolved”.

In an interview with the New Civil Engineer magazine as he assumed the Presidency in

November 1978, he expressed concern that the quality of students applying to study

civil engineering was lower than other professions enjoyed but was more concerned

about communication ability saying that, “...we’re not successful in attracting people

who are capable of getting their ideas across, either spoken or written. Very often the

worst ones are the ones with greatest technical skills. The science stream in schools is so

specialised that there is no opportunity to broaden understanding…..I would welcome a

wider secondary school curriculum. This would mean four-year degree courses…”. This,

indeed came about in the form of the MEng qualification but not for the reasons he had

identified. He also championed the idea of an earlier introduction to management

concepts and to the study of a European language. Following all this work, the Chilver

recommendations were implemented in 1985 by which time Rex had moved on to his

‘post-retirement’ job as head of civil engineering at the Technological University of Papua

New Guinea.

Rex as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, 1978-79

Left: Cover of the New Civil Engineer as Rex assumed office. Upper right; a group

of guests at the Institution for the inaugural Mobile International Lecture.

Lower right: Rex with (from left to right) his colleague Professor Peter Pell,

Professor Carl Monismith, University of California at Berkeley and Maurice Akeroyd,

Mobil Oil

15

Rex also chaired two other important Institution committees, that dealing with

membership and what he regarded as one of his most important responsibilities, that of

the committee charged with finding a new Secretary for the organisation, prior to the

then incumbent, Garth Watson, retiring in 1979. He considered that the new secretary

would need a clear mind, considerable courage and the ability to articulate, to control

and manage his staff, to inspire, to communicate with the members and to suffer fools

gladly. Ideally he should have experience of working in the corridors of Westminster and

Whitehall and bring some political knowledge and contacts with him.

In his Presidential Address, delivered at the Institution of Civil Engineers on 7th

November 1978, Rex set out his philosophy for the education and training of civil

engineers, based on his experience at, “the educational coal face for thirty years and

more”. He noted that, “Educational topics at any level can cause violent controversy, a

frictional interaction normally producing heat without illumination…”.

He noted that the only previous Presidents with higher education experience of any

length had been Dr William Unwin in 1911, Sir Charles Inglis in 1941 and Professor

Sutton Pippard in 1958. He clearly subscribed to the Inglis philosophy noting that the

difficulty with tertiary education, “…lies in differentiating….between trees of interesting

and particular detail, and woods of fundamental principle”. Subjects included in the

curriculum should be there because they give the student, “…the opportunity of acquiring

those particular forms of knowledge which, if not acquired then, probably never will be

acquired”. He also subscribed to the thoughts of Dr Arnold of Rugby School, who said, “I

am increasingly convinced that it is not knowledge, but the means of gaining knowledge

that I have to teach”. Rex added that education should be a process whereby the

student is given an understanding of fundamental principles which will permit him (or

her) to cope with unexpected situations.

Reflecting on a typical academic staff member, Rex considered that in future, “He will

conform no longer to some obscure semi-celibate conventions stemming from a

monastic foundation and, regretfully, with one or two notable exceptions is unlikely to be

(quoting Beloc), ‘Compact of ancient tales and port and sleep, and learning of a sort’”.

Generally nowadays he will be found to be passionately interested in his subject and

either its practical implications or research associated with it, and devotedly concerned

about the welfare and progress of a group of undergraduates”. Clearly he had not, at

that time, anticipated the appointment of female members of staff.

Speculating about the future for degree courses, he recognised the increasing

importance of ‘electronic computation’ and its ability to be applied to numerical analysis,

concluding that as a consequence, “…much of the teaching of classical mathematics can

be disregarded”. He considered that this would allow more time to be spent on the real

behaviour of materials rather than on the mathematical devices that may or may not

lead to a better understanding of their behaviour. These views probably explain the

differences of opinion that Rex had from time to time with the Department of Theoretical

Mechanics, which was set up at Nottingham within the Engineering Faculty to teach

mathematics to engineering students. In private, he referred to them as the ‘Welsh

Department’, based on the number of their senior staff from the Principality. Rex’s

suspicion of research that was too theoretical was revealed when the writer reported

that he was in conversation with colleagues in Cambridge about a joint research project

in soil mechanics which would involve novel experimental work in Nottingham and

theoretical modelling in Cambridge. Rex commented that he hoped that we would not

simply be data collectors for the ‘Cambridge fundamentalists’.

