Cornelius McLeod Percy
Cornelius McLeod Percy (1846-1903)
of King Street, Wigan.
1904 Obituary [1]
CORNELIUS MCLEOD PERCY was born at Newmains, Lanarkshire, on 30th July 1846.
At the age of seven he went with his parents to settle in England, and received his education at the public schools in connection with the works of Earl Granville at Cobridge, North Staffordshire, and of the New British Iron Co., at Congreaves, in South Staffordshire.
In 1860 he was apprenticed with the latter company, and his apprenticeship was continued and completed with the Wigan Coal and Iron Co. Subsequently he held various and important positions in the engineering department of this company, remaining with them until 1882, when he commenced practice in Wigan as a consulting engineer.
He was connected during the greater part of his life with the Mining and Technical School, which he entered as a student in 1862. On the death of the master, he was appointed at the age of twenty-one as joint lecturer with the late Mr. Ralph Betley. When the Wigan Mining School Committee, the County Borough Council, and the Lancashire County Council agreed to maintain and manage the school, he was appointed principal, mad occupied that position until his death.
A strong advocate of the cause of technical education, he delivered valuable lectures in different parts of the country, and these led to the establishment of technical classes in those places. He displayed great activity in connection with the erection of a new college in commemoration of the Diamond Jubilee, and his illustrated lectures there attracted large numbers of students.
He wrote extensively for various mining journals both at home and abroad, and was for some years editor of "The Science and Art of Mining." During that period he prepared a number of small books for the use of mining students, and was engaged on re-writing "The Mechanical Engineering of Collieries" at the time that his health broke down.
He was a member of the Wigan Town Council for several years; and had been a candidate for Parliament on two occasions. His health for some time had been in a very unsatisfactory state, when he was advised to take a voyage to Australia and New Zealand.
He returned home however without having derived any benefit from the change, and his death ensued on 19th June 1903, in his fifty-seventh year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1874; and was also a Member of the Institution of Mining Engineers.