John Wetherell
John Wetherell (c1888-1943)
1944 Obituary [1]
JOHN WETHERELL was associated with the electrical side of mechanical engineering throughout his career. He received his technical training (which extended over a period of ten years, from 1899 to 1909) at the Johnstone Technical School, Durham, and at Armstrong College and Sunderland Technical College. On the completion of a six years' apprenticeship with Messrs. J. H. Holmes and Company, engineers, of Newcastle upon Tyne, in 1910, he became station engineer in the electricity department of Paisley Corporation.
From 1913 to 1914 he was in the service of Dewsbury Corporation as mains engineer, and for a brief period gained further experience with the |Yorkshire Electric Power Company in the capacity of construction engineer. During the war of 1914-18 he served in the Royal Engineers, Southern Command Headquarters and was responsible to the C.R.E., for the supply of electricity to military camps on Salisbury Plain. From 1919 to 1928 he held an appointment with the Corporation of Barnsley as deputy borough electrical engineer. During this period, in addition to the operation and maintenance of the generating station, he was responsible for the installation of new plant, including two 3,000 kW. turbines and a battery of boilers aggregating 70,000 lb. per hour evaporation.
In 1928 he was appointed chief electrical engineer to the Leyton Borough Council, a position he retained until his death, which occurred on 8th April 1943, in his fifty-fifth year. Mr. Wetherell was elected an Associate Member of the Institution in 1928, and was also an Associate Member of the Institution of Electrical Engineers.