He regretted the decreased student time available for drawing or even sketching but

welcomed the increased importance of project-based work. On the spread of pocket

16

calculator use by students in the late 1970s, he had some words of warning concerning

the move away from the slide rule, using which, “One developed a feeling for the

position of the decimal point,..”, whereas the student, “…has come to regard the

calculation as being of greater importance than the problem of which it is only a part,

and of greater significance than the properties of the materials or the measured facts

with which he must grapple”.

Rex expounded eloquently on his enthusiasm for the English to develop improved foreign

language skills so that, “…some real effort should be made to break down the linguistic

isolation in which the Englishman particularly seems to take a perverse and stubborn

pride, and which he has seen traditionally as a ‘moat defensive’ like the Channel”. He

was not interested in, “..the history of Provençal troubadors and other esoterikos but

merely that the average engineer should be capable in a reasonably fluent way of

conversing with a fellow professional from another country,…”. These remarks were

consistent with his desire to see a broader education for engineers while at school.

In his presidential address, Rex also set out his ideas for research at Universities. He

noted that external financial support from Government Research Councils for longer term

research into new ideas combined with industrial support for answers to more pressing

problems presented a balanced approach. He considered that the best framework was

for research groups encompassing, “..academics with particular qualifications built up

over the years, young research workers with backgrounds of experience in industry…with

their associated technicians, and young graduates taking advantage of a research

studentship to undergo training in research methods…The group need not be particularly

large, and, to be effective would possibly lie in the range 6–20 ‘in toto’, but it provides

an opportunity for mutual stimulus”. He went on to point out that such research groups,

“….are essentially the nuclei round which the best post-graduate courses may be

planned“. While noting that there appeared to be only a limited market for such full-time

courses, there was a real need, “… for short courses on particular topics and of limited

duration…”.

Unsurprisingly, these comments were clearly based on the pattern already developed at

Nottingham by the more successful research groups in civil engineering under Rex’s

overall leadership.

It is clear that Rex’s involvement with the Institution’s affairs at an important time was

greatly appreciated by those with whom he worked. A fellow member of Council reported

that, “He was a very efficient, hard-working and highly respected President who handled

the affairs of the Institution in a highly competent manner. It is, therefore, surprising

that he did not receive any ‘honour’ at that time”. Indeed he did not receive one later

either, which many felt difficult to understand. A future President recalled him as, “…a

gentle, quiet spoken man who listened to the argument, a good chairman and an

effective President”. His predecessor used the words, ‘unfailing courtesy and kindness’

about Rex. He also recalled Rex’s role in establishing the Queen’s Jubilee Scholarship

Trust (QUEST) to help bright deserving cases for financial assistance with their tertiary

education and an initiative to encourage young engineers to visit schools to improve

understanding of the work of the engineer. Another colleague on Council, who later

served as President, said that, “He was outstanding in the contribution and commitment

that he made to the Institution policy towards education and training…He had that

special ability to encourage and motivate his colleagues in achieving a common

objective”. A fellow academic on Council recalled his, “…calm, measured demeanour and

gentlemanly courtesy of manner in discussion, argument and debate”.

17

Rex the man

Rex was always helpful and friendly but never really close to his staff. He had a certain

air of authority about him but generally allowed others to give their opinions before he

reached a decision. He set high standards and was hugely supportive of colleagues

whom he considered were doing good work. This ran to financial support, particularly for

those attracting income to the Department through their own efforts. “He that grindeth

out the corn” was a favourite expression when identifying those he considered worthy of

his backing. His advice about promotion was always sound, although some people

thought that he could have pushed their cases sooner than he did. He preferred,

however, to ensure that the case was convincing before letting it go forward. There was

never any question of a case proceeding without his support. The staff learned that his

judgement in these matters was sound and appreciated that his standards were high.

The academic staff who served under Rex’s leadership very much appreciated his

approach, which involved strong encouragement to pursue their own research ideas and

to develop appropriate undergraduate courses. One described him as, “…an exceptional

leader and outstanding Head of Department. He was very competent, wise, supportive

and friendly and inspired loyalty”. He was also regarded as a, “…very kind, considerate

and caring man..”.

Two colleagues who were appointed on the same day to lectureships were very

impressed by the time and trouble that Rex took in talking to them and showing them

round the University and the Department prior to their interviews. Following his

appointment, one recalled Rex telling him, “My first names are Reginald Charles, I like

neither, perhaps you would just call me Rex!”

Another thought that, “…he had the strength to be kind, the wisdom to be understanding

and the trustworthiness to inspire confidence” and also that he was, “…a kind,

understanding and inspiring man”.

