William Howarth Wood, mechanical and mining engineer, was the son of Herbert Howarth Wood and Alice Wyatt Carrington. He was employed by H. Eckstein and Company, Johannesburg, from 1898 or earlier to at least 1905. He became a foundation member of the Mechanical Engineers' Association of the Witwatersrand in May 1898 and was elected its first president, for 1898/9. He presented a paper before the association during its first year, on "Timber structures as used on the Witwatersrand". In 1905 the association was renamed the Transvaal Institute of Mechanical Engineers. Wood served as honorary secretary of this institute from 1905 to 1907.

In 1899 he became a member also of the Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa and after the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902) continued his membership of the renamed Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. He was still practicing as a consulting mechanical engineer on the Witwatersrand in 1907.

List of sources:
Chemical and Metallurgical Society of South Africa. Proceedings, 18971899, Vol. 2, Members.

Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa. Journal, 1904/5, Vol. 5, Members.

Draper, J.R. The engineer's contribution; a history of the South African Institution of Mechanical Engineers, 1892-1967. Johannesburg: SAIME, 1967.

FamilySearch: William Howarth Wood. https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/GDBX-QTM/william-howarth-wood-1868-1936

Journal of the Transvaal Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 1905-1907, Vol. 4 and 5.

Orr, J. Presidential address. Associated Scientific and Technical Societies of South Africa, Annual Proceedings, 1938, pp. 15-86.

Transvaal Leader, 14 August 1899, p. 7, Mechanical Engineers, general meeting.

Compiled by: C. Plug

Last updated: 2026-03-21 10:06:14