William Henry Preece
Sir William Henry Preece C.B., F.R.S. (1834-1913) was a Welsh electrical engineer and inventor.
1834 February 15th. Born in Caernarfon (Gwynedd), Wales.
Educated at King's College School, London. He went on to contribute many inventions and improvements, including a railway signalling system that increased safety.
Spent a short period in the engineering offices of Edwin Clark[1].
1853 Joined the engineering staff of the Electric Telegraph Co.
1853 Helped Michael Faraday with some telegraphic experiments,
1856 Appointed superintendent of the Electric Telegraph Company's south-western district at Southampton.
From 1858 to 1862, he was also engineer to the Channel Island Telegraph Co.
1860 He also supervised the telegraphs of the London and South Western Railway
1870 Joined the Post Office as Divisional engineer for the Southern District of the telegraphic system when the Government bought out the c.30 private telegraph companies.
1877 Appointed electrician to the Post Office.
1877 Was the first to import Bell telephones into the UK, which he demonstrated at the BA meeting at Plymouth
1880 President of the Society of Telegraph Engineers
1884 As a result of detecting electro-magnetic radiation from buried telephone cables, Preece conceived the idea of wireless telegraphy
1885 Preece and Arthur West Heaviside (the brother of Oliver Heaviside) experimented with parallel telegraph lines and an unwired telephone receiver, discovering radio induction (later identified with the effects of crosstalk).
1887 He had a long-standing rivalry with Oliver Heaviside - Heaviside had found theoretically that the clarity of telegraph and telephone signals could be greatly improved by loading transmission lines with extra inductance. Reasoning from inadequate experiments, Preece had already declared inductance to be prejudicial to clear signalling; Preece took steps to block Heaviside's publication; Heaviside thereafter took every opportunity to denounce Preece.
In 1889 Preece assembled a group of men at Coniston Water in the Lake District in Cumberland and succeeded in transmitting and receiving Morse radio signals over a distance of about 1 mile across water.
1892 Became Engineer-in-Chief of the General Post Office.
1892 Made radio experiments from Lavernock Point in south Wales to the island of Flatholm. Preece believed that the Earth’s magnetic field was critical in the propagation of radio waves over long distances.
1892. Proposed 'Lux' as a term to quantify illumination to the Royal Institution. [2]
With Gisbert Kapp prepared plans and specifications for the Bristol Electric Light Station.
1893 President of the Institution of Electrical Engineers
1896 When Guglielmo Marconi arrived in England, Preece encouraged him by obtaining assistance from the Post Office for his work.
1899 Preece was knighted
1899 President of the Institution of Civil Engineers
1899 After retirement from the Post Office, he was active with his sons, Llewellyn and Arthur, and Major Philip Cardew in the engineering firm of Preece and Cardew. Preece also continued as a government consultant until 1904.
1913 November 6th. Died at home in Wales.
Obituary.The Engineer 1899/02/17.
See Also
- Obituary in The Engineer 1913/11/14.