Arthur Tomkins: Arthur Tomkins, who has died at the age of 104, was the doyen of the patent and trade mark profession in Ireland. Among the highlights of his life was his election as first president of the Association of Registered Patent Agents when he was already 67, followed by his annual re-election by his colleagues up to his retirement when he was 82.
For a further 21 years he continued to follow the affairs of the profession and to attend the annual dinner of the association, now called the Association of Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys.
He was born in London on Midsummer Day in 1900. On turning 18, he became a private in the British Army, but had not seen active service by the time the Armistice was declared and he was demobbed.
He acquired engineering and drawing skills over several years before he happened, by chance, to hear of a job in a patent agent's office in 1922. Within four years he had completed the examinations for qualification.
However, it was not until his horse "Black Prince" came third in an office sweepstake on the Derby in 1928 that he could afford the fees to join the Chartered Institute and be recognised as a chartered patent agent.
Again, it was luck that brought him to Ireland. The Irish Patents Office had opened in 1927 and a number of British-based firms of patent agents had set up Dublin offices in order to carry on practice here. However, the law was changed in 1929 to require that a patent agent must be resident in the Free State.
The manager of one of the Dublin offices was seeking a qualified person to live here. Arthur Tomkins was working for a US company in London, but in the slump conditions of 1930 he was looking for opportunities elsewhere, perhaps in New Zealand or Australia.
By then he had a wife and two young children. He decided to take a chance in Ireland, provided that he could make the firm his own. In that he was indeed successful.
He brought a fine combination of skills to his professional work. He had a natural ability in analysing the patent and trade mark laws.
He was a practical engineer and would frequently make "Meccano" models of new inventions that were brought to him, in order to be sure that he and the inventor agreed on how the machinery would work. He did his own mechanical drawings and drafted the descriptions of inventions in meticulous English.
He also had a good grounding in both German and French from his schooldays, and he used this ability to develop professional contacts in Continental Europe.
His interest in language also served him very well in handling the protection of trade marks. He amassed a formidable collection of case-law from which he would select the most pertinent decisions by memory.
He had a formidable reputation for his pugnacious style during hearings at the Patents Office. Yet he retained most cordial relations with successive controllers of that office.
He contributed vigorously to discussion about the new patent and trade mark laws introduced in 1963/64.
He was a sole practitioner for 40 years, helped by loyal staff members who worked together in a family atmosphere.
The profession in Ireland remained small until the 1960s. Then, in keeping with the economic progress of the country, the interest in intellectual property started to grow and young people became qualified.
The Tomkins firm, like others, trained and recruited a professional team.
The Association of Registered Patent Agents, which had existed for many years, was formalised in 1967 and Arthur Tomkins was elected its president. One of his first duties was to welcome visiting British delegates from the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, in which he himself had originally earned his own qualifications.
For 15 successive years he presided over the Irish association as its numbers grew and the range of technical and legal skills of its members expanded in a way that could not have been imagined back in 1930.
Not long after his retirement in 1982, his beloved wife Lucy died. They had met at school in 1915 and had been happily married for 60 years. He continued to live in his own home until he suffered a fall, just two weeks before his 104th birthday.
He is succeeded by his son John, his daughter Margaret, and his daughter-in-law Nora. Sadly, his grandson Alan died while still a child.
Arthur Bellamy Tomkins: born June 24th, 1900; died July 7th, 2004.