William Mathias Whayman
Engineer Rear-Admiral William Mathias Whayman (1871-1955)
1955 Obituary [1]
IT is with regret that we record the death of Engineer Rear-Admiral William Mathias Whayman, C.B., C.B.E., which occurred on Monday of last week.
Admiral Whayman, who retired from the Navy in 1927, was born in August, 1871, and after receiving his early education at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School at Rochester, became an engineering student at the Royal Naval Engineering College at Devonport Dockyard during the years 1886 to 1891.
During the next three years he took the advanced engineering course at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and then was appointed an assistant engineer on board the battleship H.M.S. "Royal Sovereign."
After serving two years in this ship he spent the next year as engineer officer in the H.M.S. "Grafton," and H.M.S. "Immortalite," and from 1897 to 1900 was engineer in charge of H.M.S. "Linnet."
For the next five years Admiral Whayman was at the Admiralty and was mainly concerned with the development of water-tube boilers, and then he returned to sea in the cruiser H.M.S. "Argonaut," and while on board was promoted to Engineer Commander.
He came ashore again in 1908, first to Portsmouth Dockyard, then to the Admiralty Controller's department and then, from 1909 to 1913, he was engaged in supervising the machinery of new battleships, including the "St. Vincent" class.
Following about two and a half years' service as engineer officer in the name ship of the class, Admiral Whayman once more came ashore, first to Chatham Dockyard, then on promotion to Engineer Captain in 1917, to Pembroke Dock as chief engineer.
In 1918 he became engineer manager at Rosyth Dockyard and during his service there he was awarded the C.B.E.
From Rosyth he came south to join the Engineer-in-Chief's Department as Assistant Engineer-in-Chief and in 1922, after two years' service in this post, he was promoted to Rear-Admiral and appointed Deputy Engineer-in-Chief, a position which he continued to hold until his retirement in 1927. In recognition of his services at the Admiralty he was made a C.B. in 1924.
After his retirement he continued to be actively engaged in engineering and was for several years marine engineer with Babcock and Wilcox, Ltd.
Admiral Whayman was a member of the Institute of Marine Engineers and also of the Institution of Naval Architects, of which he was made an Honorary Vice-President in 1937.