Rex and his wife Sheila were regarded as excellent hosts and were very knowledgeable

about good food and wine, though visitors to their home were never sure whether Rex

was actually the chef or just the ‘director of operations’. Nonetheless, his entry in ‘Who’s

Who”, reported his hobbies to be ‘Cooking and Idling’. The latter term he normally used

when asked why he had stayed in Nottingham for most of his career. The truth was that

the University appreciated his work and, as a consequence, promotion came along at the

right times to persuade him to stay.

Rex made up his mind about people quite quickly and, usually, accurately. He would

report back in conversation on someone he had recently met describing him as, “a good

man that” or, alternatively, “boots a bit full of feet” or, again, might advise, “Give them

all assistance short of help”.

Rex’s facility as an occasionally eccentric wordsmith is well illustrated in the following

extract from an after-dinner speech that he delivered at the University in July 1979 on

the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Department’s Pavement Research Group. This

was about half way through his term as President of the Institution of Civil Engineers.

“My Departmental colleagues will know this is the first occasion on which I have spoken

in the University this year. They could be forgiven for thinking me a figment of their

imagination – a far too substantial figment for my own taste but, nonetheless, a being

without any real existence or personality.

I think they can be forgiven. They have seen nothing of me during the past academic

session but a back view – gained as I speed down the corridor anxious only to be

18

somewhere else. And they have not realised, therefore, that I am now a schizophrenic

personality with two disconnected components, in one of which I move in an ethereal

atmosphere - one of such rarity that breathing becomes attenuated and there is a

floating sensation behind my eyeballs.

This, my public self, conceals a much more solid, a more real me. You may recall- and I

would forgive you if you did not, for it was only a nine day wonder – that - some years

ago fishermen – busily minding their own business which was plainly fishing, in the

neighbourhood of Madagascar, dredged up a peculiar fish – a coelacanth - which was

thought to be long extinct – a relic of a long and possibly even distinguished line which

had outlived its usefulness and shown itself totally unfitted to survive. But, surprisingly –

it did

‘Full many a gem of purest ray serene,

The deep unfathomed caves of oceans bear’

Now I am a living fossil myself and, as you might expect, have a memory to prove it,

stretching back to that period which the mind of normal man knoweth not.

Some 33 years ago I joined the staff of what was then called University College,

Nottingham. I believe that I am the only remaining member of that small group who is

still employed by the University which it became in 1948. During my period of service

here I have seen many changes – all of which have made it larger, and some of which

have even made it better. Oh what a story I could tell if this was the right place and I

only had the time – but I must confine myself to the bare essentials”.

He then proceeded to describe the origins of research in pavement engineering at

Nottingham and the people involved.

In addition to the high regard in which Rex

was held by his University colleagues, he

was much admired by those in the industry

with whom he worked, particularly within the

Institution of Civil Engineers. A fellow

professor and Member of Council recalled,

“...his calm, measured demeanour and

gentlemanly courtesy of manner in

discussion, argument and debate”. Another

remembered him, “…as a gentle, quiet

spoken man who listened to the argument, a

good chairman and an effective President”.

His predecessor as President commented on

his, “unfailing courtesy and kindness” and

said that he, “…spoke as he wrote, clearly,

succinctly and charitably”.

An annual lecture was inaugurated on the

12th November 1982 to mark Rex Coates’

time at Nottingham. The first annual ‘Coates

Lecture’ was delivered by the man who had

preceded him as President of the Institution

of Civil Engineers, Sir Alan Muir Wood. This

event continues with a distinguished member

of the profession speaking to students, staff

and visitors with a view to enthusing the young and informing the older, based on their

Rex speaking at the 25th

anniversary dinner for his

Department’s Pavement Research

Group, 25th July 1979

19

wide experience. The idea came from a conversation between Professors Stephen Brown

and Alan Dodson when driving home together one evening.

The first lecture was marked by a noisy interruption. As Professor Peter Pell introduced

the lecturer, anti-apartheid demonstrators burst through the door thinking that the event

was for a South African Mining Company recruiting graduates. They were in an adjacent

room. The incursion was repelled by some staff in the front row who had played rugby in

their time! A group of research assistants and students, largely working in surveying and

pavement engineering, produced a satirical newsletter at irregular intervals in the

1980’s. Their account of the incident makes interesting and amusing reading.

