William John Wilson (1851-1900)
1900 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM JOHN WILSON, born in Bombay on the 19th March, 1851, obtained his engineering training at the Royal Indian Engineering College, Coopers Hill, from which he was appointed in 1874 an Assistant Engineer in the Public Works Department of the Government of India. He was posted to the Northern Division of the Ganges Canal, and was employed on irrigation work, on the construction of drainage works, and on the repairs of Jaoli Falls on the main canal.
At the end of 1875 he was transferred to the Anupshahr Branch of the Ganges Canal, and was engaged on the construction of bridges and of the "Siana Escape," an aqueduct of 7 miles in length.
From 1879 to 1885 he was employed, under the Director of Agriculture and Commerce, on the construction of wells for irrigation in the North-West Provinces and in Oudh.
In 1885 he was placed in charge of the Narora Division of the Lower Ganges Canal, and in 1888 he was appointed Personal Assistant to the Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Branch, and Under-Secretary to Government for the North-West Provinces and Oudh.
Mr. Wilson’s experience in India marked him as peculiarly fitted for the Egyptian Government Public Works Department, which he joined in 1892 as Inspector of the First Circle of Irrigation in Lower Egypt.
In February, 1895, he was appointed Inspector General of Irrigation in Upper Egypt, and in May, 1898, Director-General of Reservoirs.
His death, which took place in Cairo on the 13th August, 1900, after a short illness from meningitis, has proved a great loss to the Egyptian Government, as, owing to his intimate connection with the works from their inception, he was thoroughly acquainted with all the minute details of the great reservoirs. At the time of his death he was acting as Under-Secretary of State for Public Works, during the absence of Sir William Garstin on leave.
Mr. Wilson was a man of most amiable and retiring character, and was always ready to give advice and assistance to those who appealed to him.
He was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 7th May, 1878, was subsequently placed in the class of Associate Members, and was transferred to the class of Members on the 30th May, 1890.