William Henry Wheeler (1832–1915) was an English

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

, author, architect, inventor and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

. Wheeler was born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

in 1832. He read for a degree at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

, and in 1867 became a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, from which he was the recipient of the Telford Medal. He later became a member of the British Association, The Royal Agricultural Society and the International Congress on Navigation."William Henry Wheeler"
Grace's Guide to British Industrial History. Retrieved 16 January 2019William Henry Wheeler
Roll of achievement, Boston Borough Council. Retrieved 16 January 2019 For forty-four years he was the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

and Harbour Engineer of

Boston, Lincolnshire Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...

, and there designed the town's

New Dock New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, built between 1882 and 1884. He designed Boston Corporation's swimming baths, opened in 1880,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

's first public park, and Boston Cottage Hospital, which opened in 1875 and later became

Pilgrim Hospital Pilgrim Hospital is a hospital in the east of Lincolnshire on the A16, north of the town of Boston near the mini-roundabout with the A52. It is situated virtually on the Greenwich Meridian and adjacent to Boston High School. The fenland area ...

. He carried out commercial and residential work, including designing a Jacobean-style staircase for a house on Boston High Street, and designed his own house on London Road which today is a preparatory school.Minnis, John; Charmichael, Katie; Fletcher, Clive; Anderson, Mary
"Boston 1860-1914"
in ''Boston, Lincolnshire: Historic North Sea port and market town'', Historic England, pp.25, 53 Wheeler was an authority in the field of low-lying land reclamation and Lincolnshire history, writing books on the topics including ''The History of the Fens of South Lincolnshire''. He was an inventor of the eroder- dredger for which he received a bronze medal at the St Louis Exhibition, a

freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...

, and a member of Boston's

Rifle Volunteer Corps The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

, becoming its quartermaster sergeant. He married Martha E. Sills of

Casthorpe Casthorpe is hamlet in the civil parish of Barrowby and the South Kesteven District of Lincolnshire, England. It is south-southwest from the city and county town of Lincoln, west from Grantham town centre, and west from Barrowby village. His ...

, near

Barrowby Barrowby is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is west of Grantham. It overlooks the Vale of Belvoir and has a Grade I listed parish church. The hamlet of Casthorpe is part of the parish. Th ...

, Lincolnshire, they producing two sons who both drowned at sea, and a daughter. He died in

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

in 1915; his cremated remains were interred in St Nicholas' churchyard,

Skirbeck Skirbeck is a suburb and former civil parish in the Borough of Boston in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Skirbeck is a long v-shaped formation wrapped around the south and east side of Boston parish. It has been incorporated into the Boroug ...

, a church where he provided two stained glass windows in memory of his wife and sons.

Bibliography

*''A Practical Manual of Tides and Waves'', reprint, HardPress Publishing (2013). *''The sea-coast: (1) Destruction (2) Littoral drift (3) Protection'', reprint, Nabu Press (2010). *''A history of the fens of south Lincolnshire, being a description of the rivers Witham and Welland and their estuary, and an account of the reclamation, drainage, and enclosure of the fens adjacent thereto'' (1897), reprint, Book on Demand.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wheeler, William Henry 1832 births 1915 deaths People from Hammersmith People from Boston, Lincolnshire Alumni of King's College London 19th-century British engineers 19th-century British inventors English antiquarians 19th-century antiquarians 19th-century English historians