Traditionally, the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers presents his or her

portrait to be hung with predecessors in the Institution building. Rex’s University

colleagues agreed that this should be financed by the Department of Civil Engineering

and the finished painting was presented to Rex in Nottingham prior to its journey on to

London. Many of his colleagues were worried that the likeness was less than accurate or

flattering. Rex, however, seemed very pleased with it and said that it represented the

face that he shaved every morning.

Rex’s visitors at the University were greatly

appreciative of the welcome they received.

This was facilitated not only by his pleasant

manner but also by the glass of sherry which

was always offered prior to repairing to the

University Club for lunch. Rex kept a loose-

leaf notebook in which he made notes on all

his visitors after their departure. These

included any details he had gleaned about

their families as well as the subject of the

meeting. He would then consult these records

before any subsequent visit so he was well briefed to make them feel welcome.

Immediately following his retirement in 1982, Rex caught everyone by surprise when he

was appointed as head of civil engineering at the Technological University of Papua New

Guinea, a position he held for three years. One of his colleagues thought he might have

Rex unveiling his portrait by Alexander

Goudie on 22nd October 1979

Coverage of the 1st Coates

Lecture by the satirical magazine,

Rat and Svengali.

This is an anagram on Salt and

Vinegar, a technique widely used by

the editors.

20

done this, “…in a fit of missionary zeal”. His appointment arose as a result of him acting

as an external advisor to the University when the post was advertised. An offer was

made to the preferred candidate who withdrew at a late stage and Rex offered to take

his place. He did a very good job in building the department in PNG under difficult

circumstances. In a letter to a colleague he reported, ”I took over temporarily on 15th

Oct, as actg V.C., & had a strike on Mon 18th! I addressed the mob, & said ‘No work-no

money’ with the result that all were back at 2.0pm……The essential differences between

the situation here & in the UK in the cultural revolution were the extent of the support

(almost unanimous here) & the good humour & kindness of it all.”

Rex’s retirement party at Cripps Hall on 26th June 1982 and one of the gifts

from his colleagues

Rex and Sheila at East Midlands Airport in 1982 en route for three

years in Papua New Guinea

21

Family life

Rex and his wife, Sheila were a very close couple and she gave him tremendous support

throughout his career, which allowed him to achieve so much professionally. They had

three children. Peter, born in 1948, was also a civil engineer working in local

government, rising to the position of Deputy County Surveyor for Northumberland. Jo

(1956) was a Learning Mentor who married and lives in Ashbourne, the Derbyshire town

where Rex’s father and grandfather had lived. The third child, Michael (1959) is a wildlife

crime officer with Derbyshire police, the same profession as Rex’s father. At the time of

writing (2017), in addition to the three children, Rex’s direct descendants also include six

grandchildren and the same number of great grandchildren.

Rex’s home life provided relaxation, although he normally needed a plan for the day

which might include shopping, cooking, doing crosswords, which he much enjoyed, or

walking. His children reflected that, “He derived much pleasure from simple things – the

first taste of a decent bottle of wine, a perfectly cooked rum baba, a newly invented

spoonerism or a riotous Tom & Jerry cartoon”.

Family holidays were taken regularly at Nefyn on the Lleyn Peninsular in North Wales

from the late 1950s and involved a degree of dangerous drama one year when Rex

managed to blow up a methylated spirits stove on the beach. Fortunately, he escaped

with only minor burns from this incident and no injuries from exploding a full bottle of

wine while attempting to open it with a pneumatic device on another occasion.

In 1970, Rex and Sheila bought a holiday home in Nefyn, where they lived for a while

after returning from Papua New Guinea in 1985. Sheila died of stomach cancer on 3rd

November 1988 at the age of 68 by which time they had returned to the Nottingham

area. Rex was badly affected by his wife’s death and started to experience dementia. He

moved to sheltered accommodation in Ashbourne and, as his condition deteriorated and

Alzheimer’s disease was diagnosed, he was transferred elsewhere but remained

physically quite fit until his death in 2004.

Rex’s legacy

The University of Nottingham and the civil engineering profession continue to benefit

from initiatives that Rex took during his professional life, which was devoted to the

University and to the Institution of Civil Engineers. He spent a total of 38 years at the

University, two as an undergraduate and 36 as a member of the academic staff, for 24 of

which he was a professor and Head of Department.

His legacy within the profession remains the education and training requirements needed

to become a Chartered Civil Engineer, following implementation of the Chilver Report’s

recommendations in the 1980s. These include both the quality and content of

undergraduate courses, assessed by the Joint Board of Moderators, and the professional

training requirements in practical design and construction for young engineers, generally

overseen by a senior colleague; the Supervising Civil Engineer.

