William Dunn Gainsford
1865 William Dunn Gainsford, Engineer, Sheffield Coal Co, Sheffield.[1]
1926 Obituary
"The death occurred last week of Mr. W. D. Gainsford, of Skendleby Hall, near Spilsby, Lincolnshire, chairman of the Sheffield Coal Co, at the age of eighty-three. For a considerable time Mr. Gainsford was a prominent figure in Sheffield coal circles. He was an articled pupil to Messrs. Woodhouse and Jeffcock, mining engineers, Derby, and on the completion of his professional training, in 1863, he went to assist his uncle in the management of the Birley collieries, near Sheffield , which were then owned by a private company. Later, he took over the general managership, which he held until 1877, in the meantime becoming one of the owners, and afterwards holding the position of chairman for upwards of forty years. He was a magistrate, and when he gave up the management of the collieries, he became a barrister, and practised for three or four years. He devoted much time to engineering and other mechanical pursuits."