Albert Harry Unwin
Albert Harry Unwin (1862-1922)
1922 Obituary [1]
ALBERT HARRY UNWIN was born in Kent on the 23rd January, 1862, being descended from a very old English family.
He was educated at Dulwich and later served an apprenticeship with Messrs. John Penns, Ltd. (afterwards the Thames Iron Works).
On leaving that firm, realizing that electricity would be used for lighting in the future, he apprenticed himself to the Brush Electric Company, Loughborough, and it was during his subsequent employment by this Company that he was sent to the Argentine in 1888, where amongst his many enterprises may be mentioned the construction and running of the first electric works in La Plata, Montevideo, Tucuman and the Catalina Mole in Buenos Aires and Rosario, which have earned him a prominent place among the best-known electrical experts in Argentina.
At Rosario his latest achievement was the building of a new power station which was the only one of its kind in South America having a horse-power of 40 000. He was always amongst the most patriotic of his countrymen and during the war showed his patriotism in a most practical manner on every occasion. He occupied the presidency of the Rosario British Patriotic Society, was in the British secret service and was the founder of the Chamber of Commerce, for which he did most valuable work.
He visited England three times during the war and in 1919 retired to this country and was living at Totland Bay, Isle of Wight, at the time of his death, which took place suddenly on the 1st December, 1921, and which no doubt was caused partly by the strain of extra duties enforced upon himself by his extreme patriotism.
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1898.