At the University, his status has been recognised physically through naming of the

Coates Building that houses much of the Faculty of Engineering and through the adjacent

Coates Road and Coates Road Auditorium. His strong support for high quality research

and links with industry are apparent in the buildings which now house the Nottingham

Transportation Research Centre and the Nottingham Geospacial Institute. The former

evolved from the strong links developed through working closely with Shell, following

award of a research contract on the fatigue characteristics of asphalt in 1954 which Rex

supervised. His support for the work of Professors Peter Pell and Stephen Brown allowed

research in the unusual field of pavement engineering to expand significantly and led to

22

the construction of a purpose-designed laboratory building opened in 2001; the

Pavement Research Building. Rex’s interest in and support for work in surveying was

taken on strongly by Professor Vidal Ashkenazi and, later, by Professors Alan Dodson

and Terry Moore. In 1988, a new building was constructed to house the Institute for

Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy and in 2011, this team linked up with

colleagues working on geospacial science to form the Nottingham Geospacial Institute in

a new building located on the Jubilee Campus, formerly the location of the Raleigh cycle

factory.

These investments by the University in support of strong research teams would not have

been possible without the forward thinking of Rex Coates and the support he gave during

the early years of research in two unusual fields of civil engineering.

More generally, Rex’s legacy is the Department of Civil Engineering with 28 academic

staff, which continues to thrive, recruiting about 110 undergraduates each year for

either the BEng or MEng degree course. These courses have been repeatedly and

successfully accredited by the Joint Board of Moderators, ever since it was established in

1976. The department’s courses are the only ones in a civil engineering department that

are also accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. Rex once reflected

that when he was first appointed as a lecturer in 1946 he was the only civil engineer on

the staff and was, effectively, the embryonic department of civil engineering. “Great

oaks from little acorns…”.

Main entrance to the Coates

Building, 2017

Coates Road Auditorium,

opened 2007

23

Acknowledgements

I am extremely grateful to a number of people who have helped me in putting together

this short biography of Rex Coates. In obtaining historical information about Rex’s time

at the University from various archives, I am indebted to the very helpful staff of the

University’s Manuscripts and Special Collections department where Rex’s own documents

will be saved. Carol Morgan, archivist at the Institution of Civil Engineers also helped by

unearthing useful information about Rex as did Rosemary Bagley from the University’s

HR records.

I promised Rex’s family that I would write something about him at the time of his death

in 2004 and, rather embarrassingly, I only got round to it in 2017. I have apologised and

thank them for reviewing the draft versions of this note and providing helpful comments

and memories of their father as a family man. I am pleased that they approve of the

finished article. Hence, my thanks to Rex’s children, Peter and Michael Coates and their

sister Jo Dunn.

Many former colleagues from the University and senior members of the Institution of

Civil Engineers shared with me their memories of Rex. In this connection, I should like

particularly to thank Gwynne Davies, the late Martin Coutie, Ron Jones and Kew Kong.

I am also indebted to Rex himself for leaving, in the Civil Engineering Department, his

very impressive set of undergraduate course work dating from 1940 and 1941. He also

left those of us with whom he worked, fond, interesting, useful and amusing memories.

These, together with his sage advice, many of us have been able to draw on in creating

a description of him as a man and colleague, which I hope is accurate.

Stephen Brown

The tool of his trade; Rex’s slide rule

24

R C Coates: technical publications

“The graphical solution of axially loaded beams”, Engineering, vol. 169, 1950, p720.

“Solving beam problems by relaxation methods”, Engineering, vol. 172, 1951, p456.

“The development of a high speed spring testing machine”, The coil spring journal, 1951. (with J A Pope).

“Fixed-end moments in beams with linear haunches”, Engineering, vol. 174, 1952. (with B Mayfield).

“Structural analysis by models”, Civil Engineering, vol. 47, 1952. (with P S Pell and N E

Thompson).

“Influence lines for support moments in continuous beams”, Engineering, vol. 174, 1952.

“Fatigue tests on helical compression springs”, Coil Spring Journal, No 36, 1954, p54.

“Extruded bar springs – some fatigue tests on small heat treated springs”, Civil Eng. and

Public Wks Review, Vol 34, 1954, p10. (with C Harris).

“A consideration of the stress analysis of ring structures”, Civil Eng. and Public Wks Review,1955.

“The fatigue testing of compression-type coil springs” Int. Conf. on the fatigue of metals, 1956. (with J A Pope).

