Rowland Bertrice Gentle

200 ATTEND FUNERAL OF FORMER TRAMWAY EMPLOYEE.

MORE than  200 people  attended the  funeral at Cornelian Bay cemetery on Saturday of Mr Rowland Bertrice Gentle, a former Hobart Tramways maintenance superintendent..

THE chief mourner was Mr Arthur Gentle (son) who also represented Spr. J. E. Gentle, A.I.F. and Sq-Ldr  E. Gentle, R.A.A.F. (sons).. . The service at the graveside was conducted by the Rev J. A. Cloudsdale..

Among the large and representative gathering were the secretary of the Hobart branch of the Australian Tramways Association (Mr J. H. Brown), Mr S. Hancox (a former manager of the Hobart Municipal Tramways), the manager of the tramways (Mr Murn), Mr J. Miller (Hydro Electric Commission),.

Photograph of MR GENTLE.

and Mr H. Jones (Social Services Department)..

Linesmen, employees, and members of the tramways staff formed a guard of honour at the cemetery..

The City Council was represented also..

Mr Gentle was born in 1881, at Armscott, Tredington, in the county of Worcester, England. His parents came to Australia in 1883, and entered the timber trade in the Coffs Harbour district of New South Wales..

In 1906 Mr Gentle was employed in the Christchurch (N.Z.) electric tramway system, and was one of the pioneers of overhead line construction in that city..

He was employed in a similar capacity installing overhead wiring for lighting and power, high tension transmission lines, tramway over-head construction, street arc and incandescent lamp erection with the New Zealand Electrical Construction Company, the Christchurch Tramway Board, the North Melbourne Electric Tramways and Lighting Company, the British Insulated and Helsby Cable Ltd (Adelaide), and the Municipal Tramways, Adelaide..

While employed by British Helsby Cables Ltd., Mr Gentle came to Hobart, and in 1915 was appointed superintendent of overhead lines construction in the maintenance branch of the Hobart Tramways..

Until 1929 when some of the larger British tramway systems adopted it, Hobart was the only tramway system in the British Empire and United States using the sliding bow collector for which equipment had to be made locally..

Mr Gentle's wide experience contributed very largely to freedom from interruption, and low costs of maintainance (sic) of the overhead lines in Hobart..

In 1936 when trolley buses were introduced to Hobart sliding shoe collectors were adopted. These were then not being used in any part of Britain or Australia, and much of the equipment was developed in Hobart. Mr Gentle again took a leading part in this work..

Mr Gentle retired almost two years ago..

Monday, 3 November 1947 (p.6), “The Mercury”, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia