William Henry Thomas
William Henry Thomas (1834-1901)
1901 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM HENRY THOMAS was born in Camberwell, London, on 8th June 1834.
He was educated at Sherborne School, and King's College, London.
After some work in Russia under the late Mr. F. T. Turner, he became a pupil of the late Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Fowler in 1853.
From 1857 to 1870 he was chief assistant to Mr. Turner, taking sole charge of all the work in which he was engaged; this included the Herne Bay and Faversham Railway, the Sevenoaks line, the London Chatham and Dover Railway from Strood to London, and other lines.
On the retirement of Mr. Turner, he began to practise on his own account, being appointed engineer to the Cornwall Minerals Railway.
He also carried out the Manx Northern Railway in 1877, and during the next few years laid out several lines in various parts of the country.
During later years he was employed in widening the River Ouse and making locks at Wisbech and at Dartford, and also in laying out many light railways in the south of England and the Midlands.
The ironwork for the Custom House warehouses at Valparaiso, in which 25,000 tons was used, was designed by him; and on the Manx Northern Railway the locomotives, carriages, and wagons were all carried out from his designs. Altogether between 500 and 600 miles of line were personally laid out by him.
He contributed to this Institution two Papers on Barton and West's Water Pressure-Reducer and Piston Water-Meter.
His death took place, after a short illness, at Belvedere, Kent, on 24th October 1901, in his sixty-eighth year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1874.
1902 Obituary [2]