“The use of gypsum plaster as a structural model material”, Civil Eng. and Public Wks Review, Vol 52, No 617, 1957. (with J A N Lee).

“Tests on struts in the elastic and plastic ranges”, Engineering, Vol 185, No 4793, 1958.

(with K B Ayers).

“The fatigue properties of bituminous road mixes”, Shell Research, 1959. (with R R Gardner, P F McCarthy and P S Pell).

“Basic approaches to structural analysis”, Nature, Vol 191, No 4794, 1961.

“Wind tunnel tests on a proposed motorway”, Civil Eng. and Public Wks Review, Vol 62, 1967.

“Structural analysis”, Thomas Nelson, 1972. (with F K Kong and M G Coutie).

“Presidential address 1978”, Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Part 1, Vol 66, 1979, pp1-15.

PhD thesis

“The fatigue strength of coil springs with particular reference to the effect of surface irregularities and residual stresses”, University of Nottingham, 1953.

25

Coates Lectures

This plaque and photograph were on display in the Civil Engineering Committee

Room for many years together with a collection of Coates Lecturers’

photographs

Year Name Organisation Lecture Title

1982 Sir Alan Muir Wood Halcrow & Partners,

President of ICE, 1977-

78

Education and Training for Moles

1983 Sir Alan Harris Harris & Sutherland Predicament and Reality: Hangers at

Heathrow

1984 Dr D G King-Hele Royal Aircraft

Establishment

Geophysical Researches from

Satellite Orbits

1985 Sir William Francis Chairman – Black

Country Development

Corporation

The Construction Industry – The Way

Ahead

1987 Tony Gaffney West Yorkshire CC. Past

President of ICE and IHT

Highwaymen through the ages

1988 David Lee Maunsell & Partners.

Past President, IStructE

Practice Makes Perfect…….. nearly

1989 Colin Kirkland Eurotunnel The Channel Tunnel Project and your

Career

1990 Dr John Prideaux Intercity Intercity – Profit through Quality

1991 Dr John Uff QC Barrister Construction and the Law

1992 Sir Edmund Hambly Consultant. ICE

President

Oil rigs dance to Newton’s tune

1992 Peter Rice Ove Arup & Partners Cancelled – ill-health

1993 Dr Sam Thorburn Thorburn plc Common Sense in a World of Risk

26

1994 Ted Chaplin Tarmac Construction Adventure and Risk

1995 Bill Alexander Thames Water Utilities Civil Engineering in the Water

Industry

1996 Dr James Armstrong Formerly Building Design

Partnership. Past

President, IStructE

Creativity, Contribution &

Recognition, What ought an Engineer

to do?

1997 Dr Robert Mair Geotechnical Consulting

Group

Tunnelling under Cities – Successes

and Failures

1998 Mark Whitby Whitby, Bird & Partners Engineering Engineering

1999 Ian Liddell Buro Happold Millenium Dome

2000 Dr Chris Fleming Halcrow Group Coastal Engineering in the New

Millennium

2001 Michael Casebourne Secretary General (Chief

Executive) – Institution

of Civil Engineers

Engineering – Anything but Civil

2002 Professor Vivian Ramsey, QC Barrister Engineers, liability and the law – who

is to blame when things go wrong

2003 Andrew McNaughton Balfour Beatty Achieving tomorrow through the

challenges of today

2004 Dr Brian Simpson Ove Arup & Partners Ltd Tunnelling into London

2006 Mrs Jean Venables Crane Environmental.

President of ICE 2008-09

Flood risk management in the

Thames Estuary: Past, Present and

Future

2007 Professor Sir Martin Sweeting Chief Executive, Surrey

Satellite Technology

Changing the economics of space –

small satellites and Galileo

2008 Professor Andrew McNaughton Network Rail Creating the 2030 Railway

2009 Professor Chris Wise Expedition Engineering Infinity Rising

2010 Jane Smallman Managing Director of HR

Wallingford

How we use hydraulics to solve real

life engineering problems

2011 Quentin Leiper Group Chief Engineer

Carillion, President of ICE

2006-07

The Values of Engineering Knowledge

2012 Professor John Burland Imperial College A tale of two towers

2013 Barry Colford FETA Long Span Bridges: design and

maintenance

2014 Andrew Ridley-Barker Vinci Construction The world is changing are you ready

2015 Shaun McCarthy Action Sustainability Sustainable London 2012- Myth or

reality

2017 Chris Lawrence RSSB 3 billion’s a crowd! GB Rail’s

Technology Challenge