Denison, William Thomas (1804 - 1871)

Summary

Sir William Denison was Lieutenant-Governor of Tasmania 1847-1854; Governor of New South Wales 1855-1861; Governor-General 'in and over the Colonies of New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia' 1855-1861; an engineer and an important patron of science.

Details

Chronology

1819 - 1823

Education - Royal Military Academy, Woolwich

1826

Career event - Commissioned as Second-Lieutenant, Royal Engineer, Royal Corp of Engineers

1827 - 1832

Career position - Engineer, Royal Corp of Engineers, construction of Rideau Canal, Ottawa, Canada. Under Lieut-Col John By

1830 - 1831

Career event - Experiments to determine the strength of North American timbers

1833 - 1835

Career position - Instructor in Surveying, Chatham, Royal Corp of Engineers

1837

Award - Telford Medal, Institution of Civil Engineers, London - for communications on determining the strength of North American timbers.

1837 - 1845

Career position - Officer in charge of engineering work, Woolwich Dockyard, under Captain Brandreth RE, Director of Works Admiralty

1837 - 1846

Career position - Established and edited "Professional Papers of the Corps of Royal Engineers"

14 March 1837

Career event - Associate, Institution of Civil Engineers, London

1838

Career position - Councillor, Institution of Civil Engineers, London.

1845 - 1846

Career position - Officer in charge of engineering work, Portsmouth Dockyard, under Director of Works Admiralty

1846 - 1854

Career position - Lieutenant Governor, Tasmania

1847 - 1854

Career position - President, Royal Society of Tasmania

1855 - 1860

Career position - President, Australian Philosophical Society

1855 - 1861

Career position - Governor, New South Wales

1855 - 1861

Career position - Governor-general, Australian colonies

1856

Award - Knight Commander of The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (KCB)

1861 - 1863

Career position - Governor, Madras

1863 - 1864

Career position - Governor-general, Indian colonies

1864 - 1866

Career position - Governor, Madras

1866

Award - James Watt Medal, Institution of Civil Engineers, for communications on the construction of the Suez Canal.

1868

Career position - Councillor, Institution of Civil Engineers, London.

1868 - 1871

Career position - Chairman, Royal Commission on prevention of pollution of rivers

Related entries

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Edward Pearson Ramsay - Records, 1860 - 1912, ML MSS 563; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details
• William Thomas Denison - Records, 1856 - 1867, FM 3/795; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

University of Tasmania Library

• William Thomas Denison - Records, 1846 - 1864; University of Tasmania Library. Details

Published resources

Encyclopedia of Australian Science and Innovation Exhibitions

• Collins, David, Chemistry in 19th Australia - Select Bibliography, An exhibition of the Encyclopedia circa 2005 with assistance from Ailie Smith and Gavan McCarthy., eScholarship Research Centre (original publisher), Melbourne, 2009, https://eoas.info/exhibitions/ciab/ciab_ALL.html. Details

Book Sections

• Currey, C. H., 'Denison, Sir William Thomas (1804-1871), Governor-general' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 4: 1851 - 1890 D-J, Douglas Pike, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1972), pp. 46-53. http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A040048b.htm. pp.46-53. Details

Edited Books

• Bailey, M. R.; Chrimes, M. M.; Cox, R. C.; Cross-Rudkin, P. S. M.; Hurst, B. L.; McWilliam, R. C.; Rennison, R. W.; Ruddock, E. C.; Sutherland, R. J. M.; Swailes, T. ed., Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 2: 1830-1890 (London, United Kingdom: Thomas Telford Publishing, 2008), 907 pp. 'Denison, Lieutenant-general Sir William Thomas, KCB', pp.231-234. Details

Journal Articles

• Denison, Sir William Thomas, 'Account of the Analysis, by Dr. Motherwell, of certain Woods of Tasmania, with a view to determine the amount of Potash contained', Papers and Proceedings and Report of the Royal Society of Van Diemen's Land, 1 (1851), 87-93. Details
• Denison, Sir William Thomas, 'On the manufacture of potash from Tasmanian woods', Report of the Royal Society, Van Diemen's Land for the year 1850, 1 (1851), 93-98. Details
• Iredale, T.; and Whitley, G.P., 'Sir William Dennison as a Conchologist', Proceedings of the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales (1964), 27-30. Details

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q594881. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/25385011. Details
• 'A Series of Experiments on different kinds of American Timbers', Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/itrcs.1838.24381. Details
• 'Obituary. Lieutenant-General Sir William Denison, KCB, 1804-1871.', Minutes of the Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil Engineers, https://doi.org/10.1680/imotp.1872.22910. Details
• 'Denison, William (1804-1871)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-635276. Details

See also

• Federation and Meteorology, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/fam/index_d.html. Details
• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_d.html. Details
• Pybus, Cassandra, A very secret trade: the dark story of gentlemen collectors in Tasmania (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2024), 318 pp. https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/book/Cassandra-Pybus-Very-Secret-Trade-9781761066344. Pages 182, 183. Details
• Serle, Percival, Dictionary of Australian biography (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1949). Details