Alan Ford was born in April 1906, the son of former NEIMME President Mark Ford. In 1930 he gave a paper on machine mining that gained him an Institute Students Prize. In the same year he gained a second class Managers Certificate and a first classs certificate the following year. Afer working as an overman at Horden Colliery he was manager at various Priestman Collieries including Axwell Park and Watergate. After nationalisation he was an area agent in Durham for Hylton, Ryhope and Wearmouth collieries and then a production manager. He was President of the Institute from 1952-54.
Ford, A.L. Presidential address: Review of presidential addresses and comments on power generation and utilization of coal Transactions – Institution of Mining Engineers 112 1952-53, 467-481
Ford, A.L. Machine mining in faulted ground Transactions – Institution of Mining Engineers 80 1930-31, 83-101
