William Ryle Wright
William Ryle Wright (1869-1911)
1911 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM KYLE WRIGHT was born at Macclesfield on 28th April 1869.
He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Macclesfield, from 1878 to 1885, and then studied at Owens College, Manchester, until 1888, in which year he began an apprenticeship of five years. The first three years were served in the shops and drawing office of Elwell-Parker, Ltd., and the following two years as engineer on the staff of the Electric Construction Co., of Wolverhampton.
In 1893 he became chief assistant to the Manchester Corporation Electricity Department, and three years later he was appointed Borough Electrical Engineer of Burnley. This position he held until 1899 when he became Borough Electrical Engineer of Bootle. During the tenure of his office he doubled the capacity of the station and carried out a large proportion of the tramway installation.
In 1901 he was chosen to supervise the construction of the electric car system in Wellington, New Zealand, and on the completion of his work in 1905 he had designed, equipped, and handed over to Wellington 26 miles of tramways, with power-station, car-shed, and all accessories.
Soon after his return to England he was appointed by the English Board as consulting and resident engineer to the Shanghai tramways.
On the completion of the work in 1908, he returned to England, and practised as a consulting engineer in Westminster.
His death took place at his residence at Northwood, near Harrow, after a short illness, on 22nd November 1911, at the age of forty-two.
He became a Member of this Institution in 1909.
1912 Obituary [2]
WILLIAM RYLE WRIGHT was born in 1876 and educated at Owen's College, Manchester.
In 1891 he was with the Electric Construction Company, and afterwards became electrical assistant successively to the Corporations of Manchester, Burnley, Bootle, and Wellington (New Zealand), at which last town he designed and constructed the tramways.
In 1905 he installed electric plant at the Allandale Colliery, Dunedin, and in 1906 he was resident engineer during the construction of the tramways at Shanghai.
After this he returned to England and carried on private practice as a consulting engineer in London.
His death occurred in January, 1912.
He was elected a Member of the Institution in 1909.