Nationality British Name Henry Cronin | Died January 11, 1977 | |
Born 1894 Ketton, Rutland Institution memberships Institution of Civil Engineers | ||
Engineering discipline Civil Engineering | ||
Henry Francis Cronin CBE, MC, BSc (Eng) (1894–1977) was a British civil engineer and army officer.
Henry Francis Cronin was born in Ketton, Rutland in 1894. He studied engineering and was awarded a Bachelor of Science degree. Cronin served as a commissioned officer in the British Army during World War I. He was commissioned in September 1914 and was appointed to the rank of Temporary Lieutenant in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He transferred in the same rank to the Royal Engineers on 19 May 1917.
Whilst serving with the Royal Engineers, Cronin was awarded the Military Cross in 1918 for gallantry in battle at an unspecified location. He was ordered to follow behind an attacking infantry unit with a section of sappers and to assist with the construction of strongpoints to make the position more defendable. Cronin reached the front with his men and immediately began the construction of field defences despite being under extremely heavy enemy fire from a flank. This fire eventually became so heavy that he halted works and assisted the infantry with the mopping up of enemy resistance. In the course of this Cronin assaulted enemy positions and captured several prisoners of war. He then resumed construction of the defensive works. Cronin's actions were said, in his medal citation, to have "very greatly helped" the success of the attack.
After the War, Cronin rose to be Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Water Board.
He resumed his association with the military on 29 October 1943 when he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Engineer and Railway Staff Corps, an unpaid Territorial Army unit which provided technical expertise to the British Army. By this stage he was a professional member of both the Institution of Civil Engineers and the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. In 1944, he was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to Civil Defence. Cronin was promoted to Colonel in the corps on 6 September 1950. Cronin retired from the corps on 25 February 1957, receiving permission to retain the use of his rank. Cronin was elected president of the Institution of Civil Engineers in May 1952 for the November 1952 to November 1953 session. He became a fellow of Imperial College London in 1954. Cronin died in 1977.