Henry William Pearson
Henry William Pearson (1846-1903)
1903 Obituary [1]
HENRY WILLIAM PEARSON was born at Forest Gate, Essex, on 6th January 1846, and was educated first at a private school and later at Bow Grammar School.
In 1862 he was apprenticed to the Eastern Counties Railway Co. (afterwards the Great Eastern Railway Co.) under Mr. Robert Sinclair, then locomotive engineer.
On the completion of his term in 1867, he was engaged in the drawing office under the then locomotive engineer, Mr. Samuel W. Johnson, and, on leaving this department, he was appointed in 1870 assistant to Mr. H. W. Davis, with whom he was engaged in civil engineering and surveying.
In 1872 he became assistant engineer to the Bristol Water Works Co., under Mr. T. Bell, whom, on his death two years later, he succeeded as resident engineer, which position he held until his death.
During the period he was at Bristol the supply was more than doubled, the daily supply in 1903 being eight million gallons, with a population of 350,000. Two large wells have also been sunk in the Nailsea Valley, and large pumps erected, the engine-power during his tenure of office having been trebled.
The storage has also been largely increased, for which two reservoirs were constructed, in addition to great extensions in the filter area.
Besides being a Member of this Institution, he was also a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Iron and Steel Institute, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and a Member of the British Association of Waterworks Engineers; and was also Past-President of the Bristol Engineers Association.
In conjunction with Mr. Henry Davey he aided in the preparation of his Paper on the Newcomen Engine. He was the inventor of several appliances mainly for use on waterworks, amongst which was an apparatus for making branch connections to mains under pressure; his waste-preventing devices were also well known.
His death took place at his residence in Bristol on 20th October 1903, in his fifty-eighth year.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1885.
1904 Obituary [2]
HENRY WILLIAM PEARSON died on October 20, 1903, at the age of fifty-seven years.
He was born in 1856, and commenced his professional career in 1862 at the Great-Eastern railway works at Stratford in the locomotive department of the works.
He was a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1900.
1903 Obituary [3]