Thomas Percival Wilmshurst
Thomas Percival Wilmshurst (1869-1950)
Borough Electrical Engineer, Halifax.
1951 Obituary.[1]
Thomas Percival Wilmshurst, M.B.E., was born at Retford on the 9th April, 1869, and died at Budleigh Salterton on the 27th October, 1950. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Retford, and articled to Sir Charles Bright, who laid the first Atlantic cable. After two years' experience with the Taunton Electric Lighting Co., he was appointed, in 1887, Chief Assistant to the Exeter Electric Lighting Co., and became Chief Engineer and Manager of that Company in the following year. In 1893 he was appointed Borough Electrical Engineer, Halifax, and in 1898 he became Borough Electrical Engineer, Derby, where he remained for 28 years.
He was a pioneer in the use of pulverized fuel in generating stations. In 1924 he accepted a tender for the equipment of a new boiler house at Derby designed for pulverized-fuel firing— the first in this country—and he displayed great foresight and courage in this pioneering venture in a line of development which is now of almost universal application. He was also one of the early pioneers in the distribution of electricity by overhead lines and, later, when he was an Electricity Commissioner, he did much to extend the use of such lines.
He was appointed an Electricity Commissioner in 1926. In that capacity he served the electricity supply industry with considerable distinction during a period of great activity and rapid expansion. He took a leading part in the long deliberations on the revision of the Electricity Supply Regulations. He represented the industry on several Government committees, and his relations with the Ministry of Transport, the Government Department which at that time dealt with overhead line inquiries and consents, were always harmonious. He retired in 1935 and moved to Budleigh Salterton, where he died at the age of 81.
T. P. W. was one of the nicest and kindest of men, and was always tolerant and patient. His advice and help to many of the young engineers was greatly valued and appreciated. Municipal and company engineers seeking his help on overhead line or other distribution problems always left Savoy Court with the comfortable thought that T. P. W. was there to help them extend the supply of electricity as widely as possible on safe but economic lines.
He joined The Institution as a Student in 1886 and was elected an Associate in 1890 and a Member in 1898. He served as Chairman of the East Midland Sub-Centre, 1921-22. His paper on "The Commercial Aspect of Electric Cooking and Heating" was published in the Journal in 1913. He was also a Past President of the Incorporated Municipal Electrical Association and a Past Chairman of the Derby Society of Engineers. He was made an M.B.E. in 1920.