Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ixiii. (1920) No. 5 ii 



apparatus. Owens College received the gift of a set of Wilde's 

 machines; and the Manchester Grammar School was also pro- 

 vided with two dynamos. 



Personnel of the ]Vorks. 

 Henry Wilde's association with Mr. G. C. Lowe, Silversmith, 

 Jeweller, Chronometer and Watch Maker, and Electroplater, of 

 St. Ann's Square, Manchester, has already been mentioned. It 

 was the capital furnished by Mr. Lowe that enabled the firm of 

 Henry Wilde & Co. to be founded, with works at yj , Mill 

 Street, Ancoats, Here the ABC instruments were made. They 

 needed careful and accurate construction with small tools ; the 

 manufacture of the dynamos required much larger plant. After 

 the death of Mr. Lowe, Wilde continued the business without a 

 partner. He was faithfully assisted by his younger brother, 

 Joseph. An .agreement was made betvv^een the brothers whereby 

 Joseph received a salary and a commission. Joseph, unlike his 

 brother, was not robust, and he died at a relatively early age. He 

 was well Icnown in Sale, where he lived, as a reserved and intelligent 

 man. An adopted nephew of Joseph's, W. F. Hobday, acted as 

 bookkeeper to the firm. Another assistant was Robert Marsh. He 

 served the firm for a long term of years, and became well-known 

 in connection with the installation of the dynamos and with 

 general experimental work. On Henry's retirement, Joseph went 

 into partnership with John Hill, who was the works manager, 

 and the Electric Engineering Company was formed; but this 

 partnership was dissolved in 1884. 



Ho flours. 

 In 1886 Henry Wilde was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal 

 Society of London; and in 1900 the degree of D.Sc. of the 

 Victoria University was conferred upon him. Three years later 

 he received from Oxford University the D C.L. In 1885 he 

 was awarded by the Council of the International Exhibition held 

 in London a gold medal for his inventions. The medal of the 

 Royal Society of Arts and the Dalton medal of this Society he 

 refused to accept, because he did not agree with the reasons 

 given for these honours. 



Photograph. 

 Wilde had a strong objection to being photographed; but his 

 personal friend Mr. Alfred Brothers, one of the best-known of 

 the early photographers, overcame this objection. From the negative 

 some prints were known to exist ; one was the property of Joseph 

 Wilde, and it passed into the possession of Mr. J. W\ Winstanley 

 of Sale, who has 'kindly allowed this to be reproduced. An- 

 other one was given by Henry Wilde to Professor H. B. Dixon, 

 who has presented it to the Society. The photograph is of Wilde 

 when he was about fifty-six. 



