Hancock, William John (1864 - 1931)

Summary

William Hancock moved to Australia from Ireland to become Western Australia's superintendent of telephones (1885). In 1890 he was transferred to the telegraphs section where he oversaw the expansion of the system. Four years later Hancock was promoted to government electrical engineer and supervised all electrical work in Western Australia (WA) for the next twenty-six years.

In his private time, Hancock mastered the use of the newly developed X-ray machine and worked as an honorary radiographer at the Perth Public Hospital. Due to the excessive exposure to the X-rays, William Hancock's health suffered and he became a semi-invalid. This forced him to retire from all duties in 1920. He did however continue to act as an honorary consulting radiologist to Perth Hospital until 1930 when he returned to the United Kingdom. The Royal Society of Western Australia honoured his efforts by awarding him their Medal (known as the Kelvin Medal) in 1924.

Details

William Hancock's tutor at Glasgow, was James Thomson, an uncle, as James married Anne Hancock, his father sister. James Thomson's brother William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) was also one of his tutors. Lord Kelvin later endorsed William Hancock's nomination for MInstCE in 1906.

After spending several years working for the Dublin Telephone Exchange, Hancock moved to Western Australia (WA) to take up the appointment of superintendent of telephones (1885). He installed the first phone lines between Government House and the Colonial Secretary's Office and the Perth Exchange, as well as supervising the Perth-Fremantle line works. From 1890 he was supervisor of telegraphs and saw the expansion of lines to the goldfields and remote areas. Hancock was then appointed government electrical engineer and helped establish the tramways system and the installation of submarine cables.

In addition to his full-time government work, William Hancock held many other positions. He was a member of the Senate of the University of Western Australia (1915-1927), honorary radiographer at the Perth Public Hospital (1898-1920) and honorary radiologist at the Fremantle Base Hospital (1915-1920). Fascinated by the newly created X-ray machine, Hancock imported one to WA and began educating medical staff in its uses and operation. Hancock was soon screening patients at the Perth Public Hospital and over the next twenty-two years he carried out an estimated 30, 000+ X-rays. The harm caused by repeated exposure to X-rays was not yet known, so Hancock worked unprotected for all of this time. His hands become severely damaged and disabled forcing his retirement from both the Government and the radiography work (1920). He did, however, stay on as a consulting radiologist at the hospital for a further ten years before returning home.

William Hancock's major contributions to the health of the people of WA and to the state's infrastructure were recognised in 1924 when he was appointed the inaugural Kelvin gold medallist by the Royal Society (WA). Further accolades came posthumously and include a commemorative stained glass window in Winthrop Hall at the University of Western Australia (1934) and a memorial plaque at the Institute of Anatomy in Canberra.

Chronology

1882

Career event - Student Member, Society of Telegraph Engineers , London

1884

Career event - Associate (ASTE), Society of Telegraph Engineers , London

1885

Life event - Migrated to Australia (Western Australia)

1885 - 1890

Career position - Superintendent of Telephones with the Western Australian Government

1886

Career position - First telephone line between Government House and the Colonial Secretary's Office installed

1887

Career position - First telephone line between Government House and the Perth exchange installed

1889

Career event - Member (MIEE), Institution of Electrical Engineers, London

7 May 1889

Career event - Associate Member (AssocMInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1890 - 1894

Career position - Superintendent of Telegraphs, Western Australia

1894 - 1920

Career position - Government Electrical Engineer, Western Australia

1898 - 1930

Career position - Honorary Radiographer at the Perth Public Hospital

18 Dec 1906

Career event - Member (MInstCE), Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1915 - 1920

Career position - Honorary Radiologist at the Fremantle Base Hospital

1915 - 1927

Career position - Member of the Senate of the University of Western Australia

1917 - 1918

Career position - President,Western Australian Institution of Engineers

1920

Life event - Retired due to ill health

1920 - 1930

Career position - Honorary Consulting Radiologist at the Perth Public Hospital

1924

Award - Honorary Doctorate of Science (DSc), University of Western Australia

1924

Award - Medal of the Royal Society of Western Australia (inaugural recipient)

1930

Life event - Returned to the United Kingdom

Related entries

Published resources

Book Sections

• Joske, Prue, 'Hancock, William John (1864-1931), Electrical Engineer and Radiologist' in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Bede Nairn and Geoffrey Serle, eds, vol. 9 (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1983), pp. 183-184. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A090178b.htm. Details

Conference Papers

• Moynihan, J. F., 'W.J. Hancock, Engineer and Pioneer Radiographer', in Fourth National Conference on Engineering Heritage 1988: Preprints of Papers (Barton, Australian Capital Territory: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 1988), pp. 92-97.. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.623998981679025. Details

Journal Articles

• 'Memoirs', Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Australia, 4 (1932), 401-404. William John Hancock, MIEAust, pp.403-4. Details
• Anon, 'Society's Gold Medal - its institution and first award (to Dr. W. J. Hancock)', Journal and proceedings of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 10 (1924), xvii-xix. Details
• Hancock, William J., 'X-rays', Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 3 (1917), 17-36. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/172166#page/29/mode/1up. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q21539468. Details
• Institution of Civil Engineers, London, 'Application: 7164, 1889', Civil Engineer Membership Forms, 1818-1930, ancestry.com, https://www.ancestry.com.au/search/collections/3585/. Details
• 'Hancock, William John (1864-1931)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1469281. Details

Resource Sections

• 'Hancock, William John', in Physics in Australia to 1945, R.W. Home, with the assistance of Paula J. Needham, Australian Science Archives Project, June 1995, http://www.asap.unimelb.edu.au/bsparcs/physics/P001237p.htm. Details

See also

• Ryan, James, Sutton, Keith and Baigent, Malcolm eds, Australasian Radiology: a History (Sydney: McGraw-Hill, 1996), 542 pp. Details
• Trainor, J. P., Salute to the X-ray pioneers of Australia (Sydney: W. Watson and Sons Ltd, 1946), 81 pp. Details