Thomas Wilkinson (1844-1909)
Thomas Wilkinson (1844-1909), managing director of William Cooke and Co
1910 Obituary [1]
THOMAS WILKINSON died on December 15, 1909. He was the chairman and managing director of William Cooke & Co., Ltd., iron and steel and wire-rope manufacturers of Sheffield.
Born sixty-five years ago, near Staveley, he learned the craft of shovel forging under his father, and was subsequently employed by John Brown & Co., Ltd., and by Earle's Shipbuilding Co., Ltd., at Hull.
In 1887 he joined the business of William Cooke & Co., Ltd., in the capacity of secretary, and the prosperity which followed his appointment was due largely to his energy and business acumen. He did his best to encourage and facilitate technical training, and he enforced sound precepts by the wise example of offering useful scholarships to this end. His influence led the directorate of the Tinsley Iron and Steel Works to give five scholarships, each of £20 in value, to students of mining engineering, tenable in the Universities of Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield, and the University College, Nottingham.
As chairman of the South Yorkshire Bar Iron Association, he occupied a prominent position in the iron trade of the North. He was elected a member of the Iron and Steel Institute in 1888. He frequently attended the Institute meetings, and during the visit of the Institute to Sheffield in 1905 he was an active member of the Reception Committee, receiving about one hundred members at the Tinsley Works, where an interesting inspection was made.