Industrialist

Lewis was born at Burra, South Australia, and educated at St Peter's College and the South Australian School of Mines and Industries. Lewis was a fair student, but an excellent sportsman and later played football for the Norwood Football Club and for South Australia. He completed his studies in 1903 and took a position with the Broken Hill Propriety Company Ltd. (BHP) at the Broken Hill mines. In 1905 he moved to the BHP smelters at Port Pirie and was promoted to Assistant Manager by 1913, contributing to the expansion of production of ore from Iron Knob for BHP's newly established steel works at Newcastle, New South Wales. As a result of his success in this endeavour he was moved first to Newcastle to oversee production there, then to BHP's headquarters in Melbourne, working as unofficial assistant for BHP manager Guillaume Delprat.

In 1919 Lewis was appointed Assistant General Manager of BHP and the following year he travelled overseas to gather information about steel production in other countries. In 1921 Delprat stepped down and Lewis became General Manager. He overhauled BHP's operations to ensure that the company's steel was competitive with overseas imports.

After the outbreak of World War II, the Australian government realised that the assistance of private industry would be required for Australia to produce enough arms for the war effort. Lewis was made Director-General of Munitions to oversee all aspects of the manufacture of munitions in Australia. He also had authority over shipbuilding and the manufacture of aircraft. In 1943 Lewis was made a member of the Order of the Companion of Honour (CH) in recognition of his great contribution to the war effort. At the time, he was the first Australian other than a prime minister to be admitted to the order.

After the war Lewis was associated with several important industrial projects in South Australia - the establishment of the long-range weapons project at Salisbury and Woomera, the foundation of shipyards and steelworks at Whyalla and the production of the first all-Australian manufactured car, the Holden, in 1948. He was made Chairman of BHP in 1950; a position he gave up in 1952 believing a younger person should take his place. Lewis remained with BHP as Deputy-Chairman until his death.

1919-1921: Assistant General Manager of Broken Hill Propriety Company Ltd. (BHP)

1921-1926: General Manager of BHP

1926-1938: Managing Director of BHP

1938-1950: Chief General Manager of BHP

1940: Received the bronze medal of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

May 1940-May 1945: Director-General of Munitions

November 1941- May 1945: Director-General of Aircraft Productions

1942: Made honorary member of the American Institute of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers

1943: Awarded the Kernot Medal for distinguished service to engineering by the University of Melbourne

September 1943: Made member of the Order of the Companion of Honour (CH)

1950-July 1952: Chairman of BHP

July 1952-1961: Deputy-Chairman of BHP

Papers of the Lewis family, PRG 247

Turnbull, Clive. Essington Lewis, Melbourne : Oxford University Press, 1963

Australian Encyclopedia of Science: Essington Lewis