George Wilson (1871-1905)
George Wilson (1871-1905)
Lecturer in Civil Engineering at Leeds University
1905 Obituary [1]
1906 Obituary [2]
GEORGE WILSON was born on the 17th February, 1871, at Cressbrook, Derbyshire, where his father carried on a manufacturing business.
After being educated privately, the subject of this notice was entered as a student at the Owens College, Manchester, in 1887, and having gained the Ashbury Engineering Scholarship, he graduated in Science in the Victoria University, with first-class honours in Engineering, in 1891, proceeding to the degrees of M.Sc. in 1894 and DSc. in 1900.
His practical experience was obtained on the works of the Manchester Ship-Canal, where, between 1891 and 1893, he was employed under Mr. W. H. Hunter on designs and calculations for swing-bridges and locks constructed during that period. As the outcome of his investigations in this field, he later communicated to the Royal Society two Papers on the reaction and deflection of beams, which appeared in the Proceedings, and wrote a series of articles in the technical press on "Opening Bridges," which were reprinted and published in book form in 1896. Among other Papers contributed by him to various societies may be mentioned that presented to this Institution in 1902, describing his experiments on Conjugate Pressures in Fine Sand carried out in the Whitworth Laboratory, for which he was awarded a Telford premium.
In 1893 he accepted a post in the Whitworth Engineering Laboratory of the Owens College, which he relinquished 2 years later to become a lecturer and demonstrator in Engineering in the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire.
He returned to the Victoria University in 1896 as senior demonstrator in the Whitworth Laboratory and resident mathematical tutor at Hulme Hall, and in 1904 he was appointed Lecturer in Civil Engineering in the Leeds University, and subsequently external examiner in Engineering to the Victoria University, appointments held by him at the time of his death, which occurred on the 16th February, 1905, in his thirty-fifth year.
He was elected an Associate Member of this Institution on the 1st March, 1898.