Sir William Henry Preece, K.C.B., F.R.S.

Abstract

WILLIAM HENRY PREECE was born near Carnarvon on February 15, 1834, being the eldest son of R. M. Preece. He died at Penrhos, Carnarvon, on November 6, 1913, being in his eightieth year. All his professional life had been connected with telegraphic engineering and the development of electrical engineering; and, saving for the veteran, Mr. C. E. Spagnoletti, who survives him, he was the oldest telegraph engineer in Great Britain. After completing his education at King's College, London, he entered the office of the late Mr. Edwin Clark, who was connected with pioneering work of submarine cables, and at the age of nineteen he was appointed as a junior engineer on the staff of the Electric and International Telegraph Company, becoming later superintendent of the company's southern division. From 1858 to 1862 he acted as engineer to the Channel Islands Telegraphs, and in 1860 was appointed telegraph engineer to the London and South-Western Railway, and made Southampton his headquarters. In 1864 he married Miss Agnes Pocock, of Southampton, who died in 1874. After ten years of railway telegraph work, he became a divisional engineer under the Post Office, which was then creating a telegraphic staff to deal with the many undertakings which it was taking over from the companies under the Telegraph Act of 1870. From that time his promotion wa steady. He was appointed Electrician to the General Post Office in 1877, and Engineer-in-Chief, an office of much more importance then than now, in 1892. In 1894 he was made C.B.; and he was given the honour of K. C. B. on his retirement under the age rule in 1899. Since that date until his decease he was senior partner in the firm of Preece, Cardew, and Snell, consulting engineers; though his failing health for several years past precluded him from much active participation in the responsible work of his firm.